LightPanel

Portable LED Light Panel

LightPanel

LightPanel is an App that turns your mobile device into a flexible multi-purpose LED light panel - one that you always have with you to provide fill light for macro or product photography:

  • Both brightness and colour temperature are modifiable.

  • Colour temperature can be varied between 1,500K and 15,000K.

  • In addition, LightPanel can display arbitrary colours for creative lighting effects.

  • There are many other potential uses when you need extra light, eg torch, reading light, mood light, FaceTime calls etc.

  • Great for reusing old devices you have that can't run recent versions of iOS.

LightPanel can also be used as a lightbox or light table, for scanning slides & negatives or tracing artwork:

  • A grid can be displayed to aid alignment on the light table.

    1. The grid can be resized and moved around.

  • Mask mode as an alternative to the alignment grid for scanning negatives & slides.

    1. Resize the mask to match the negative size.

    2. Can help to prevent light leaks and flare.

  • Settings Lock: Controls can be locked to prevent accidental touches from changing settings.

LightPanel is available as a universal purchase for:

  • iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch running iOS 12 or later.

  • Macs running MacOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later.

  • Apple TVs running tvOS 15 or later.

The Mac version can be controlled with the TouchBar, menus & keyboard shortcuts in addition to the interface of the iOS version. Keyboard shortcuts also work in on iPads running iOS 13 or later with a hardware keyboard attached.

✻ PC Professionale magazine recommended LightPanel in the July 2021 edition ✻

NEW: Remote Control

  • Remote Control multiple devices running LightPanel with an in-app purchase.

  • Create complex or remote lighting setups without having to go to each device to make changes.

  • Change settings remotely when LightPanel is being used as a light table and the screen is completely covered by negatives or a drawing.

Contents

Examples

LED Panel

In this picture I'm using LightPanel as a fill light for a product photo.

I've set the light temperature to match the rest of my indoor lighting.

Lightbox

Here I'm using LightPanel to scan a slide with my camera.

I've adjusted the grid to match the size of a slide to make it easier to keep subsequent slides in the exactly the same position.

Screenshots

Carousel imageCarousel imageCarousel imageCarousel imageCarousel image

Controls

One-finger Drag

Change screen brightness.

One-finger Tap

Show LightPanel Settings.

Keyboard: ⌘S

Two-finger Tap

Toggle between showing the alignment grid, the scanning mask or neither.

Keyboard: Grid - ⌘G, Mask - ⇧⌘M

Two-finger Drag

Move the alignment grid.

Zoom In/Out

Resize the alignment grid.

Three-finger Long Press

Lock or Unlock LightPanel Settings.

Keyboard: ⌘L

Brightness Controls

As well as just dragging your finger across the display, Screen Brightness can be controlled from the Settings panel:

  • Choose a preset value from the brightness buttons.

  • Enter a direct brightness value.

  • Drag the slider to taste.

Temperature Controls

The approximate Colour Temperature of the screen can be controlled from the Settings panel:

  • Choose a preset value from the temperature buttons.

  • Enter a direct Kelvin temperature.

  • Drag the slider to taste.

Hue Control

LightPanel can display arbitrary colours, rather than using the selected colour temperature:

  • Tap the Hue button to quickly switch between Colour Temperature and Hue colours.

  • Enter or cut/paste HTML-style colour strings directly into the text field.

  • Tap on a colour patch to set that colour.

  • Tap on the colour slider thumb and drag along the slider to change Hue.

  • Tap on the colour slider thumb and drag up & down away from the slider to adjust Saturation.

  • Tap on the colour slider thumb and drag parallel to the slider to adjust Brightness.

Colour Patch Menu

Long-press on a colour patch brings up a menu with more options:

  • Set: Set LightPanel to the colour of this patch (same as tapping the patch).

  • Update: Save LightPanel colour to this patch.

  • Reset: Restore original colour of this patch.

Remote Control

LightPanel Remote Control is a premium feature that allows a master LightPanel app to remotely control other devices running LightPanel in slave mode.

This can be used to create complex or remote lighting setups without having to walk up to each device to make changes.

It also allows settings to be changed remotely when being used as a light table if the screen is completely covered by negatives or a drawing.

  • LightPanel can control up to 7 other devices in 2 groups (Group A or B).

  • Each group can have its own LightPanel settings separate to other groups.

  • Other devices must be running LightPanel in slave mode and be accessible via Bluetooth or Wifi (Wifi or Ethernet on Mac & Apple TV).

  • Normal usage is using one master with multiple slaves. However you can have multiple masters, in which case slaves reflect the master which changed most recently.

Standalone Mode

Normal LightPanel operating mode with no remote control.

Master Mode

This device is the master and slaves use this device's LightPanel settings.

Slave Mode

This device is a slave and LightPanel settings are controlled by the Master and cannot be set on this device.

Group Selection

Select group A or B

Limitations

LightPanel has some limitations controlling screen brightness on a Mac:

  • LightPanel only controls the brightness of the primary display in a multi-monitor setup. Given LightPanel is intended to be used on a mobile device this is unlikely to be an issue in practice.

  • LightPanel can only control the brightness of a monitor if the Mac itself can control it's brightness (eg via the Display pane of System Preferences).

  • LightPanel cannot control screen brightness on an Apple Silicon Mac. This is because Apple have not yet provided a public API that works on Apple Silicon. The brightness controls are disabled in this case.

Remote Control has the following limitations:

  • Remote Control uses bluetooth and/or Wifi to connect devices, so each device must have these enabled and be in range (and Airplane mode turned off).

  • Only Wifi and Ethernet connectivity are supported on Mac & Apple TV.

LightPanel on AppleTV has the following restrictions:

  • Apple TV cannot control the brightness of the TV and the LightPanel brightness controls are therefore not shown. Please use the TV controls to adjust brightness if required.

  • tvOS has a simpler user interface than iOS and macOS:

    1. No sliders, so LightPanel on AppleTV uses up/down buttons to replace the functionality of the Brightness, Temperature and Hue sliders.

    2. No menus, so there are no long-press button menus in LightPanel on Apple TV. Long-press on a colour patch sets the patch to the current colour, rather than showing a menu.

    3. There are no Help, Contact or Share functions.

  • There are no scanning grid or masks, as these functions don't make sense on a TV.

Support

Please email lightpanel@bulsara.com to get help or more information.

Privacy Statement

LightPanel doesn't access or store personal or device information of any kind.

Acknowledgements

App icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

Music: public domain recording of Chopin's Etude No.2 in A flat Major by Donald Betts