LIT DUO 1 Introduced – Compact Light Meter With 7 Measuring Modes

Accessory News

by Francesco AndreolaJune 20^th, 2023

Designed in Sweden by LIT Systems, the upcoming LIT DUO 1 is a pocket-sized light meter that promises to combine color, exposure, illuminance, spectrum, and flicker measurements into a single, easy-to-use device. The product is currently under development.

Ask any cinematographer serious about their job and they will tell you that there are two essential tools they just can’t do without – a light and a color meter. These are useful for achieving the desired lighting contrast in a scene or for tackling mixed lighting scenarios on location, for example.

However, rather than owning two separate devices, they might soon be able to save space in their bag by only carrying on set the LIT DUO 1, which is advertised to be the ultimate Swiss Army knife for cinematographers. Let’s take a closer look!

Overview and features

The biggest selling point of this upcoming light meter, compared to other popular tools currently on the market, is that it packs 7 metering modes in an all-in-one device. These include:

• Color Temperature Mode: lets you measure the color temperature and green/magenta shift of a light source. It includes a Color Filter sub-function that provides suggestions on the correction filters required to match two different light sources;

• Full-Color Mode: lets you measure or match full-color lights and display values in CIE 1931 or HSI units;

• Cine/Video and Photo Exposure Modes: allow you to set the correct exposure based on your camera settings, including ND filters and exposure compensation. You can also measure the difference or ratio between two exposures using the Exposure Difference sub-function. Furthermore, using the Camera Target function, you can input camera parameters and receive a suggestion on how to adjust the intensity of your lights to achieve the correct exposure for those settings;

• Illuminance Mode: lets you measure the intensity of a light source in either lux or foot candles;

• Spectrum Mode: allows you to judge the color accuracy of a light source based on CRI, SSI, and TLCI readings;

• Flickering Mode: points out which shutter speeds you should avoid if you don’t want to end up with tedious flickering in your images.

Interestingly, the company also decided to implement the evergreen Snake game into their device. That’s a fun feature to have when you need to take a break on set.

The device collects data using two sensors placed on the front side of the unit. These include a fast-response silicon photodiode with a dome diffuser and a flat multi-spectral sensor. Both sensors are compatible with all the exposure modes and also support a continuous metering function.

Design and operability

The LIT DUO 1 comes in a hard protective case and includes a 1-meter nylon neck strap. Alternatively, since the device only measures about 13x5x3cm, you can easily store it in your pocket.

According to the manufacturer, the light meter has a solid construction and is designed to survive life on set. The front of the body is made of CNC-machined gray anodized aluminum and integrates an LCD screen with a modern, intuitive UI and physical control buttons.

At the back, we can find a hard plastic battery compartment. The device takes 3 AAA replaceable batteries that should keep it running for approximately 40 hours, according to LIT Systems.

Lastly, the light meter integrates Bluetooth connectivity to communicate with the dedicated LIT smartphone app. This allows you to remotely control the device, install updates, save a history of your measurements, control multiple light meters, and more.

Price and availability

Currently, the LIT DUO 1 is still under development and there’s no official word regarding its price or availability. However, you can subscribe on the manufacturer’s website to be notified once the product is officially launched. Otherwise, you can stay tuned to CineD for future updates.

For more information, please visit LIT Systems’ website here.

Do you often carry a light meter with you on set? What is your current go-to model? Would you consider replacing it with the LIT DUO 1 once it’s launched, and why? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!