Viewfinder · iOSFieldGlass
A viewfinder built for professional image-makers.
Simulate the real framing of any format and focal length, live on your iPhone. Scout locations, choose your gear and agree on composition — see the frame clearly before you set up.
By the studio · iOS
What it is
FieldGlass is a professional on-location viewfinder for photographers and filmmakers. It is more than a cropping frame: it brings together the format logic of film, digital and cine cameras, along with focal length, large format movements, depth of field and light planning, in an iPhone viewfinder you can carry anywhere.
Whether you shoot large format landscapes, film portraits, or storyboards and location scouts for a film, FieldGlass lets you confirm — before you release the shutter or roll the camera — that this format, this focal length and this light are the frame you want.
The problem it solves
On location, the choice of format and focal length often only becomes clear once the camera is set up — especially with large format, where setting up, focusing and confirming the composition is costly. On a film set, you need to align format lines, safe areas and focal-length language quickly, so the director, cinematographer and art department can talk about the same frame.
FieldGlass brings these decisions forward to the scouting stage: open your phone, choose a format and lens, and immediately see the framing in the real world — then decide whether it is worth setting up, changing a lens or moving the camera.
Core capabilities
Real framing simulation
Use the iPhone camera to simulate the framing of any film, digital or cine format and focal length combination. An immersive mode fills the screen with the framed area, cutting distractions so you can focus on composition.
Gear and reference library
A built-in database of film, digital and cine cameras, with recording-mode switching, plus libraries of cine and still cameras, cine / large format / still lenses and film formats you can browse, search and inspect in detail. Frequently used format-and-focal-length pairs — optionally with a specific lens — can be saved as gear kits and quick combinations, ready to recall on location.
Made for large format and the film set
Preview the front-standard movements unique to large format (rise and fall, shift). A cine mode adds crop frames, aspect ratios, safe frames and audio recording, useful for storyboards and on-set reference.
Reference capture, what you see is what you get
Capture high-resolution reference photos with metadata, guides and an info bar, or record reference video with live filters and overlays, saved with no waiting. Twelve built-in live filters — black and white, colour filters, vintage, pinhole and more — mean the preview already looks like the result.
Light, depth of field and a shooting map
Sun planning covers the sun and moon paths, weather and cloud cover, a golden-hour countdown and sunrise/sunset forecasts. Depth-of-field calculation and ISO 100–normalised exposure notes help you quantify both the blur and the exposure reasoning. A shooting map places your located photos and videos by where they were taken, for review and re-shoots.
Spec sharing
Generate a spec card for any gear in the library, complete with branding and a QR code, and share it with colleagues or clients in a tap — fewer back-and-forth confirmations of parameters by word of mouth.
Who it's for
- Large format and film photographers: confirm composition and focal length before setting up, and cut the cost of wasted setups
- Cinematographers, directors and location scouts: a shared format language for talking through lenses and camera positions
- Commercial and advertising work: align client expectations with reference stills and video
- Gear enthusiasts and students: understand formats, lenses and optical parameters through the library
In practice
Scouting on location
When you arrive, try a few formats and focal lengths in FieldGlass to confirm the main frame and a backup camera position, then decide whether to set up large format or change lenses.
Film and short-film prep
Set format lines to your target camera and recording mode, walk the location with reference video, and record composition, movement and on-set sound.
The light window
Combine the golden hour and sunset in sun planning, arrive early, and turn waiting for the light into working it out, then waiting.
Working as a team
Send gear spec cards and reference material to the team, to replace vague talk of roughly this focal length.
Turn framing from a guess based on experience into a decision you can see on location. FieldGlass — a viewfinder built for professional image-makers.
Download on the App Store