LensKit is a new iOS app that gives photographers the ability to try out lots of different cameras and lenses to see how they work together. It will even help visualize the photograph by displaying a simulation.

Zak Ray, based in New York, has created a new tool that is a comprehensive database of adapters, cameras and lenses that photographers can put together to see which lenses can be used on which camera. The application tells you what the equivalent focal length will be depending on the format of the camera.

Ray spoke to PetaPixel and explained that LensKit was born out of a need to keep up with the increasingly complex specifications of digital cameras.

“I started working in the cinema just after the transition from film to digital. Although film cameras had their own idiosyncrasies, they were much less varied than digital cameras. Overall, they were simpler tools and there was less to keep in mind,” says the Vermont native.

Ray says filmmakers need to know more technical specs on the spot and with new cameras coming out every year it can be difficult to keep up with the different sensor sizes, recording formats and dynamic range.

“In college, I created a spreadsheet that covered the different cameras in my school’s film program. Eventually it grew to include all the major cameras used by filmmakers, at which point the spreadsheet became quite heavy, and it slowly became the CameraKit application.

LensKit is a natural extension of the same idea, allowing the user to combine lenses with a camera body to see a field of view or focal length, which could be especially useful for a busy filmmaker.

A handy tool for photographers and filmmakers

While the app is geared more towards moving still images, Ray says LensKit’s tools are also useful for photographers.

“The lens specs I’ve included in this first release are all cinema lenses, but I definitely plan to add prime lenses in the future as many filmmakers (including me) use them often. “

The app consists of lenses from Arri, Canon, Cook, Leica, Zeiss, Irix, Laowa, Panavision, Rokinon, Sirui, Tokina and others with full specs for all lenses except some info missing from Panavision.

LensKit not only displays the count, but uses a smart coverage overlay that displays a lens’ image circle on the selected camera sensor to ensure that the selected shooting mode is covered. .

The app allows photographers to set the distance between the camera and the subject or even provides the Super35 equivalent focal length for what is currently equipped. It even has a depth of field tool.

Ray is a cinematographer and colorist who splits his time 50-50 between freelance work and app development, and he originally created the apps to use himself.

“I think that’s always the best reason to make a product because you know what you want, you care about making it good, and you care about maintaining it.”

LensKit is free on the Apple App Store but offers in-app purchases to unlock all of its abilities.