Gel Swatch Library

I’ve had this app for over a decade and it’s great. Solid.

Great app! I would love to be able to cross compare ANY 2 gels, not just what is comparable to the first selected gel. Also once you add a gel to a project, you should be able to click on those gels and see the waveform and transmission %. Not just attached notes. Fix those two things and you’ve got a 5 star app!

Great tool if you take the time to set your screens brightness and color temperature this app renders color really well. Also has nice features to make your life easier.

Thank you for the latest Gel Swatch iPhone app update. The ability to use my iPhones camera or a calibrated photo to preview thousands of gel colors plus compare gels side by side over the image? This update is a game changer for my location scouts, tech meetings and those quick “What gel looks good here?” moments. I can’t wait to use it out in the field and on-set. It’s top of the stack now in my iPhones Cinematography Apps folder. One suggestion on improving the app. If the apps photo preview feature gave us the ability to selectively erase or paint on an area of the color gel overlay (for still photos only, not the live camera) this would really help in coming up with complex color combos. The ability to show Production Designers, Set Painters and Props people where a gel color wash will play on a live set would be incredible for an iPhone app. Tiffen used to have 2 iPhone apps that allowed masking to a certain degree with their camera filters overlaid on top of still photos. They sold it off I believe and it’s now called “DFT” aka Digital Film Tools in the iPhone App Store. It still functions the same and I use it all the time. I don’t know how complex app coding is but just a thought on taking the app to the next level. Have a great New Year! Kurt Kurt Rauf Director/Cinematographer

Well, that took 5 years but I'm very grateful for the additions and improvements. Thanks!

I use this App for almost every one of my productions, it's a very useful and powerful tool to have in your kit.

Despite the belated nature of the review (I've had the app for over three years now), this is one of the best app purchases I've ever made as a professional film lighting technician. As both a means of making color suggestions to cinematographers, as well as finding alternatives to colors I've used in the past, it's invaluable. On top of that, I've used it countless times to identify an unmarked cut of gel pulled from the truck (as long as there's a catalog number on it somewhere, this app can pinpoint it). Couldn't ask for more. Thanks so much, Wybron!

... but too bad they don't have Rosco swatches in "classic gel book" order rather than numerical order. Would be great to scroll through chromatically.

I had an interesting idea posed to me while showing off this app. With oldschool gel swatches, you can easily see what your set looks like with that color on it by just looking through the gel under the stage light. What I'd like to see is a way to add a filter to the camera screen so you can see how the color looks on the set. I know the transmission won't be perfect, but it'd at least give the designer an idea of what to expect.

Hey ToasterDog (yes, you know who this is!) I find this handy in many ways, but, yes, for theater one should always refer to a swatch book. However when you do jobs like I do, it can be a really useful tool. It's fast, it's accurate (but not to tungsten quality) and you don't need to run to the bus/hotel to get a swatch book. With hundreds of gels out there and limited time, this app can be a lifesaver. If you have 3 weeks to sit in a theater... carry swatch books.