Exposure Calculations On Your Wrist ⏱️ Introducing A Light Meter Watch

At the recent Photography Show I bumped into an engaging chap called Richard, who showed me an intriguing prototype: a device that both told the time AND the exposure settings for my film camera! So I asked him some questions...

Richard, how lovely of you to talk to us! Before we get onto your product idea, what did your personal start in film photography look like?

My pleasure! So the short answer is I remember seeing ‘Spiderman’ in 2002 and noticing Peter Parker was a photographer in tandem with being a crime-fighting hero which I always thought was cool...

Nikon F-1 for our spidey friend!

Jokes aside, the long answer is I’ve always appreciated photography but never gave it my full attention growing up. I also have a love for all things vintage and retro whether that’s music, tech or clothing so naturally I had a leaning towards shooting film.

I inherited my grandad’s old Olympus P+S which I’d use for festivals and parties, but eventually I wanted something that combined the manual control of a DSLR with the ‘in the moment’ approach of film. So that’s what started my hunt for my first proper manual film camera.

What is your favourite camera and film to use in daily life?

It absolutely has to be the camera that sparked my inspiration for this whole project in the first place: My beloved Minolta Hi-Matic 7S-ii in the rarer black colour. I bought it untested from a random US Ebay seller who had themselves picked it up from a yard sale.

Thankfully, mechanically everything seemed to work apart from the light meter (more on this later). Film-wise, I’m honestly pretty agnostic and I never seem to load the same film twice, but if I had to pick I tend to gravitate towards Ultramax 400 as my trusty go-to.

What’s your favourite film photo that you’ve ever taken, and what makes it so special for you?

It’s got to be this photo of a saxophone player during my trip to Cartagena Colombia last year. This guy was sitting playing his sax every morning just a few metres from our AirBnb.

Honestly, if this was in England I’d probably get annoyed but for Colombia it perfectly captured the relaxed and carefree vibe of the country. The best alarm you could ever wake up to.

So tell us about this exciting idea - what is your brand or product name?

Our company name is 'Increment Labs' and product name is ‘LMW-V1’.

‘LMW’ being an abbreviation for ‘Light Meter Watch’...

Super intriguing! How did the idea for this light meter watch came about?

I mentioned my Minolta had a broken light meter, so I took this as a sign to learn manual photography (not that I had any other choice). Trouble is, as a 20-something living in London, it’s quite hard to fit photography in your schedule when you’re already occupied with a career, family, relationships etc. I mean, I’m not exactly going to bring my camera on the tube for a drizzly morning commute to work am I? [Ed: speak for yourself!! But I know what you mean...]

I realised people don’t actually have cameras in their hand the vast majority of the time so what if there was a tool to help you sense-check your intuition on aperture and shutter speed everywhere you went? This way you can learn manual mode without even needing a camera in your hand. And that’s how the idea of the light meter watch was born. 

In your mind - what problem does it solve for film photographers?

I really believe the watch has value for both film and digital as a training tool. Like I said, even the most staunch photographers don't carry a camera 24/7, so this is a great way to keep your eye trained and accurate for judging exposure. For film photographers, the watch provides that extra layer of safety so you can shoot with confidence even when your camera’s light meter expired in the 90s.

Compared to Sekonics, this is far less intrusive and way more ergonomic. Compared to regular hot shoe-mounted meters, ours is far more robust, let alone the bigger screen means we can include more features and information (such as an alarm for golden hour!)

Makes sense to me! What are your hopes for the light-meter watch?

First and foremost I want people to adopt the idea that our watch can genuinely make you a better photographer when it comes to shooting manual.

Credit: George Malin Modelmaker

Long term we want to establish our brand as the de-facto go-to watch for photographers. Essentially if you’re a photographer, this is the watch to get, regardless of whether you shoot film or digital.

A wonderful aspiration for your company. Talk us through the design evolution - where did it start and where do you hope it’ll end?

Gladly! Analogue shooters are our main customer base, so we really wanted to capture that retro-futurist vibe (before everything had an annoying app associated with it). As the first dedicated watch brand for photographers there’s so many design cues we can pull from decades of camera design.

For example the case will have the same brushed aluminium look you get from old rangefinders. We’re engraving the case to be reminiscent of the zone focus lines you get on Leica lenses. Even the strap is going to be in the same leather texture as old leatherette grip.

For our next model we want the bezel to feature the same pattern as the grip of a lens ring, the possibilities are endless!

If LWM-V1 goes well, what’s next for you?

If things go well, we definitely want to release a more premium ‘V2’ model of our watch. Right now we’re using a reflected meter, but an incident meter is definitely on the cards next time around. Taking feedback from photographers there’s so many more features we can include such as flash sync, timers for dark room developing, even colour and white balance sensors.

Like I said there’s so much possibility and we’re only getting started.

How can film photographers support your idea?

We’re planning to launch our Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign on May 5th. If this light meter watch is up your alley, join our VIP list as you can grab it for the cheapest price once we launch (£110 down from £185 MSRP). Maybe also share this with a learning photographer if this is something they’d be into!

Credit: George Malin Modelmaker

And finally - how can folk stay up-to-date with your progress and learn more about the project?

The best way to stay in the loop on our project is via our Insta (@incrementlabs)!

You can also become a VIP member of our fledgling community.

VIP members have access to our exclusive VIP Discord community where we sense-check a lot of our ideas and inspiration before sharing to the wider online community. VIP members also have a chance of becoming product testers ahead of our full launch. 

Team Increment Labs: Edward and Richard

There we go! Personally I love this - the innovation and the execution are both very impressive, and anything that helps folks avoid under-exposing their photos (that always make us sad when we see them come through our lab) is good news.

Obviously time will tell (WATCH PUN) if the functionality and aesthetics can win out over more traditional timepieces and the electronic convenience of smartwatches, but I am fully behind the vision!