Archive republication: This review originally appeared in Digital Production 05:2019 and was republished online in June 2021. Features, compatibility, pricing and workflow details reflect the historical app version tested at that time.
This article originally appeared in Digital Production 05:2019.
The Android app Sun Locator Pro is designed to help photographers plan the position of the sun and moon for the best available natural light. The Lite edition calculates only the current day, but is sufficient for testing the app and checking compatibility with a particular phone. The Pro edition cost €5.99 at the time of review. A phone with a compass sensor is required; without one, the augmented-reality features—the live camera image with graphical overlays—cannot be used.
The app, available through Google Play, reliably calculated blue hour, golden hour and a range of related information. Particularly useful were its AR camera and the option to overlay a sundial on Google Maps. Although the height of the virtual pole was somewhat awkward to adjust, the preview made it possible to estimate the length of a shadow and its effect on a photograph. In the AR test, the real sun appeared almost exactly where Sun Locator predicted it.
Sun Locator had largely positive reviews in the Google Play Store, and every tested function worked as promised on a Huawei P20 Pro. Users could work with the current location and time or set both manually, while the compass also performed reliably.
One missing feature was a way to save a planned position and time as a calendar event or export it elsewhere. After the reviewer emailed the developer, the developer responded promptly with access to a beta version containing a 3D terrain view with shadows. It looked promising, although it was unclear whether or when that feature would ship, or whether it would form part of Sun Locator or a separate app. The exchange nevertheless suggested active development and a positive response to feature requests.
