Photopills vs The Photographers Ephemeris vs Planit Pro | Photo Planning App Comparison!

[@Emilmarch]

Dude, your channel should be among the best photography channels. You don't deserve 32.4K subs, way more is your worth. Thanks for all the tutorials and information you shared till today.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much for your kind words Yu! Even though it can be challenging at times, I have a lot of fun making these and I learn a lot from all the research I do for each video and tutorial. Lots more to come so make sure to keep checking back. 😁👍

[@GR0ND]

Skyfire in TPE is more for predicting the quality of sunrise and sunset. It is useful for this. Also, the TPE website version is great for doing initial planning on a much larger monitor. Great video and thanks for doing the comparison.

[@mikesphotography]

NO worries, and thanks for the additional information for each of the functions in TPE. 👍

[@BNMXCVful]

I have both Photopills and PlanIt pro. I agree that PlanIt pro is a little complicated for a beginner, but it is quite intuitive to use after getting familiar with it. PlanIt pro can create your own buildings, and you also can search the Moon and the Sun in viewfinder (VR), this is very useful for precise planning.

[@mikesphotography]

Great to hear that planit pro is intuitive once you get used to it. Thanks for watching. 😁👍

[@zhaooskar3178]

personally I use planit pro. It has a special function called VR camera which is absolutely amazing. and since man can build shapes or just use the 3D buildings inside this APP, it is so helpful for city landscape photography and accuracy for sun/moon/milkyway alighment.

[@asheeshkchopra]

Awesome effort to summarise things that are so difficult to condense! Thankyou.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks very much Asheesh! THis was a big one to put together but interesting to see the differences between the three different apps. Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@dougstearns6746]

Nicely done. You covered a lot and made good sense of it. I’m really old school and even overwhelmed sometimes operating my a7lll I’m looking at photo pills. Thanks for the help.

[@stephenwoodburn2970]

I just watched the second Mike Smith video of the week. That means I have to go to work tomorrow, right? Wait, it's Friday. I am so confused...lol. Great overview of these apps, Mike. I absolutely love Photo Pills. I do also have the Photographer's Ephemeris, but generally get what I need from Photo Pills. I am super excited that we are getting close to Milky Way season. I can't wait to see some of your Milky Way shots this year. Thanks for the info, brother.

[@mikesphotography]

Haha!! This was a beast to edit...i originally thought it would be 10-20 minute video...then yesterday afternoon I realised that the photographers ephemeris was much more sophisticated on ios...blody snobs! 😆...then had to film the extra bits last night when I should have been uploading the video to KZbin...😩😆🤦🏻‍♂️ That'll teach me to do my research properly next time...I'm pretty happy with photopills although the photographers ephemeris 3D did peak my interest even though I hate the company's ethos...the shadow feature is top notch...shame I've recently switched to android... As always, Thanks for watching and commenting dude, really appreciate it. 👊

[@chryseass.5143]

That's a lot of information, Mike-whew! No wonder it took you a little while to edit!

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks!! Yep, it was a huge one to make...innitially I didn't think it was going to be this big but it just seemed to grow and grow!! 😆 I've put time codes in the description if you need to go to a certain part. 😁👍

[@keithpinn152]

Hi Mike: Thanks for creating and sharing this video. I have both the TPE (without the 3rd module) and Photo Pills. I do like that TPE has a web version. I am just starting to plan some shots when we travel to the Lake District and Scotland in June, so I am confident that on whatever I decide to use I will be in good shape. Cheers, Keith

[@mikesphotography]

That's great to hear Keith. It's good to have a variety of apps that work on different platforms so you can use them all to your advantage. As always, thanks for watching 😁👍

[@paulm8157]

Good comparison and review, Mike - just way too short and shallow (just kidding😁). Photopills closest for my needs. Appreciate the extra attention you paid to details in this vid: pics v screen shots to different backgrounds, and props like sunglasses, headphones, lens, coffee cup, and Transend SD cards. Need a spreadsheet to assess features vs. device model, OS version, special hardware specs. Wish developers would list all a la carte in-app purchase fees up front. Saw a few camera specific fields (in Photopills, I think) - in your experience, do developers post timely app updates to cover new gear?

[@mikesphotography]

Haha!! Maybe I should try and break the 1 hour mark next time!! 😆 when I first started making this one I thought it would be 15-20 minutes max...how wrong was I!!?? It was fun setting those birdseye scenarios as well...working on upping my game when it comes to the little details like that...It would be great if the companies did a list of features...in apps like these you really do need to see what is going on in them and know exactly what you get as there are soooo many different features...and the photographers ephemeris do really need to come into the modern world and make apps for both platforms...that was why it was late as well...I finished shooting everything and then just went through TPE on my old iphone and thought..."well that looks very different", so had to film that whole new section. With photopills they seem to be pretty quick with updates for new cameras. The A7riv was in there almost on or near the release date. 👍 Thanks for watching dude! 😁

[@sinetwo]

Absolutely fantastic video. Thank you so much for spending all this time looking into it. I used to use TPE for android and only now I'm realising how ridiculously limited it is.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks very much! I wanted to see which was the best, so thought I'd document the process! Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@sinetwo]

@@mikesphotography I'm on planit pro now mostly due to the VR aspect! It's incredibly powerful.

[@EsaMononen]

thank you for making this detailed video. The 3d planning with differen focal lengths was really useful

[@jonkers2007]

Mike, thank you for an incredibly comprehensive, in-depth review of these three apps. It's really helped me decide on a way forward now I've decided to plan my landscape shoots more carefully (and even dip my toe in milky way photography). Although I have TPE and Photopills, I think Planit Pro will meet my needs best, which surprises me as I came to youtube looking for vids on TPE 3D. Thanks again.

[@mikesphotography]

I'm glad I could help John. Planit Pro is definitely a powerhouse and gives you so much information. Thanks for watching. 👍

[@earavichandran]

Very great video. Photopills and planit pro for photographers are my favourite. Wonderful comparison between apps. Great.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Ravi, they are really good aren't they. 😁👍

[@billbell8800]

I use PhotoPills. Thanks for the great info Mike...

[@mikesphotography]

Awesome...I think that's the best of the three to be honest. 👍

[@JCouv52]

Excellent. Thank you Mike. I do have Photographers Ephemeris on Android and now see why its crippled! Thx

[@mikesphotography]

No worries John, I was really surprised at how crippled it actually is...it is basically the web app shrunk down to a phone app size...the photographers ephemeris guys are obviously apple fanboys!! 😆 Thanks for watching. 👍

[@redsgenesis]

Incredible video.. Really appreciate all the info & effort you put in.. Massive help in researching these planning apps.. Thank you!...

[@mikesphotography]

Great to heat it has helped! Thanks for watching. 😁👍

[@ryclarkmediaarts8845]

Waited until 2am for this..sorry fell asleep. Then got busy flying fpv....erm i mean crashing fpvs haha. Ok watching now. Thanks for this....I know it is gonna be valuable like all your content.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much dude...fpv is just like a video game...but way more fun...I'll have to get one and then we can start racing...I have an idea for a course in my apartment...a figure of 8 starting in the kitchen, out over the balcony, in the bedroom window, back through into the kitchen and then out and round through the office window and back to the kitchen...would be pretty rad...just need to buy all the gear for my setup!! 😆

[@ryclarkmediaarts8845]

@@mikesphotography OMG hahaha that is a crazy track.....

[@JustDavidMinistries]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Awww I needed this. Thank you so much, Mike.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much David. It was an interesting one to make...although so much info to cover...ive learned so much about all three apps after making it as well. 👍

[@JustDavidMinistries]

Mike Smith You’re right, Mike. Really interesting. I remember driving for two hours to fly a drone. Only to get there and realize the bad weather😂

[@mikesphotography]

Haha!!... I think we've all made a similar mistake over the years...i feel your pain...✊

[@JustDavidMinistries]

Mike Smith lol at least I’m not alone

[@AzWineNut]

Great information, and good overview of the apps and their individual advantages. Thank you! Seem like I'll go for Photopills......

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Gerry. It was a mission to put together but hopefully it's shown the benefits of each. I definitely learned how they all work 😁👍

[@michaelmckeag960]

I have and use all three (on iPhone and iPad), plus TPE companion apps. Nonetheless, your overview alerted me to particular details of each I’ve not taken full advantage of. I will be replaying the video in play, pause, experiment mode. I recently used all three to locate the camera position for full moonrise over Fonts Point in Anza Borrego Desert SP in Southern California. PlanIt Pro and TPE essentially agreed so that is where I set up. That location turned out to be too far north. PhotoPills was closer to correct. I will rework that moonrise in all three apps again. Hopefully I discover the apps are smarter than the user. That’s easier to fix.

[@mikesphotography]

Good to hear about your experiences with these three apps Michael. I find that sometimes the compass is spot on and other times it can be out by quite a bit. I always keep a proper compass with me now as well so I can correlate between the app and a true compass reading. Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@michaelmckeag960]

I reworked the 16 Feb full moonrise in all three apps and now get consistent results for the camera position along the N-S oriented 4WD trail within 4 decimal points in latitude for Photo Pills and TPE, also same moon azimuth and altitude and rise time over the Point. PlanIt Pro differs only slightly, 0.003 deg in latitude and moonrise over the Point 2 min earlier. The big error in PlanIt Pro is the viewfinder VR, showing the profile of Fonts Point over a degree north of actual. I placed too much confidence in the VR display originally than is warranted.

[@jandeboer]

Thanks Mike for This great comparising,

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, I hope it has helped. 😁👍

[@dbaleckaitis]

Great stuff as usual! Still split between Photopills and Planit Pro, I own them both.

[@mikesphotography]

They're both great aren't they. 😁 I prefer photopills for its ease of use, but planit Pro does have some kickass functions. 👍

[@fsi2210]

Same here, both are great

[@tallaganda83]

I have pills and TPE, I prefer TPE for some reason except the augmented reality setting on Pills. I love TPE 3D. Long story short I need both.

[@mikesphotography]

Haha!! You can never have too many apps!! 😆 TPE 3d is fantastic isn't it, I was really impressed with it! Thanks for watching. 👍

[@txpetbb]

Thanks Mike. Great job. That really helps. I think it's PhotoPills for me.

[@mikesphotography]

I think that's the best decsicion...it does seem to have the most user friendly interface. 😁👍

[@dbaleckaitis]

Hey Mike PhotoPills does have a kick ass widget that I prefer to the Planit Companion app- just saying

[@mikesphotography]

Haha! Excellent. 😁👍

[@gayleblackie]

Great review. Thank you very much. The 3d visuals looked great but I won't go iPhone just to get it 😄

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks Gayle! Indeed, I've moved to android recently and I really do prefer it!! 😁👍

[@gayleblackie]

@@mikesphotography I emailed them to see if there would ever be an android update in line with ios. He said they had to work on issues with the 3d app first and if other things go well this year he could maybe hire someone next year to see about android catching up with the ios one. So I'm not hopeful lol. I even looked into an ios emulator but that's not very good either. I guess I'll just have to do without the 3d ephemeris app. Thank you for bringing it to my attention and making me want something I can't have though 😄

[@bobby350z]

Thanks for the very detailed video.

[@mikesphotography]

No worries. Thanks for watching Bobby. 👍

[@vincenzomiceli]

great review Mike!

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks very much! 😁👍

[@Bazzasphotolife]

Thanks Mike, for another great video. I've been using photo pills for a while and after watching your review I think I made the right choice and have been happy with it.

[@mikesphotography]

I think you've chosen wisely...it does seem to be the best one out of the three...👍

[@SnapographyAP]

Great video. I hadn't heard of Planit Pro. I just use an android phone so not sure if its worth it but having dark sky feature built in is a big plus. Thanks Mike.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks! Most definitely...ive used photopills for so long so a built in light pollution map was definitely a bonus...i just wish the photographers ephemeris would get off their pedestal and make some proper android apps...as long as you've got a decent sized screen on your phone, planit Pro is well worth it. 👍

[@SnapographyAP]

@@mikesphotography I do a lot of landscape/ nightscape and timelapse so I guess I should give Planit Pro a try. 👍

[@mikesphotography]

@@SnapographyAP they're all pretty cheap for what you get from them, so try one and if you don't like it, get the other...👍

[@paulvo1621]

Wow. Thank you so much for this fantastic video. I wish to ask if any of these apps will put an event such as morning golden hour into the calendar (iOS or Google Calendar)?

[@mikesphotography]

Now that's a good question...I've just tried to select an event such as this in planit Pro and it doesn't seem to do much...ill try with the photographers ephemeris once my iPhone is charged...

[@paulvo1621]

@@mikesphotography Thank you. Your review of the TPE 3D is of interest to me. As I expand into aerial photography / videography, the capabilities of TPE 3D may help me plan my flights. For photography, I am using Sun Surveyor. It has pretty much all the features for you mentioned in your great video. Plus it can add a photo opportunities such as the upcoming Super Moon at Sunset in my iOS Calendar. I can setup alarms and plan my photo shoot. I find the ability to add a calendar event with the push of a button of great help. Manually entering information into the calendar is tedious. I look forward to your reply about the TPE on iOS and more of your great informative videos. :-)

[@andysuzierawlins5462]

I use photopills, but dont understand it all, ar function is useful, and planning a shoot, shows where mw going to be, all the other lines im not sure of

[@mikesphotography]

The best bet is to go into each of the tabs and see what is in there...and see if it offers any info that you might need or want. I find I only use the sun, the moon, the night AR and timelapse functions in there. Everything else just seems to be fluff...but sometimes useful fluff...🤔 Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@sbshutterbug]

Mike, thank you for making this video. It was very informative. Do any of the apps support downloading data for offline use? I was shooting the Milky Way and tried to use PhotoPills Night AR, but I had no service.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks Greg, it was a beast to make but I hope I got everything in there. 👍 That's strange, what phone were you using? I've used photopills a couple of times without signal and I got the night AR to work...I might have to do a video testing this out as so many locations we all go to as photographers have pretty dodgy signals...

[@sbshutterbug]

Mike, I have an iPhone SE. I know it’s a low end phone, but the AR works fine when I have service. I think offline use would be very helpful for photographers since we are regularly in remote locations. Thanks.

[@mikesphotography]

That shouldn't matter too much, I had the iPhone 7 until a few months ago. did it freeze on the spinning wheel and "waiting for a valid position" message? I just put my iPhone 7 into airplane mode with nothing connected to signal or wifi ... the night ar worked but the sun and moon ar didn't work... Whereas with my Huawei, they all worked...maybe it is model specific...🤔 I'll definitely test it out when I next go out to the remote location where I normally shoot the stars and then do a video on my findings...it would be interesting to see what other people have found with it as well.

[@sbshutterbug]

Mike, it was last year so I don’t remember exactly what happened. I do remember that I couldn’t use the Night AR where I was and I did not have a signal so I assumed the signal was the reason. I tried your airplane mode test this morning and the Night AR did work. According to the PhotoPills FAQ, “Note: You can use Maps offline! If you think there will be no network coverage, to create a Map that you can access offline you must proceed as follows: In the Planner, view the locations you want available offline by panning and zooming in and out to cover all the views you need.” I don’t know if that includes the Night AR or not.

[@bikooig]

thank you

[@mikesphotography]

And thank you for watching. 😁👍

[@abacab1701]

Hi Mike, Thanks for such an informative video, I use Photopills. I am on the lookout for an IOS app that will allow me to store just locations. which will let me kake notes. GPS, Keywords etc. So if I know the next day mist is being forecasted. Using mist as a keyword, the app will bring up all locations that I have selected as a area of interest. Any ideas? Thanks James

[@zhaooskar3178]

try planit

[@topaciot]

Sun Surveyor has never failed me for the last 12 years.

[@mikesphotography]

Great to hear! 😁👍