Increment Labs' first product is a wrist watch for photographers that features a built-in light meter, golden hour alarm, and more.
, is gearing up to launch its debut product, the world’s first light meter-equipped watch designed from the ground up for photographers. The upcoming LMW-V1 is scheduled to launch on Kickstarter on May 5.
Increment Lab’s co-founders, Rich Soler and Eddie Wells, joined by Andy Parker-Jones, are confident that the LMW-V1 will improve how photographers capture photos in the field. The watch has an integrated light meter, which Soler tellsmakes it much easier and faster to use than a smartphone app or dedicated light meter. Further, by putting a convenient, fast light meter on the photographer’s wrist, they can regularly check light levels and, over time, sharpen their own instincts about exposure.“I struggled to master manual photography,” Soler says. “Between work, family, and a social life, I rarely had my camera with me enough to actually ‘train my eye’ for aperture and shutter speed.” “That’s when I had my light bulb moment: What if you could measure light everywhere you go? What if there was a discreet tool you could wear daily, like a watch, to sharpen your technical skills even when your camera is at home?”Soler and Wells met in university and quickly hit it off, becoming long-time friends. While Soler believed in his initial idea, he lacked the skills to bring it to life. Meanwhile, Wells, a talented engineer, had the technical know-how to make something like the LMW-V1. Once the duo founded Increment Labs, they immediately began a rigorous design process. They spent months interviewing photographers about what they would want from a light meter watch, and the consensus among photographers, from beginners to pros, was that a good product would help them learn more about exposure while also serving as a reliable replacement for a standalone light meter.“Every detail, from sensors, design to packaging was designed with photographers in mind. The only watch a photographer would ever need,” Increment Labs explains. The final design sports a practical, retro-inspired aesthetic. It, of course, has a built-in light meter , but its connection to photography runs throughout the entire design.“Its reflective metering system works like a camera’s, providing fast and reliable readings. The sensor is highly linear across a wide range of exposure levels, keeping results stable as lighting shifts. You set the ISO, then choose aperture‑priority or shutter‑priority, and the watch calculates the remaining settings instantly,” Increment Labs promises. Its e-ink display looks like what photographers would see in an SLR or DSLR viewfinder. The watch has an alarm for golden hour and dedicated areas on the face for shutter speed, aperture, and ISO values, plus, of course, the time. It is a watch, after all. The machined-aluminum watch is waterproof, scratch-resistant, rechargeable, and features a red backlight to preserve night vision. “We want our watch to encourage and help people learn the technical aspects of photography and become comfortable with manual mode,” Soler tellsThe first watch, the LMW-V1, is just the beginning for Increment Labs. If the company can get fully off the ground, it has many ideas for other watches for photographers, including potentially more advanced models with an incident light meter, color and white balance readings, flash sync info, exposure compensation, and more.The Increment Labs LMW-V1 will debut on Kickstarter on May 5, and the company says it plans to target a price around £110 for early , which is just under $150 at current exchange rates. The eventual retail price will be around £185, which is about $250.Increment Labs. Please note that the images in this story include real photos of prototypes, design illustrations, and product renders. There are no real-world photos of the final, production-quality LMW-V1 watch.: Although the Kickstarter campaign for the LMW-V1 is not yet live, it is important to note that it will be launching first on the crowdfunding platform. Make sure you do your own research into any crowdfunding project you’re considering backing. While we aim to only share legitimate and trustworthy campaigns, there’s always a real chance that you can lose your money when backing any crowdfunded project. PetaPixel does not participate in any crowdfunding affiliate programs. To hold projects accountable, all crowdfunding campaigns on which PetaPixel reports are, or, in this case, will be, financially backed with the lowest-tier option to give the publication visibility into all backer-only communications. If a campaign owner acts in a manner inconsistent with its promises, PetaPixel will share that information publicly.
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