Fotocast - Weather Forecast fo

Review by eFreeware

Fotocast is a weather app made by Dunbar Technology, LLC, and it is built for photographers rather than for the general forecast audience. It has been on Google Play since September 2017, has passed 10,000 installs, and holds a 3.9 average from 350 ratings. The idea is simple enough: take the weather information you would get anywhere, then layer photography-specific tools on top of it.

What makes it worth considering is that the extra layer is not decorative. The app scores conditions for shooting, tracks the light phases photographers actually plan around, and lets you schedule sessions and get warned when the forecast at those locations changes. If you decide where and when to shoot based on sky, wind and light, that combination is more useful than a standard forecast screen.

It is free to install, carries no ads, and offers in-app purchases. The app covers a long list of features. Android Wear watch support is included, which is a sensible fit for an app you might check while setting up a tripod.

How the Fotoscore works

The feature the developer leads with is Fotoscore, a 0-to-10 rating of whether conditions outside are good for photography. Crucially, the score is based on your photographer type, so the same weather can read differently depending on what you shoot. A landscape photographer and a portrait photographer do not want the same sky, and the score reflects that distinction rather than pretending one number fits everyone.

That is the part I find most appealing, because it turns a wall of meteorological numbers into a single judgment you can act on. Instead of reading wind speed, cloud cover and precipitation chance separately and doing the mental arithmetic yourself, you get a quick read and can dig into the detail only when the number surprises you.

The developer also promises sunrise and sunset quality scores, which estimate whether the sky is likely to be colorful at those hours based on conditions known to affect it. Anyone who has driven out for a sunset that turned flat gray will understand why that is a useful thing to have before you commit to the trip.

Forecasts, alerts and the light you plan around

Fotocast includes minutely hyperlocal precipitation forecasts, so you can watch rain minute by minute and set alerts for when it starts. The developer notes that this minutely coverage applies in the USA, the United Kingdom and some of Canada, so photographers elsewhere are working with the broader forecast data instead. Animated radar and a range of weather maps are included, among them a light pollution map aimed at night photographers.

The Daylight Phases screen shows blue hour, golden hour, high noon and sunrise and sunset times, laid out for people who plan shoots around light rather than around the clock. There is also a sun and moon direction tool that shows the sun's position for any location, date and time, which is useful when scouting a shot in advance.

Alerts are configurable per location and go beyond the usual rain warnings. The developer gives examples such as low wind speed at a pond or lake for reflection shots, or fog for more atmospheric images. You can also theme the interface with a color of your choice, hide conditions you do not care about, and change the font style.

Planning sessions, gear and mileage

The session manager lets you program future shoots, with more than one location per session, and notifies you when the weather at those places changes. For anyone coordinating with clients or arranging a shoot days ahead, that is a more targeted tool than a general forecast notification, because it watches the specific spots you have committed to.

You can store your photography gear in a database and set which weather conditions each item needs. The app then produces photography suggestions that change with conditions and with your photographer type, including tips for weather that is still on the way. It is a way of turning your own kit list into advice rather than reading generic guidance.

Two smaller tools round this out. The trip log records mileage during a session, which matters if you claim travel costs. An inspiration feed shows photos from other photographers matched to the current weather and your photographer type, which is a reasonable way to get ideas when conditions are unusual.

Calculators, almanac and the Sunny 16 indicator

There are 11 photography calculators built in, covering the exposure arithmetic that comes up in the field. A Sunny 16 rule indicator adjusts automatically with current conditions, so you have a starting exposure without working it out yourself.

The almanac is the more unusual inclusion. It lets you look up past weather for a given day across many years, going further than a standard almanac by analyzing conditions on that date over the past 50 years and producing an average. The reasoning is that weather patterns often repeat around the same time of year, which is a plausible basis for choosing a date for a shoot you can plan months ahead.

None of these are the reason to install Fotocast on their own, but together they mean you are not switching to a separate calculator or reference while you are out shooting. That consolidation is the quiet argument for the app.

What it asks of you

Fotocast is free to download and shows no ads. It does offer in-app purchases, so the app is not entirely without a commercial side. Android Wear watch support is included if you own a compatible watch.

The real requirement is informational rather than financial. Fotoscore depends on you telling the app what type of photographer you are, and the suggestions depend on you entering your gear and the conditions you need it for. The session manager only earns its keep once you have programmed your shoots into it, and the alerts only fire for locations you have set up.

If you are outside those areas, the hyperlocal rain detail is the part you will not get, even though the rest of the toolkit applies wherever you shoot.

Getting value out of it

The sensible way to approach Fotocast is to set it up before you need it. Choose your photographer type first, since the score and the suggestions both key off it. Then add the gear you actually carry and the conditions you would want it for, so the tips have something to work with.

After that, program the shoots you already have planned, with each location, and let the app watch those forecasts for you. That is where the session manager shifts from a feature list entry to something that changes how you prepare. If you shoot at a few regular spots, setting alerts for wind, fog or rain at each of them takes a few minutes.

Customizing the interface is worth doing early rather than late. Hiding the conditions you never check and picking a theme makes the app faster to read at a glance, which is the whole point of a score-based layout. The almanac and calculators are there when a specific question comes up, and the daylight phases screen is the one I would expect most photographers to open on every shoot day.

A weather app for people who shoot on location

Fotocast suits photographers who plan shoots around weather and light: landscape, night, portrait and anyone working outdoors with clients. The Fotoscore, the daylight phases screen, the session alerts and the light pollution map all serve that way of working, and the gear-based suggestions add a personal layer that a general forecast app cannot offer.

The caveats are modest but real. Minutely precipitation is limited to the USA, the UK and some of Canada. The app asks you to invest setup time in your photographer type, your gear and your sessions before the tailored parts become useful. And it is a 3.9-rated app with a small install base, so it does not have the polish record of the biggest weather apps.

If you check the forecast to decide whether to take a camera out, rather than just whether to take an umbrella, this is a well-stocked toolkit at no cost to try. If you only want tomorrow's temperature, a standard weather app will do the job with less configuration.