LIT DUO 1 Review – Shedding Light on the All-in-One Light Meter and Spectrometer

Accessory Review

by Graham SheldonAugust 20^th, 2026

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The $799 LIT Systems LIT DUO 1 comes with the pledge to combine two expensive pieces of equipment found on most commercial, film & television sets: the light meter and the spectrometer. One less thing to carry? Fresh off a brand-new 0.9 firmware update, this device is chock-full of features, but the thing I care most about is accuracy. I was thrilled by the potential, but the LIT DUO 1 would have to match or outperform my favorites to convince me to make the switch. Can one meter be your kit workhorse?

At the core of the LIT DUO 1 is the ability to measure both exposure and color accuracy. Previously, I needed two separate devices from Sekonic or Konica to accomplish this. Sekonic is the industry standard in this space, and I see their products on most of the mid- to large sets I work on, either in the hands of a gaffer or fellow cinematographers.

I am not the only one at CineD eagerly tracking the development progress of the Lit Duo 1. You can view an interview with the creator of the product on CineD’s Focus Check podcast courtesy of my colleague Johnnie right here:

I have previously used a Sekonic C700 in all my lighting reviews for CineD to verify that a given lighting fixture is indeed outputting what the light fixture’s menu or marketing materials are promising. There are many reasons, but color accuracy is especially important to me because, like most of us, I’m pointing lights at human faces, and I need to trust that the lighting equipment I’m working with is true.

LED lights also tend to shift color over time with normal use, and they become less and less accurate after tens of thousands of hours in varied conditions on set. Most LED fixtures I work with are rated for 50,000 hours of use. How do I know when it might be time to service a light fixture? I test it with a spectrometer if I can’t see anything wrong with it visually.

With fixtures that I own, I have a general sense of their lifespan (different lights make that easy with a record of lifetime hours accessed in the display), but for high-volume rental lights, it is especially important to verify their accuracy.

The LIT DUO 1 promises peace of mind for users and verification that they’re using the best equipment. No one wants a surprise call from post after filming wraps.

First Impressions

It is easy to see why the LIT DUO 1 caused a splash. They ran a widely successful Kickstarter campaign back in late 2025. For one, it is simply more fun to use than a competing Sekonic device. The exterior design brings to mind the retro 80s and 90s gaming handheld era. I will bravely admit my first reaction was, “This is so cute!” Think OG ‘Nintendo’ in the best way. Form is not arm wrestling function, though. A 1/4-20 thread at the bottom lets you mount it anywhere you want. (Not how I use my meters, but the option is there.)

A quick glance in the easily daylight-viewable menu reveals all sorts of testing options useful for photo and video professionals, including:

• Color
• Illuminance
• Exposure
• Spectrum
• Flicker Meter

Notably, the Sekonic devices I’ve used can’t address lighting flicker. This is especially a problem with existing building lighting, and I recently ran into this while filming with an NFL team at a practice facility. My usual fix is to simply cycle through various shutter speeds in-camera until the flicker goes away – not exactly scientific, but it works.

I could have instead walked around the practice arena with my LIT DUO 1 during my scout and noted the areas where the flicker was especially bad and planned accordingly.

Scrolling through the menu is simple and straightforward using the cross-shaped D-pad and the blue and green buttons. Perhaps a touchscreen would have been nice to have, but the D-pad isn’t hard to use for anyone who played video games as a kid. My Sekonic C700 has notoriously finicky touchscreen capabilities. (One must press hard on each button to register) so I don’t miss touchscreen here.

The standard kit comes with the LIT DUO 1 device itself, three AAA batteries, a small protective case, and a neck strap. Initially, I was annoyed I would need to think about AAA batteries at all given the trend towards rechargeable lithium power options for anyone on set (audio department aside), but the engineers thought of this, and you can charge the internal batteries through the side USB-C port, provided the three AAA batteries are NiMH.

In fact, the AAA batteries powered the device for several long shoot days in a row for me without the need to change or recharge. Fantastic.

The aluminum LIT DUO 1 is physically much smaller than the comparable Sekonic spectrometer and weighs 150g/0.33 lbs. The Sekonic C-700U and C-800 each weigh about 250g/0.55 lbs.

I do think it would be difficult to damage the aluminum LIT DUO 1 exterior, but the two sensors on the front seem fragile, so I wouldn’t go swinging it at wayward C-stands.

Out of the box, the LIT DUO 1 is impressive, and my hat goes off to the LIT Systems team for building a device aimed squarely at videographers, cinematographers, and gaffers looking to take the guesswork out of their day-to-day shoots. The $799 price tag feels like a bargain given the feature set — especially in an industry with ever-ballooning price tags.

App Control

The LIT Light Meter app, available for both iOS and Android, was previously devoted to serving as a Firmware update portal. It also gave users useful tips and hints about the future development of the LIT DUO 1 in blog form. Now, alongside the arrival of firmware 0.9, we have the chance to remotely control the LIT DUO 1 using a mobile device.

Verify that “Bluetooth” is enabled in the menu, connect in the app, and then scroll over to the “Measure” tab at the bottom of the app, and you have the option of remotely controlling your LIT DUO 1 in all measurement modes from your mobile device.

As you scroll through the app, you can see the screen change in near real time on the device itself – which is helpful feedback that your inputs are triggering correctly. Touch a button on the device, and you can also see the UI change on your phone.

The UI of the app is very clean, and the buttons have been replicated in app form, down to the same color pattern as the device itself: blue and green for navigating the menu and red for measuring. You can also keep a watchful eye on the battery life on your phone.

I appreciate how the LIT Systems team has been sharing future development plans on the app and engaging with LIT DUO 1 users publicly. Beyond helpful posts in the app, the development team often answers questions and concerns on public forums. I’m always a little wary of engaging with brands that feel like an endless flowchart of bots. LIT Systems is definitely engaged and accessible.

The app’s live remote capabilities open up interesting possibilities for using the device in ways I haven’t with other heavier light meters and spectrometers. Want to mount it on a C-Stand while you work at your DMX control board? You can do that. Want to really annoy your camera operator and mount a lightweight LIT DUO 1 on the top of A-Cam somewhere? You can do that too…

I did find the app’s Bluetooth range limited to about 3 meters / 10 feet during regular use, so you could only really use these features in close quarters.

However, none of this matters if the accuracy isn’t there, so let’s get into the nitty-gritty.

Color Temp Accuracy and Exposure

I wanted to test how the LIT DUO 1 performed head-to-head with the Sekonic C700-U, measuring the Profoto 600C. The Profoto 600C seemed like a good subject for this test because it had stellar color accuracy across the board in my previous testing. You can read that full review HERE.

With a target of 5600K on the Profoto 600C (measured at the same distance with the Profoto kit reflector installed), I measured a CCT of 5640K on the Sekonic and 5789K on the LIT DUO 1. Output, measured in lux on both devices, hit 76972 lux on the LIT DUO 1 and 79600 lux with the Sekonic. The light was at 100% output the entire time.

For comparison, I then set the Profoto light to 3200K. The Sekonic measured 3262K and the LIT DUO 1 measured 3278K. The LIT DUO 1 measured an output of 55321 lux (not pictured above because it is on another screen) compared with 55000 lux on the Sekonic. Both devices are getting much closer readings at the 3200K end of the spectrum compared with the 5600K end.

I then did another test with a 6000K target, and the results follow the same trend: the LIT DUO 1 diverges from the Sekonic results at the daylight end of the color spectrum. The Sekonic and the LIT DUO 1 align much closer on the tungsten side of the lighting spectrum when measuring both CCT and lux.

What did we learn? The LIT DUO 1 doesn’t perform quite as well as my (significantly more expensive) Sekonic spectrometer device when measuring color or output measured in lux. As an optimist, I’d say they are pretty close.

Keep in mind that the regular firmware updates keep rolling in, so I hope to see these results improve over time. OS 0.9 beta 4 allows the user to “tune” ambient exposure, flash exposure, illuminance, and color temp in the “advanced settings.” I’m guessing this is intended to match the LIT DUO 1 with other trusted reference devices. However, my hope is that the LIT DUO 1 will one day be the reference device I trust, and I won’t need that feature. For now, you can change those settings if you wish.

I did test the LIT DUO 1 against a few Sekonic light meters (mostly borrowing from different gaffer friends) on different sets, and here it performed superbly. For exposure, this device does quite well, and the flicker mode is rock solid.

Final Thoughts

The LIT DUO 1 is available for sale right now at B&H, CVP, and beyond. That makes it fair game for a review article, because this is not a post-Kickstarter prototype. Still, I can’t escape the idea that the LIT Systems team has more to tinker with on the software side.

For me, the LIT DUO 1 does not replace my more expensive Sekonic devices… yet. The flicker detection and exposure modes alone are enough for me to keep bringing out my LIT DUO 1 on shoots. Having the added ability to wirelessly control the device from my phone is also a huge bonus, depending on the job, even with the limited wireless range.

For those considering purchasing a LIT DUO 1, the decision may come down to what’s already on your shelf. If you own a more expensive Sekonic Spectrometer, this isn’t a perfect replacement for measuring color accuracy (unless you tune it to match your preferred device). However, the LIT DUO 1 is a great light meter with the added benefit of having flicker detection and a spectrometer that is (currently) most accurate on the tungsten side of the spectrum.

My hat goes off to LIT Systems for engineering a disruptive product that reminds us we can have better as filmmakers, despite years of using tools with flaws with which we’ve all learned to live. For now, though, I will grumble through using my Sekonic touchscreen on my spectrometer, with a hopeful eye on the watch for any updates.

For more information, visit the LIT Systems website.

What do you think? Will you be adding the LIT DUO 1 to your kit? Let us know in the comments below!