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Early access

Get Lamplit

The whole loop — ingest, cull, caption, copy and send — on macOS and Windows, tested on 2,792 real raw files.

Free for 14 days.

No card, no account — the download appears right here once you’ve given us an address to reach you at.

Only about your trial and the download. Product news only if you tick the box and confirm. No list sharing, ever. The privacy policy.

The beta

Shoot for a living? Skip the clock.

Beta testers get a key with no trial on it — free for as long as the beta runs, and the founding price, $59 a year, when it ends. In return: run it on real jobs, and tell us what breaks.

Ask for a key

One line about what you shoot is plenty. A person replies.

Where it actually stands

What’s done, and what isn’t.

Anything not on the left list is not built. We don’t describe a roadmap as if it shipped.

Working today

  • Ingest from card into dated folders, with an optional backup and an optional SHA-256 check of every copy
  • Copy & Move from the grid through the same sheet; a Move checks every copy before an original is retired
  • Culling: 0–5 stars, eight colour labels, pick and reject, undo across batches
  • Compare up to six frames side by side, each pane moving on its own
  • Filtering by rating, verdict, colour, text, capture date, ISO and focal length
  • IPTC captioning: synchronised XMP and legacy IIM, stationery with variables
  • JPEG export with resize, quality and filename templates
  • FTPS and SFTP transmit, with passwords in the system keychain
  • Non-destructive crop, straighten and rotate, and an exposure preview that is never written
  • Capture-time sync across bodies, GPS with offline reverse geocoding and optional online place search
  • Batch rename in place, live folder watching, multi-tab sessions
  • Keyboard shortcuts you can reassign
  • Signed builds that update themselves

Not built

  • Collections, virtual sets and saved selections
  • Histogram, exposure warnings and focus peaking
  • Contact sheets and print layouts
  • Watermarking, and any export format other than JPEG
  • Saved filter and export presets
  • Slideshow, duplicate detection, multi-monitor
  • Plugins and scripting
  • Checkout — the app has a 14-day trial and takes licence keys, but licences are not on sale yet

Requirements

What it runs on.

macOS

macOS 10.15 or newer — universal (Apple silicon and Intel)

One universal binary for both architectures. HEIC and HEIF decode through the system image pipeline, with nothing to install.

Windows

Windows 10 or newer — x64 and ARM64

A native ARM64 build, not emulation. HEIC and HEIF decode through Windows itself, which may need Microsoft’s HEIF and HEVC extensions — not yet checked on a real Windows machine.

There is no Linux build, and none is planned.

Weighing it against what you already run? The Photo Mechanic comparison opens with a box telling you when to stay where you are, and Will it open your files? names every camera we have run.

Installing

The awkward questions.

Why does my Mac say it can’t check the app for malicious software?

It should not — the app is signed with a Developer ID, notarized by Apple, and carries its notarization ticket, so a normal download opens with no dialog. If you do see that warning, the file did not come from us: check the SHA-256 on this page against the file you have, and if they differ, delete it and tell us.

Why does Windows warn me about an unknown publisher?

Installers are signed through Azure Artifact Signing, so the publisher is named rather than unknown. SmartScreen can still show a warning on a certificate that has not yet built up download reputation — that fades as more people install. Click “More info” and the signed publisher is shown.

How do I check that a download is really from you?

Every release publishes a SHA-256 next to the download above. Hash the file you got — `shasum -a 256 <file>` on macOS, `Get-FileHash <file>` in PowerShell — and compare. If the two do not match, do not run it, and tell us.

Does it update itself?

Yes. Lamplit checks for updates on launch and installs them with your say-so. Every update package is signed, and the app refuses one whose signature does not match the key it was built with.

Which Windows build do I need?

x64 unless you have an ARM PC — a Snapdragon-based Surface or similar. If you are not sure, x64 is the safe answer: it runs on ARM through emulation, just slower.