Sun position apps for photographers: PhotoPills, Sun Surveyor and The Photographer’s Ephemeris

You may already know the basic idea: runway axis plus sun azimuth gives the time window in which a spot works. Fortunately, you don’t have to do the math yourself – sun position apps draw the sun direction for every time and date right onto the map. Three names come up again and again among photographers: PhotoPills, Sun Surveyor and The Photographer’s Ephemeris. This comparison shows you what the three can do, where they differ and which app brings the most for plane spotting.

The short answer

All three apps reliably answer every spotter’s core question: From which direction and how high is the sun at a given time in a given place? The differences lie in the surroundings.

• PhotoPills is the most comprehensive solution: a map planner, AR preview and numerous photo calculators in one app. Ideal if you take a lot of photos anyway and like having everything in one place.
• Sun Surveyor is fastest in the field: the 3D compass and camera view show the sun’s path directly over the real horizon. With the free Lite version, you can get started risk-free.
• The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) is the map app among the three: it comes from landscape photography, also runs in the browser and is strong at planning at the desk.

If you don’t yet know how to bring together runway number, spot side and sun direction, read the basics guide Planning sun position first. This article picks up there and compares the tools.

What a sun position app has to do for spotters

Before we get to individual apps, it’s worth looking at what really counts at the airport. Landscape photographers often plan months ahead whether the sun will rise behind a mountain peak on a particular day. Plane spotting is different: you know the axis along which your subjects move, and above all you want to know when the sun is behind you.

That gives four requirements:

1. Azimuth line on the map. You want to see the sun direction laid over the runway. That lets you tell right away whether you have front light, side light or backlight at a spot.
2. Time slider. A slider you use to scroll through the day is the most important control. It lets you find in seconds when the light flips.
3. Sun elevation. For approach shots from a low angle, the elevation decides whether the underside of the fuselage still gets light. The elevation should be easy to read.
4. Horizon check on site. Terminals, halls and trees shorten every calculated window. A camera view with the sun path overlaid shows you at the fence when the low sun really disappears.

Everything beyond that – Milky Way, star trails, eclipse simulation – is nice but, for most spotters, extra. Exception: night photographers who stage aircraft against a starry sky or the moon. For them, the night features are definitely worthwhile; more in the guide Photographing aircraft at night.

PhotoPills: the toolbox

PhotoPills comes from the Spanish provider PhotoPills S.L. and is something like the Swiss army knife of photo planning. The app is divided into individual modules that the maker calls “pills”. At the center is the planner: a map on which you set a camera location and a subject point. The app then shows the direction and elevation of the sun, moon and Milky Way for any chosen time.

According to the App Store description, there are also:

• an AR view that overlays the sun, moon and Milky Way, but also the celestial equator and the North Star, onto the camera image,
• times for sunrise and sunset, twilight, golden and blue hour as well as moonrise and moonset with a moon calendar,
• photo calculators for time-lapse, star trails, long exposure, hyperfocal distance, depth of field and field of view,
• a to-do list for planned shots and saved places with photos and notes.

For spotters, the planner is the real gain. If you set the camera point at your spotting position and the subject point in the middle of the runway, the app immediately shows how the sun relates to the line of sight. The field-of-view calculator is a nice bonus if you want to estimate whether a widebody still fits completely in the frame at your focal length – also helpful when choosing gear, see Best camera for plane spotting.

Price and platform: In the German App Store, PhotoPills costs a one-time €12.99 (as of October 2026), and the app requires iOS 15 or later. For Android, the maker also offers a version; check price and feature set there directly on Google Play. Which other apps are worthwhile for your smartphone is shown in the overviews Spotter apps for iPhone and Spotter apps for Android.

Sun Surveyor: the quick compass

Sun Surveyor comes from the independent developer Adam Ratana. The app focuses more on the view on site than on map planning. Its trademark is the 3D compass: you hold up your smartphone and see the sun’s path over the day as an arc around you. In the camera view, this path is projected directly onto the live image.

According to the store description, the full version also offers:

• an interactive map with sun and moon lines as well as Street View panoramas,
• a detailed ephemeris with times for golden and blue hour, sunrises and sunsets of the sun and moon,
• a time machine slider with which you play through the light over a day or a year,
• a shadow projection,
• magnetic declination compensation,
• offline operation, except for the map view.

What is exciting for spotters is the combination of camera view and time slider. At the fence, you hold the phone toward the hangar and see at what time the sun disappears behind the roof. This is exactly the information missing from any pure map calculation. The Street View mode helps you assess an unfamiliar spot from ground perspective at home.

Price and platform: The iOS full version costs a one-time €9.99 in the German App Store; the Lite version is free (as of October 2026). According to the official website, Sun Surveyor is also on Google Play.

The Photographer’s Ephemeris: the map app

The Photographer’s Ephemeris, TPE for short, is the pioneer among the three. The idea came about in 2008 after a landscape photography course in the Rocky Mountains, and a first desktop version appeared as a beta in March 2009. Behind the project are Stephen Trainor and Alison Craig with their company Crookneck Consulting LLC.

TPE consistently thinks from the map. You set a red pin for your location, and the app draws lines toward sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, as well as for the current position. A timeline at the bottom shows twilight, golden hour and moon phase over the course of the day. According to the App Store description of the iOS app, it also includes:

• seven map types, including two usable offline and two topographic,
• line-of-sight analysis (Geodetics) with distance, bearing and elevation angle between two points, to estimate whether there is a clear view between location and subject,
• a visual search that finds days and times when the sun or moon lines up with your subject,
• augmented reality for checking on site,
• a night mode with the Milky Way and constellations as well as shadow lengths at map scale.

For spotters, the web app is especially interesting: you plan on a big screen, lay the azimuth line over the runway axis and save the spot. TPE syncs saved places between web and iOS. The visual search is a specialty tool for ambitious subjects, for instance when you want a jet on final approach in front of the rising sun or the moon – then you look specifically for the day when the sun lines up with the extension of the approach axis.

There is also TPE 3D as a separate iOS app. It simulates sunlight and moonlight including shadows over real terrain. According to the store description, the app shows neither satellite images nor buildings – at an airport, where hangars rather than mountains block the light, its usefulness is therefore limited.

Price and platform: The iOS app costs a one-time €9.99 in the German App Store, TPE 3D €12.99 (as of October 2026). The iOS app also has subscriptions for the Skyfire forecasts of sunrise and sunset colors. TPE Web can be used for free; for extended features, the provider offers a PRO subscription.

The three compared head to head

Criterion	PhotoPills	Sun Surveyor	The Photographer’s Ephemeris
Focus	Planner plus photo calculators	Orientation on site	Map planning
Map view with sun lines	yes	yes (full version)	yes, core feature
AR or camera view	yes	yes (full version)	yes (iOS)
3D compass	–	yes	–
Street View	–	yes	–
Line-of-sight analysis	–	–	yes (Geodetics)
Photo calculators (depth of field, field of view)	extensive	shadow projection	shadow lengths on the map
Platforms	iOS, Android (per the maker)	iOS, Android	iOS, web, TPE 3D for iOS
Free entry	–	Lite version	Web app
iOS price (DE, as of Oct. 2026)	€12.99 one-time	€9.99 one-time	€9.99 one-time, optional subscriptions
German interface	yes	yes	yes

The table is limited to information from the store descriptions and the official websites. Prices and feature sets change with updates, so check them in the store before buying.

How to use a sun position app at the airport

No matter which app you choose, the process for a new spot is always the same.

For step 5, the guide Understanding runway direction in use at airports and the overview of weather apps for spotters help. Two practical examples show how to find a light window at a specific spot: at the Munich Airport visitors’ hill (Besucherhügel), with its view of the east-west runway system of Munich Airport, each of the three apps immediately shows you that the sun stands in the south during the day and thus behind you when looking north. At the Düsseldorf observation deck, with the northeast-southwest axis of Düsseldorf Airport, the window shifts noticeably – which is exactly what the time slider is for.

Which app suits you?

By the way, many experienced spotters use two tools: a map app for planning the evening before and an AR app for a check on site. That sounds redundant but saves wasted trips. You will find a bigger overview of tracking, logbook and photo apps in the plane spotting apps comparison.

What to keep in mind

• Location accuracy: The calculation applies to the pin you set. If you move a few hundred meters along the fence, the line of sight changes – the sun direction stays the same, but your subject is positioned differently.
• Calibrate the compass: AR views rely on the smartphone’s magnetic sensor. Near metal fences or cars it can be noticeably off. Calibrate it on site and compare the display with a known direction, such as the runway axis.
• A clear horizon is an ideal case: Calculated sunrise and sunset times apply to a flat horizon. Halls, terminals and noise barriers shorten the window, which is why the check on site is so valuable.
• Don’t forget sun elevation: If you only watch the azimuth, at noon you stand there with perfect direction but harsh light and a dark fuselage underside. How to rescue that in editing is covered in the article Brightening shadows and the underside of the fuselage.
• Never aim directly at the sun: A telephoto lens or looking straight at the sun can damage your eyes and sensor. Take backlit shots only with the sun just outside the frame or behind the aircraft – ideas in the guide Backlight in aircraft photography.

Golden hour, blue hour and the moon

All three apps deliver the times for golden and blue hour. In plane spotting, these phases are especially appealing because the warm, low light gives the fuselage sides a three-dimensional look and doesn’t blow out white liveries. At the same time, the window is short – anyone who wants to use it has to know exactly when it begins. This is where the apps play to their strengths: a glance at the timeline is enough, and you know whether the trip after work is still worth it. More on this light in the article Golden hour and blue hour, and general tips on time of day in the guide The best time of day for plane spotting.

The moon is the special project. An aircraft in front of the full moon disc is among the most demanding subjects there is: you need a location where the moon lines up with the extension of an approach or departure route, the right runway direction in use and traffic at exactly that moment. TPE’s visual search and PhotoPills’ planner are made for finding such constellations. Whether an aircraft then actually crosses the disc remains a matter of luck – but the chances rise considerably.

Conclusion

PhotoPills, Sun Surveyor and The Photographer’s Ephemeris all calculate reliably but differ markedly in character. PhotoPills is the big toolbox for photographers who shoot far more than aircraft. Sun Surveyor scores with quick orientation on site and a free entry. TPE is the clearest map app and can even be used in the browser. For plane spotting, in the end the routine matters more than the app: set the spot, determine the line of sight, move the time slider, check on site.