Setting the scale

Mark one length you know on a photo, and every other size in it can be measured.

A photo on its own has no size. Mark one length you know on it, such as a door width, a tape measure in the shot, or a sheet of plywood, and Field Notes works out every other size on the same face.

Each photo's label

Under every photo is a label that says how it's scaled. Tap it to set the scale for that photo, and only that one.

  • Scale not set: nobody has marked a length yet. Measurements over it can't be trusted.
  • ≈ Scaled by camera: the camera estimated it. Mark a length to replace the estimate.
  • A length: the photo is scaled from that. Tap the photo to see where it was marked.

Mark a known length

Set scale under way, the reference line's ends on the tape and the magnifier showing one end
Placing the reference line.
  1. Tap the photo's label.
  2. Drag the two ends of the line onto the ends of something you know the length of. A magnifier shows exactly where each end sits.
  3. Type the real length.
  4. Tap Set scale.

The keypad

The Known length keypad with 31 1/2 inches typed
The Known length keypad.

The keypad is made for tape-measure numbers. Type the whole inches, then add fractions with the ½, ¼, ⅛ and 1⁄16 keys. The line under the value converts it as you type. The unit pills switch between feet and inches and metric, and / lets you type any fraction.