Sunny 16 and the S3 IS?

So I've been reading around the forum about the Sunny 16 rule. (i.e. shutter speed = 1/iso at f/16). So.....how does this work on the S3 when the aperature setting doesn't go all the way to f/16? I'm guessing since the aperature is wider, I would need to speed up the shutter, but if I'm "halving" the aperature, would I double the shutter speed. In other words, does shutter speed = 1/(2*iso) at f/8? I'm guessing its not linear, but I was hoping someone would have some info on this.

It is linear, but you're just one half out:

f/16 --> f/8 is two stops, so you'd need 1/(4*ISO) to follow that rule.

However, I reckon you'd be much better off metering properly, especially in this digital era!

Yep. What he said. Full f/stops are f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16 and f/22. They're actually references to the diameter of the lens aperture, which is an area, so each stop differs from the next by 1.4x.

MichaelSingleton's answer confused me 'cause I never understood what an f-stop was. being an engineer, I knew the numbers meant something and it drove me nuts that I didn't understand. I did a google search and found the link below, and I think my co-workers actually saw the light go on over my head as I read it. I searched the forum and see that this link has been shown before, but I thought it may be worthwhile for newbies like me.

"A Tedious Explanation of the f/stop" by Matthew Cole
http://www.uscoles.com​/fstop.htm

...not really all that tedious.

The sunny 16 rule was great for old fully manual cameras. I used it faithfully for many years, and it worked every time. But I see no need for it at all with a fully automatic camera that doesn't even have an aperture of 16. Use the built in meter. It will work just as well in bright sun.

It's handy as a sanity check. If you see a really, really fast shutter speed you may remember to reset your ISO!