Sunny f16

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You may have heard of the 'sunny f16 rule' and wondered what it means - I hope my explanation makes sense!

Sunny f16 rule: this is a great thing to fall back on if you have a manaul camera and the battery dies. Nowadays with digital it's only use its to let you know if your exposure is going to be way off. E.g. when shooting subjects with a lot of black or of white in; or if you have no spot meter when shooting say a white bird against a deep shadow.

The idea is that on a clear sunny day, you set the meter to f16 and the shutter speed at the same speed as the ISO.

I.e. if you are using ISO/ASA (film speed) of 400, then the shutter speed should be 400th sec at f16, if the ISO is 100 then it's 100th sec at f16.

Lets say you're using 100 film speed (ISO/ASA 100) - If you want to use f8 for example instead of f16 then you just adjust the shutter speed to match: i.e. here wee would be using a wider aperture by 2 stops, (f16 to f8 ) = so shutter speed is increased by 2 stops so the same amount of light gets through -so it would be f8 at the ISO speed plus two stops e.g. (with ISO 100 film speed/sensor sensitivity) it would normally be f16 at 100th sec shutter speed, so it could also be f8 at 400 shutter speed or any other combination , e.g going the other way f22 at 50sec shutter speed.

Thus on a clear sunny day: for every f-stop you open up you set a shutter speed double (i.e. HALF the time , that is, one stop less) what it was when the same as the ISO setting OR for every f-stop you close down the aperture you set a shutter speed half the speed (i.e. TWICE the time it's open = one stop) what it was when the same as the ISO setting.

Examples at ISO <i><b>100</b></i>:
f32 @ 25th sec
f22 @ 50th sec
<i><b>f16 @ 100th sec</b></i>
f11 @ 200th sec
f8 @ 400th sec
f5.6 @ 800th sec

Examples at ISO <i><b>400</b></i>:
f32 @ 100th sec
f22 @ 200th sec
<i><b>f16 @ 400th sec</b></i>
f11 @ 800th sec
f8 @ 1600th sec
f5.6 @ 3200th sec

If it's not a clear sunny day it becomes pretty much guess work but it's still a good starting point

To expand on the Sunny 16 rule the EV for some common lighting scenarios can be found here.

e-k

I was trying Sunny 16 method yesterday.

I took pictures from my patio at around 2pm (90 F). I set the exposure to F11, ISO 100 and shutter speed 1/200. The pictures were little underexposed.

I changed the shutter speed to 1/160 and they were properly exposed. I am not sure when this method works and on what temperatures..

S-16 worked great if/when your meter battery ran out. This is my work around using the histogram:
First set the f-stop & shutter speed you need. Then adjust the ISO. Need an exposure crutch?

This shows how the subject can affect the exposure & why manual keeps me worry free: Post #47

sgogula wrote in post #5701301
I was trying Sunny 16 method yesterday.

I took pictures from my patio at around 2pm (90 F). I set the exposure to F11, ISO 100 and shutter speed 1/200. The pictures were little underexposed.

I changed the shutter speed to 1/160 and they were properly exposed. I am not sure when this method works and on what temperatures..

Temperature will have no bearing on exposure, just sensor noise. As to the method, it's just a guideline. Was it a sunny day? Was there any cloud cover? Were the shots of something in the shade?

That being said, it sounds like you were in 1/3 of a stop. That's pretty good all things considered.

e-k

Some time back I developed a Sunny-16 Sliderule. This can be printed on card stock, cut out, and assembled.

It not only demonstrates the Sunny-16 Rule in all its variations, it is a grat aid to leaning the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Anyone who wishes to receive a set of plans and templates in PDF format may PM me their email address.

Roger

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I use Sunny 16 all the time with my Yashica TLR, it doesn't have a light meter and I couldn't be bothered to carry one. I find it is pretty much always bang on, at least with Tri-X 400 film, which has a ton of latitude. But if I try the same with my DSLR i find even being 1/3 of a stop off can have a major impact on the image and unfortunately sunny 16 isn't quite that accurate. But then again if you can shoot with your DSLR your light meter is probably working too.

certainly not ideal wit DSLRs as any underexposure will up the noise badly

Also the sky has to be really clear, no haze, for this to be spot on

On a sunny day i usually start off at f/11. You need really intense sun for f/16

V8Rumble wrote in post #5705740
On a sunny day i usually start off at f/11. You need really intense sun for f/16

I would suggest that the sun has to be clear rather than intense - intense sort of implies hot as well - which isn't a prerequisit for getting this exposure method on target

Technically, it has to do with lumens per square meter in the incident light. The presumption with the Sunny-16 Rule is that the sun subtends an angle of not less than 20 degrees and not more than 60 degrees, which covers most of the day for most of the year for most of the temperate zone.

But, it would be dead wrong to worry overly much about such things. The Sunny-16 Rule is just a guideline to get one in the ballpark. If the shot is critical, one should meter the scene. If one cannot, then one should bracket the shot.

A little practice does wonders for one's ability to capture a scene correctly.

sgogula wrote in post #5701301
I was trying Sunny 16 method yesterday.

I took pictures from my patio at around 2pm (90 F). I set the exposure to F11, ISO 100 and shutter speed 1/200. The pictures were little underexposed.

I changed the shutter speed to 1/160 and they were properly exposed. I am not sure when this method works and on what temperatures..

The Sunny 16 rule works best when the sun is directly behind the camera, i.e. front-lighting the subject. At any other positions relative to the subject, you risk varying degrees of underexposure unless exposure compensation is used. But, as others have already stated, the Sunny 16 rule is just a guideline and won't always give perfect exposure under all circumstances.

Notice that on my calculator (post #6 above), this is taken into consideration.

Marnault wrote in post #5704053
I use Sunny 16 all the time with my Yashica TLR, it doesn't have a light meter and I couldn't be bothered to carry one. I find it is pretty much always bang on, at least with Tri-X 400 film, which has a ton of latitude. But if I try the same with my DSLR i find even being 1/3 of a stop off can have a major impact on the image and unfortunately sunny 16 isn't quite that accurate. But then again if you can shoot with your DSLR your light meter is probably working too.

Marnault,,,you hit the nail right on the head,,,latitude..Tri-X 400 has heaps of latitude with a very long tonal and brightness range,,it was originally develpoed for press photography in the '30s I believe..With digital we aren't so lucky but then again we have editing programmes to tweak this latitude..

Why use rules..I shoot at 1.8 in the sun, and my photos are great..what we really need to tlak about is the teeter-totter rule. ISO, SHUTTER SPEED and APERTURE....F16 at 400 versus F2.8 at 100 ( DOF preference)