Sunny 16 rule?

Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to
digicams? That's where on a bright sunny day
if you shot at f16 the exposure will be correct
if the shutter speed is equal to the ASA rating
of the film. So if you shot with ASA200 film,
you'd set the camera for 1/200 sec (closest match
would be 1/250 on most cameras).

Since many digicams don't stop down more than
F8, you'd double the shutter speed. IE:
set the camera at ASA200 and use 1/400 sec
(probably 1/500 is nearest setting).

Oh and here's a neat fact, the rule also applies
to taking photos of the full moon (since the moon
is in bright sunlight!). With a telescope having
an F8 objective lens shooting with ASA 100 film,
shutter speed of 1/200.

That's with film though, I assume digicams follow
the same rules.

Ken Scharf wrote in news:lbpYc.40252$%
:

Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to digicams?

Yes.

That's where on a bright sunny day
if you shot at f16 the exposure will be correct
if the shutter speed is equal to the ASA rating
of the film. So if you shot with ASA200 film,
you'd set the camera for 1/200 sec (closest match
would be 1/250 on most cameras).

Since many digicams don't stop down more than
F8, you'd double the shutter speed. IE:
set the camera at ASA200 and use 1/400 sec
(probably 1/500 is nearest setting).

Nope - F8 is two stops so you have to multiply with 4
or rather divide as 1/800 is a quarter of the time
of 1/200. But even better is to shot at ISO100, F5.6
and 1/800 or ISO50, F4 and 1/800. The compact digicams
(with small sensors) are not optimally sharp at F8.

Oh and here's a neat fact, the rule also applies
to taking photos of the full moon (since the moon
is in bright sunlight!). With a telescope having
an F8 objective lens shooting with ASA 100 film,
shutter speed of 1/200.

That's with film though, I assume digicams follow
the same rules.

Yepp.


/Roland

Ken Scharf wrote in news:lbpYc.40252$%
:

Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to digicams?

Yes.

That's where on a bright sunny day
if you shot at f16 the exposure will be correct
if the shutter speed is equal to the ASA rating
of the film. So if you shot with ASA200 film,
you'd set the camera for 1/200 sec (closest match
would be 1/250 on most cameras).

Since many digicams don't stop down more than
F8, you'd double the shutter speed. IE:
set the camera at ASA200 and use 1/400 sec
(probably 1/500 is nearest setting).

Nope - F8 is two stops so you have to multiply with 4
or rather divide as 1/800 is a quarter of the time
of 1/200. But even better is to shot at ISO100, F5.6
and 1/800 or ISO50, F4 and 1/800. The compact digicams
(with small sensors) are not optimally sharp at F8.

Oh and here's a neat fact, the rule also applies
to taking photos of the full moon (since the moon
is in bright sunlight!). With a telescope having
an F8 objective lens shooting with ASA 100 film,
shutter speed of 1/200.

That's with film though, I assume digicams follow
the same rules.

Yepp.


/Roland

Ken Scharf wrote:
Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to
digicams? That's where on a bright sunny day
if you shot at f16 the exposure will be correct
if the shutter speed is equal to the ASA rating
of the film. So if you shot with ASA200 film,
you'd set the camera for 1/200 sec (closest match
would be 1/250 on most cameras).

It should if the camera follows the ISO convention correclty.



Since many digicams don't stop down more than
F8, you'd double the shutter speed. IE:
set the camera at ASA200 and use 1/400 sec
(probably 1/500 is nearest setting).

Er, f/16 - f/8 is two (2) stops. So, you would need 1/800
instead of 1/200. (1/750 for most 1/2 stop cameras.

For negative film, an overexposure is always preferable to an
underexposure, given a choice of 1/500 or 1/250, always take the
slower speed. For slide film (you should use a camera with 1/3
stops in the first place...) a 1/3 slower shutter will result in
a slightly "thinner" slide and this is often acceptable.

As digital sensors behave somewhat like slide film wrt exposure,
a slight overexposre (1/3) is acceptable... an underexposure of a
stop is easilly rectified in PS if the original file was saved
RAW ... assuming you have the plugin.



Oh and here's a neat fact, the rule also applies
to taking photos of the full moon (since the moon
is in bright sunlight!). With a telescope having
an F8 objective lens shooting with ASA 100 film,
shutter speed of 1/200.

If the moon is low, the setting should be "Lunar-leven
(Lunar-11)". Eg: f/11 @ shutter speed = ISO.

f/11 - f/8 is one stop, so a doubling of the speed is fine.

But if the moon is high, then "sunny-16" applies, and that is a
two-stop (2 stop) difference, not one.



That's with film though, I assume digicams follow
the same rules.

From time to time you will see postings that suggest the
manufacturers do not follow the ISO sensitivity very well.

Cheers,
Alan.


--
-- rec.photo.equipment.35mm user resource:
-- http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

Ken Scharf wrote:
Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to
digicams? That's where on a bright sunny day
if you shot at f16 the exposure will be correct
if the shutter speed is equal to the ASA rating
of the film. So if you shot with ASA200 film,
you'd set the camera for 1/200 sec (closest match
would be 1/250 on most cameras).

It should if the camera follows the ISO convention correclty.



Since many digicams don't stop down more than
F8, you'd double the shutter speed. IE:
set the camera at ASA200 and use 1/400 sec
(probably 1/500 is nearest setting).

Er, f/16 - f/8 is two (2) stops. So, you would need 1/800
instead of 1/200. (1/750 for most 1/2 stop cameras.

For negative film, an overexposure is always preferable to an
underexposure, given a choice of 1/500 or 1/250, always take the
slower speed. For slide film (you should use a camera with 1/3
stops in the first place...) a 1/3 slower shutter will result in
a slightly "thinner" slide and this is often acceptable.

As digital sensors behave somewhat like slide film wrt exposure,
a slight overexposre (1/3) is acceptable... an underexposure of a
stop is easilly rectified in PS if the original file was saved
RAW ... assuming you have the plugin.



Oh and here's a neat fact, the rule also applies
to taking photos of the full moon (since the moon
is in bright sunlight!). With a telescope having
an F8 objective lens shooting with ASA 100 film,
shutter speed of 1/200.

If the moon is low, the setting should be "Lunar-leven
(Lunar-11)". Eg: f/11 @ shutter speed = ISO.

f/11 - f/8 is one stop, so a doubling of the speed is fine.

But if the moon is high, then "sunny-16" applies, and that is a
two-stop (2 stop) difference, not one.



That's with film though, I assume digicams follow
the same rules.

From time to time you will see postings that suggest the
manufacturers do not follow the ISO sensitivity very well.

Cheers,
Alan.


--
-- rec.photo.equipment.35mm user resource:
-- http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

In article ,
Ken Scharf wrote:
Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to
digicams?

Yes.

Since many digicams don't stop down more than
F8, you'd double the shutter speed. IE:
set the camera at ASA200 and use 1/400 sec
(probably 1/500 is nearest setting).

Quadruple. f/8 is two stops faster than f/16, so if 1/200 is correct at
f/16, then 1/800 is what you want for f/8.

In article ,
Ken Scharf wrote:
Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to
digicams?

Yes.

Since many digicams don't stop down more than
F8, you'd double the shutter speed. IE:
set the camera at ASA200 and use 1/400 sec
(probably 1/500 is nearest setting).

Quadruple. f/8 is two stops faster than f/16, so if 1/200 is correct at
f/16, then 1/800 is what you want for f/8.

"Roland Karlsson" wrote in message
...
Ken Scharf wrote in news:lbpYc.40252$%
:

Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to digicams?

Yes.

No. It applies to negative films where there's enough latitude that the
printer can rescue your incorrect exposures. It's advisable to use the meter
(and the histogram) with slide films and digital cameras, or with negative
films if you care about getting the most from the film.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

"Roland Karlsson" wrote in message
...
Ken Scharf wrote in news:lbpYc.40252$%
:

Does the "sunny 16" exposure rule apply to digicams?

Yes.

No. It applies to negative films where there's enough latitude that the
printer can rescue your incorrect exposures. It's advisable to use the meter
(and the histogram) with slide films and digital cameras, or with negative
films if you care about getting the most from the film.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

Alan Browne wrote in news:_ZqYc.14049
:

From time to time you will see postings that suggest the
manufacturers do not follow the ISO sensitivity very well.


Yepp - the ISO sensitivity for film is rather easy to define.
You can build a brand independent test equipment for the film
you want to test. There are differnet definitions for negative
and positive film though.

But - how do you test that a digital camera follows the ISO
specification? Compact digital cameras have a non removable
lens. How do you know what F-stop the camera really chooses?
How are you sure that the camera really chooses the correct
exposure time? Then - a digital camera may make some "hokus pokus"
when doing the actual translation from charges to digital values,
and it probably does. It might apply some levelling of the
values before converting to e.g. JPEG.

Now - you can of course test wether the camera's exposure
meassurement system gives the same result as a well callibrated
exposure meter. But, cameras have never been so good att doing
that - that was the case even for film based cameras. And,
even worse, modern cameras have some kind of "intelligent"
exposure meassurement, evaluating the picture. Now we are
talking about serious "hokus pokus".

So - in short. Yes there might be problems with what the camera
call ISO 100. The G2 I have have ISO 50. Most other compact
dicicams have ISO 100 as lowest. But tests - e.g. at www.dpreview.com -
shows that this is the same sensitivity. So - either G2 lies about
being too bad or the other lying about being too good. What do
you think is the case?


/Roland