Sunny 16 Exposure Chart

I use this chart for taking pictures with my Lomo Smena-35. Instead of leaving the aperture fixed and adjusting the shutter speeds according to the lighting conditions, I leave the shutter speed at 1/250th (bright sunlight) and change the aperture to suit. I’d rather get a fast shutter speed and use the relatively fast lens to gather enough light for the shot than to risk camera shake with a slower shutter speed. Since shutter speed, exposure, and film speed are reciprocal, by making an incremental change in one direction in any of these settings, you can adjust down any one of the others. ASA 200 film speed instead of ASA 100? Use one smaller F-stop, or one faster shutter speed.

1/125th shutter speed instead of 1/250th? Use the same aperture with ASA 200 film or one smaller aperture with ASA 100.

ASA 100 @ 1/250 ASA 200 @ 1/250 ASA 400 @ 1/250
or or
ASA100 @ 1/125 ASA 100 @ 1/60
Snow/Water f/16
Bright Sunlight f/11 f/16
Hazy Sunlight f/8 f/11 f/16
Overcast f/5.6 f/8 f/11
Cloudy/Open Shade f/4 f/5.6 f/8
Indoors, No Flash f/4 f/5.6

Leave a Reply