Do You Use The "Sunny F-16" Principal When Shooting Color Print Film?

[DREW WILEY]

I use a light meter. It's seldom sunny around here. Have fog at the moment, in fact.

 

[wiltw]

I use a light meter. It's seldom sunny around here. Have fog at the moment, in fact.

Several corrolaries to Sunny 16, but I have never seen any for 'Foggy whatever' Since there is something for the Moon, it seems rather discriminatory to leave out those in the fog.

Go out in the fog with your meter, Drew, and we can name it Drew's Foggy (whatever) rule, and spread the word.
My guess...Drew's Foggy 4'

 

[DREW WILEY]

Two days ago over at Pt Reyes, simply walking down a hill in the fog, despite its general natural softbox lighting the whole way, there was about a three stop change About midway down from the cloud forest itself, it was so dense overhead that it seemed like twilight in the evening, even though it was still mid-afternoon. I only took two shots with the 8x10 that day, using the same lens at the same f/stop. But one required a half second exposure, the other 8 seconds. Same amount of subject luminance range, and just a difference in the fog density overhead relative to a few hundred feet difference in elevation.

 

[wiltw]

Two days ago over at Pt Reyes, simply walking down a hill in the fog, despite its general natural softbox lighting the whole way, there was about a three stop change About midway down from the cloud forest itself, it was so dense overhead that it seemed like twilight in the evening, even though it was still mid-afternoon. I only took two shots with the 8x10 that day, using the same lens at the same f/stop. But one required a half second exposure, the other 8 seconds. Same amount of subject luminance range, and just a difference in the fog density overhead relative to a few hundred feet difference in elevation.

'Drew's Foggy 4' rule of thumb
It is officially confirmed...change of -5EV

 

[DREW WILEY]

Don't worry .... I'm about to patent a film box made of multi-layered cardboard that peels off differentially layer by layer when left out in drizzly fog or rain, exposing a different "sunny rule" under different respective circumstances. If there's enough water in the box material to squeeze out into your drinking water canister, then yes, minus 5 is probable.

 

[Agulliver]

I do sometimes. When my dad taught me photography as a young child in the late 70s he didn't have a light meter of any sort. I was shooting Kodacolor 80 or 100ASA so it was quite easy to approximate 1/100 and f16 for when it's sunny and so on. That's stayed with me all these years and is still often a secondary check even when using a camera with an internal light meter. Sometimes I'll err on the side of caution and over expose (sunny 11) but what I do in reality is adjust for the angle of the sun, cloud cover and so on. I do sometimes use a smart phone app (my Weston III died some years ago) with cameras that have no metering ability...to back up my estimates.

The only time I'm really careful is when shooting Ektar, which doesn't much like being over-exposed.

 

[ozphoto]

Sure do! My little Rollei 35LED has a busted meter and as I usually put her in my pocket to shoot on quick trips and walks, a lightmeter is rather cumbersome. Have used the S16 method for years with my B&W film and it works great with colour film too.

These are some results from one of my latest rolls, Sunny 16 and Kodak ColorPlus 200:

http://www.instagram.com/p/CPrqzl9nBhk/

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Sunny 16 works during the middle of the day, between 10am and 2pm. But if you shoot at other times especially during magic hour after sunrise or before sunset, the light changes too quickly and it's really hard to guess.

 

[zanxion72]

If a light meter is not available, "sunny 16" gives you an excellent reference exposure quite close to the perfect one. After using light meter and the "sunny 16" for quite a while, you get a perfect sense of the proper exposure for almost any scene making it work without a light meter or the "sunny 16".

 

[Agulliver]

If a light meter is not available, "sunny 16" gives you an excellent reference exposure quite close to the perfect one. After using light meter and the "sunny 16" for quite a while, you get a perfect sense of the proper exposure for almost any scene making it work without a light meter or the "sunny 16".

Yup....after learning photography on cameras which had no metering and with no external meter, f-stops and shutter speeds are quite intuitive. When I do need to think about it...sunny 16 is my reference. It's definitely still useful and I've advised people new to film photography with vintage cameras to try similar.

 

[Wayne]

yes i do, when I don't have a light meter with me.

 

[Cholentpot]

Sunny 16 works during the middle of the day, between 10am and 2pm. But if you shoot at other times especially during magic hour after sunrise or before sunset, the light changes too quickly and it's really hard to guess.

After that we use a method called 'Guessing' and it generally works pretty well.

 

[faberryman]

I use a meter. It never matches Sunny 16. One of them is off.

 

[Cholentpot]

I use a meter. It never matches Sunny 16. One of them is off.

I'd assume the meter is off and trust my brain.

 

[faberryman]

I'd assume the meter is off and trust my brain.

You know what they say about assuming.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Assume

 

[Cholentpot]

You know what they say about assuming.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Assume

My intuition hasn't failed me as much as tech has. If the meter looks wrong I'm going to assume it is.

 

[faberryman]

My intuition hasn't failed me as much as tech has. If the meter looks wrong I'm going to assume it is.

Whatever works for you is okay with me.

 

[Chan Tran]

You know what they say about assuming.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Assume

Yeah so I don't assume. I say your meter is wrong.

 

[faberryman]

Yeah so I don't assume. I say your meter is wrong.

Okay. You are probably in a better position to know than I am.

 

[Cholentpot]

Yeah so I don't assume. I say your meter is wrong.

Mus follow the orthodoxy of the meter. Meter is truth, meter is life.

 

[faberryman]

Mus follow the orthodoxy of the meter. Meter is truth, meter is life.

Must follow the orthodoxy of the Sunny 16 rule. Sunny 16 rule is truth, Sunny 16 rule is life.

Like I said, whatever works for you is okay with me.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You guys should get a room.

 

[Chan Tran]

Okay. You are probably in a better position to know than I am.

I am in the northern hemisphere. If you live in the southern hemisphere it may be different. I have never been south of the equator.

 

[Peltigera]

My father always used used Sunny 16 in the 60s with kodachrome film - he had no choice as he had no meter available. pretty much all his slide film was at least adequately exposed.

I use Sunny 16 if the camera I am using does not have its own meter. I have never had any problems with it with either colour print of mono film (I do not use slide film).

 

[grain elevator]

I am in the northern hemisphere. If you live in the southern hemisphere it may be different. I have never been south of the equator.

Of course, that's why the EV scale has negative values. For the southern hemisphere.