Do you know the "F16" rule for taking pictures in sunlight?

For "typical" sunlight, set the lens at f16, make a fraction out of the film speed, and set the shutter at this speed -- in other words, if you are using film with an ASA/ISO speed of 200, set the shutter at 1/200 of a second for "typical" bright sunlight. You can adjust this exposure for varying conditions (keeping the shutter speed as set above):
- f16 for bright sun
- f11 for Hazy Sun
- f8 for Cloudy Brightz
- f5.6 for Cloudy Dull

You should stop down one "f" stop from the above for very bright subject, such as on a beach. This rough exposure guide comes with almost every roll of film, either on a separate instruction sheet, or presently, printed on the inside of the box -- maybe you never noticed it. This will work fine for B&W and color print film -- it will work fairly well for slides, but of course, the exposure is more critical for slides.


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