Rule of Thumb in Estimating Exposure


raytoei

Senior Member
Hi,

we all have rule of thumb, it is a form of short
cuts that we practice so that we
can be fast and not worry about exposure.

For home, i usually go f2 and 1/30, iso 400
For Office, f4 and 1/30, iso 400
For restaurants and bars, I max out at 1/15 and 1.5f and iso 1600

For Sunny outdoors, I like 1/500 and f11 at iso 400.
For Beach, Water sports, Swimming pool, it is 1/500 and f/16 at iso 400

For shooting outdoor shade, I take outdoor exposure and open up 3 stops
(learnt from this forum, thanks!) For evening and dusk, it is
usually f4 or f5.6 and 1/100 at iso 400

For walking down Orchard road on a hot sunny day, i go at f8 and
change shutter speed depending on shade or no-shade.
Sunny light, f8 and 1/1000,
Bright clouds, f8 and 1/500
Shade, f8 and 1/250
Everything is at f8, so I do not change the hyperfocal distance.

Here's a picture that got me stumped. shooting with my m4p with
35 f2 Summicron with no lightmeter on a iso 400 film,
how would you do up the exposure ?

guess.jpg


iirc, i bracketed it at f2 and 1/8, 1/15....

raytoei
 

Last edited:
I would use f2.8 1/60, no need to bracket.

I prefer to change the aperture up and down one stop instead of the speed as I find it is faster if shooting street.

For walking down Orchard road on a hot sunny day, i go at f8 and
change shutter speed depending on shade or no-shade.
Sunny light, f8 and 1/1000,
Bright clouds, f8 and 1/500
Shade, f8 and 1/250
Everything is at f8, so I do not change the hyperfocal distance.



Hi,

we all have rule of thumb, it is a form of short
cuts that we practice so that we
can be fast and not worry about exposure.

For home, i usually go f2 and 1/30, iso 400
For Office, f4 and 1/30, iso 400
For restaurants and bars, I max out at 1/15 and 1.5f and iso 1600

For Sunny outdoors, I like 1/500 and f11 at iso 400.
For Beach, Water sports, Swimming pool, it is 1/500 and f/16 at iso 400

For shooting outdoor shade, I take outdoor exposure -3 stops
(learnt from this forum, thanks!) For evening and dusk, it is
usually f4 or f5.6 and 1/100 at iso 400

For walking down Orchard road on a hot sunny day, i go at f8 and
change shutter speed depending on shade or no-shade.
Sunny light, f8 and 1/1000,
Bright clouds, f8 and 1/500
Shade, f8 and 1/250
Everything is at f8, so I do not change the hyperfocal distance.

Here's a picture that got me stumped. shooting with my m4p with
35 f2 Summicron with no lightmeter on a iso 400 film,
how would you do up the exposure ?

guess.jpg


iirc, i bracketed it at f2 and 1/8, 1/15....

raytoei
 

Last edited:
since i started shooting color film, I use AE.

B&W is high error threshold, 2 stop wrong also nevermind. However, color film need to be more accurate, so I been using AE.
 

Hi,

we all have rule of thumb, it is a form of short
cuts that we practice so that we
can be fast and not worry about exposure.

For home, i usually go f2 and 1/30, iso 400
For Office, f4 and 1/30, iso 400
For restaurants and bars, I max out at 1/15 and 1.5f and iso 1600

For Sunny outdoors, I like 1/500 and f11 at iso 400.
For Beach, Water sports, Swimming pool, it is 1/500 and f/16 at iso 400

For shooting outdoor shade, I take outdoor exposure -3 stops
(learnt from this forum, thanks!) For evening and dusk, it is
usually f4 or f5.6 and 1/100 at iso 400

For walking down Orchard road on a hot sunny day, i go at f8 and
change shutter speed depending on shade or no-shade.
Sunny light, f8 and 1/1000,
Bright clouds, f8 and 1/500
Shade, f8 and 1/250
Everything is at f8, so I do not change the hyperfocal distance.

Here's a picture that got me stumped. shooting with my m4p with
35 f2 Summicron with no lightmeter on a iso 400 film,
how would you do up the exposure ?

guess.jpg


iirc, i bracketed it at f2 and 1/8, 1/15....

raytoei

Use sunny 16 rule to get exposure for outside/near window then +2 stops. 1/250 -> 1/60.

That's what I'll do...I think
 

Wow, I should bookmark all your threads. All very informative ones. Thanks Felix!
 

Thanks for sharing! Im starting to love this forum!
 

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