BetterPhoto Q&A
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BetterPhoto Member		A Good Aperture/Shutter Speed for Outdoor. What is an average aperture setting for outdoor photographs on a bright sunny day. I took some pictures of my kids this weekend & set the camera on 22 because I wanted depth of field but ended up overexposing the pictures. The shutter speed on my camera varies between 1 & 2000. To love this question, log in above February 25, 2003

Wayne Attridge		Does you camera not have some sort of meter? It really depends on the film speed, and the brightness of the foreground and background. A good starting point with 100 film would be about 1/125th second at f11. If you are using faster film you will have to close up the aperture (a higher number) or increase the shutter speed. A guideline: film speed shutter aperture 100 f11 1/125 200 f16 1/125 f11 1/250 400 f22 1/125 f16 1/250 f11 1/500 Hope this helps. Remember this is a start point but should give you a better idea of what's what. To love this comment, log in above February 25, 2003

Wayne Attridge		Sorry about the table. It looked fine before I uploaded it but it was reformatted . What you see now is the film speed followed by the adjusted settings. If you can't make it out, reply and I will try again. To love this comment, log in above February 25, 2003

John A. Lind		Sunny-16 Rule: I consider this more a "guideline" but it has worked for me for decades. It's what is found on the film data sheets and it's what is also published in Kodak's "Pocket Photoguide" and "Professional Photoguide." Kodak also prints this on the inside of their film boxes. For illumination by direct sun with clear sky: Aperture: f/16 Shutter speed: 1/(film speed) Use shutter speed closest to this value. You can trade apertures for shutter speeds; e.g. f/11 @ 1/250th or f/8 @ 1/500th will give you the same exposure as f/16 @ 1/125th. These sources I cited also give guidelines for increasing exposure under various cloud conditions when the sun is obscured by cloud cover. Excellent descriptions of these conditions and how to compensate for them are available on-line in the 3rd section of Kodak's "Guide to Better Pictures:" http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/pictureTaking/lighting/lightin2.shtml Kodak doesn't print this separately in a technical publication (that I could find), but it is contained in their publication for setting accurate exposures with a light meter. It's near the end in the next to the last section, "How to Check Your Exposure Meter and Camera," and is available in a PDF file (Adobe Acrobat) on Kodak's site (Tech Pub AF-9): http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/pdf/af9.pdf They present it as a "sanity check" that can be used to determine if a meter is reasonably accurate. This version of it may be easier to print. -- John To love this comment, log in above February 25, 2003

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