Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:05 AM 18/12/99 -0500, dwpost wrote: >Consider the moon as a white sand beach in direct sunlight, and then apply >the 'sunny 16' rule! Works everytime! No, sorry. The "sunny f/16" rule is just a rough guide, and a poor one at that for photographing the moon. It works only because negatives have enough exposure latitude to let you get away with it. It is not enough to produce excellent transparencies. For bang-on negatives you can't always rely on this sunny 16 bunk either, particularly if you have a subject with a high brightness range -- you will have to give up either part of the toe or shoulder of the film's sensitivity. If you use sunny 16 you will more than likely be underexposing by 1/2 to 1 full stop. It is not the same everywhere. It depends on your latitude, altitude, position of the moon in the sky, and particularly [sic] the amount of smog (and other atmospheric particulates) where you are. Use sunny 16 and open up a stop and you will likely be closer to being correct. Bracketing will get you closer, as will a good spot meter.