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Finally gave in and tried sunny 16 after years of guessing exposures
For like 4 years I was dead set against using the sunny 16 rule for my meterless cameras. I had this buddy Mike from the local camera club who kept telling me to just trust it, especially on bright days. I figured why bother when I could just guess and bracket my shots. But last month I took my old Pentax spotmatic to a street fair in Austin and forgot my handheld meter at home. I just said fine, I'll try it, and shot a whole roll of Portra 400 using f/16 at 1/500 on that sunny afternoon. Every single frame came back perfectly exposed, not even close to being under or over. Now I feel like an idiot for wasting all that film and money on bracketing for years. Has anyone else had a similar experience where you avoided some basic technique and then kicked yourself after finally trying it?
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taylor.phoenix6d agoMost Upvoted
Right? Same here wasted years bracketing like a rookie.
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Man, "every single frame came back perfectly exposed" hit me right in the gut because that is exactly what happened to me. I was the same way for like three years, always carrying my Sekonic meter everywhere and thinking the sunny 16 rule was just old man folklore. Then I went to a friend's wedding and my meter batteries died halfway through the reception. I had to use sunny 16 for the outdoor group shots and they came out spot on. I felt so dumb for overcomplicating something that's been working for photographers for decades. Now I barely even take my meter out unless the lighting is really weird or dim.
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