Chris Collins

Tools · photography

Exposure calculator

The exposure triangle with EV at ISO 100 — lock any two of aperture, shutter and ISO and see the third — plus stops arithmetic in ⅓ and ½ stops, Sunny 16 and a light-level table, ND filters with a long-exposure countdown, reciprocity failure for film, and the shutter speed that freezes a moving subject or a shaky hand.

Added

How to use it

Exposure — pick the light from the scene list (or type the EV your meter gives at ISO 100), then move any two of aperture, shutter and ISO; the one marked Solved follows to keep the picture correctly exposed. Tap Solve on another row to lock that one instead. The sliders step in full, ½ or ⅓ stops and show the values cameras actually mark (f/5.6, 1/125), with the exact solved value under it. Equivalent exposures lists every aperture/shutter pair that lets in the same light at your ISO. Meter from these settings takes the EV from a combination that worked.

EV (exposure value) at ISO 100 is log₂(N²/t) − log₂(ISO/100): EV 0 is f/1 for one second at ISO 100, and each EV halves the light. Scene values are the typical ones from the ANSI PH2.7 / Kodak exposure tables, as collected in Wikipedia’s Exposure value article; real scenes vary by a stop or more.

Stops — how many stops lie between two apertures, shutter speeds or ISOs, with ⅓ and ½ stop nudges and the full scales. One stop doubles or halves the light; f-numbers go by √2 because the light goes with the area of the opening, 1/N².

ND & long exposure — meter without the filter, type the filters (stops, ND1000, or density 0.9; stack them with +), and read the long shutter time. Start the countdown when you open the shutter on Bulb: it beeps for the last three seconds and at the end, keeps the screen awake, and survives a reload. ND1000 is 9.97 stops and optical density 3.0; density is stops × log₁₀2.

Reciprocity — film loses speed in long exposures. Ilford films use Ilford’s formula Tc = Tmp for metered times over one second, with p = 1.33 (Pan F+), 1.26 (FP4+, Delta 100), 1.31 (HP5+, XP2 Super), 1.41 (Delta 400), 1.33 (Delta 3200) and 1.43 (SFX), from Ilford’s Reciprocity law failure technical information (HP5+ at 10 s → 20.4 s). Kodak films follow Kodak’s published tables, interpolated on log–log axes: Tri-X (F-4017) 1 s → 2 s, 10 s → 50 s, 100 s → 1200 s, with 10, 20 and 30% less development; T-Max 100 (F-4016) 1 s → +⅓ stop, 10 s → 15 s, 100 s → 200 s; T-Max 400 (F-4043) 1 s → +⅓ stop, 10 s → 15 s, 100 s → 300 s. Fujifilm Acros II needs nothing under 120 s and +½ stop from 120 to 1000 s; Provia 100F nothing to 128 s and +⅓ stop to 8 minutes (Fujifilm data sheets). Beyond the published times the tool extrapolates and says so — bracket. Custom takes your own exponent.

Motion & shake — the longest shutter that keeps a moving subject sharp: its image crosses the sensor at v·f/(d − f), so the shutter is the blur allowed divided by that. Pick a subject (walker 1.4 m/s, cyclist 8 m/s, car at 50 km/h…), its distance and the angle to your line of sight (90° = across the frame). The blur allowed is for full frame and is divided by the crop factor. The handheld limit is the reciprocal rule, 1/(focal length × crop factor), relaxed by the stabiliser’s stops and halved for high-resolution sensors — a rule of thumb, not physics. Units (km/h and m, or mph and ft) are remembered across the photography tools.

Limits

  • EV, ND and stops maths are exact; the scene EVs, Sunny 16, the reciprocal rule and the blur budgets are rules of thumb.

  • Marked values are rounded (f/5.6 is really f/5.66; 1/125 is 1/128), so a "correct" exposure on the dial can be off by a few hundredths of a stop.

  • Reciprocity data are the manufacturers'; film batches, development and colour shifts vary. Colour films also shift colour in long exposures — see the data sheets.

  • Motion blur assumes a straight, steady path and a fixed camera; panning changes everything.

Linking to an example

Share link copies a URL with this tool’s settings (your units are not included). Links can be written by hand; add the tab after #: exposure, stops, nd, reciprocity or motion.

Parameter Meaning Example

ev

Light level, EV at ISO 100

ev=15

f

Aperture (f-number)

f=8

t

Shutter time: 1/250, 0.5, 30, 2m

t=1/250

iso

ISO

iso=400

solve

Which one follows: N (aperture), t (shutter) or S (ISO)

solve=t

step

full, half or third stops

step=half

a, b, kind

Stops tab: two values and their kind (N, t, S)

a=4&b=11&kind=N

base

ND tab: shutter without the filter

base=1/125

nd

ND tab: the filters, e.g. 10, ND1000+ND8, 0.9

nd=10

film

Reciprocity tab: panf, fp4, hp5, delta100, delta400, delta3200, sfx, xp2, trix, tmax100, tmax400, acros2, provia, digital, custom

film=hp5

tm

Metered time

tm=30

p

Exponent for film=custom

p=1.3

v

Motion tab: subject speed in m/s

v=8

d

Its distance in metres

d=10

fl

Focal length, mm

fl=200

crop

Crop factor

crop=1.5

blur

Blur allowed on a full-frame sensor, mm

blur=0.02

angle

Direction of motion to the line of sight, degrees

angle=90

is

Stabiliser stops

is=4

strict

High-resolution sensor (1)

strict=1

example

One of the presets below; parameters given with it override the preset’s

example=sunny16

Presets:

example= Shows

sunny16

EV 15 at ISO 100 and f/16: the shutter solves to 1/125 (open)

indoor-party

A home interior at night (EV 6) at f/2.8 and 1/60 s needs about ISO 800 (open)

street-night

A bright street at night (EV 8) at ISO 1600 and 1/125 s: solve the aperture (open)

nd-seascape

A 10-stop ND turns 1/125 s into 8 s (open)

nd-stack

ND1000 + ND8 on 1/60 s: 8000/60 ≈ 2 m 13 s (open)

hp5-30s

HP5+ metered at 30 s needs 301.31 ≈ 86 s (open)

trix-10s

Tri-X metered at 10 s: 50 s and 20% less development (open)

cyclist

A cyclist at 8 m/s, 10 m away, 100 mm on APS-C (open)

handheld-300

300 mm on APS-C with 4 stops of stabilisation (open)

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