Finding the proper exposure.

In order to use the manual mode on any SLR Camera, digital, or film.  It is very important to get the correct exposure.

I have found the following cheat sheet on the internet. http://www.woodshirecreations.com/Download/EV%20Exposure%20Cheatsheet.pdf

At fisrt glance, it looks very complicated, but once you understand how to use it, its basically a 1-2-3.

First use table 1 to find the lighting conditions you are shooting in, slide your finger across to the ISO you want to expose and get your LV number.

Using the LV compensation chart for your ISO, find the adjustment number.  Since all the LV numbers are described using ISO100.   Add the comensation to the LV number.

Then using the chart find your result. 

For example:

Lets say I am shooting just before sunset, and want to expose an ISO200.

I use "EV Table 1" to find my conditions, and ISO, where the two lines intesect I get 15.

Using the ISO adjustment tool I see that ISO200 has an adjustment of 1.   15+1 = 16.

Using the "EV Table", I find  16 in the table and see what F-Stop and Shutter speed to use.  Note that 16 apears in the table many times, actually in a diagonal.  This is because Shutter Speed and Aperature are scaled by halves and doubles..  So when you go up one F Stop, you go down one shutter speed and you get the same exposure. 

I've seen this explained with the analogy of filling a bucket with water.  Pretend the bucket is the film, the water is the light.  You can turn the tap on just a little bit and fill the bucket slowly, or you can turn the tap on full and fill the bucket quickly.  In this analogy the time it takes to fill the bucket is the shutter speed, and the opening in the tap is the F Stop.  If I close the tap half way, it takes twice as long to fill the bucket.

This table makes it easy to get the shot you want, for example, lets say i want to freeze the action in the shot, and I want to use the fastest shutter speed I can.  This chart goes to 1/8000 of a second.  I look under 8000 and find 16, I slide over and see I need an F Stop of 2.8 to achieve that exposure.