Film & Studio
Exposure & Lux Calculator
Convert between EV (Exposure Value), lux, foot-candles, and camera settings (ISO / aperture / shutter speed). Essential for cinematographers, photographers, and lighting technicians matching camera exposure to light levels.
Camera Settings
ISO / ASA
Aperture (f-stop)
Shutter Speed
Incident vs Reflected
Light Level Output
Exposure Value (EV)—
Required lux (incident)—
Required foot-candles—
Candela (point source ref)—
Scene description—
T-stop equivalent—
Cine: frame rate—
180° rule shutter—
—
EV
Exposure value
—
lux
Incident light
—
fc
Foot-candles
—
scene
Description
EV Reference Table (ISO 100)
| EV | Lux | Foot-candles | Scene | Example Settings |
|---|
Converting between EV, lux, and foot-candles
Photographers and lighting designers often move between Exposure Value (EV), used on cameras and light meters, and lux or foot-candles, used in lighting. EV is a logarithmic scale tied to a reference ISO (usually ISO 100): each whole step doubles or halves the light. Roughly, EV 0 at ISO 100 corresponds to about 2.5 lux, and every +1 EV doubles it — so EV 5 is around 80 lux and EV 10 about 2,560 lux. To convert lux to foot-candles, divide by 10.76. This lets you translate a meter reading into a lighting-design level, or check whether a scene’s ambient light meets a target. Because the result depends on the meter’s calibration constant, treat conversions as close approximations rather than exact figures.