Sunny 16 Sticker for Leica M

I made this Sunny 16 reference for my Leica M2. It fits on the bottom plate, where a quick glance gives me an exposure for the light I’m in.

I mostly shoot ISO 400 film. The sticker was useful for a couple of weeks, until my eye got used to the settings and the places I was photographing. After that, I hardly needed to look at it.

Using the Sticker

Match the light and shadows to a row, then read across to the aperture you want to use. The table gives the corresponding shutter speed: 1000 is 1/1000 second, 8 is 1/8 second. ND values name the neutral density filter to use at 1/1000 second: ND2 is one stop (0.3), ND4 two stops (0.6), and ND8 three (0.9).

It’s a daylight reference, with a rough starting point for deep shade. The exposure steps follow Kodak’s daylight table for Tri-X 400, which assumes front-lit subjects from two hours after sunrise to two hours before sunset. For backlit close-ups, open up a stop.

Printing and Placement

Print on removable matte sticker paper and cut along the border. The sticker sits between the locking key and tripod socket, about 5 mm from each, leaving about 2 mm along the long edges of the bottom plate.

It fits every film Leica M except the M5, whose rewind crank folds into the bottom plate. Try it on plain paper first. The sheet’s second page has the plate at full size to hold against the camera, and a 50 mm line on the first checks the print scale.

Download

The A4 sheet has two of each sticker for ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000, and 1600. ISO 800 and 1000 share the nearest full-stop settings; the difference is about one-third of a stop. Individual SVGs are in a separate ZIP if you want to adjust the size or layout.

Original Version

Work and Change Log

• 2026-11-03: Redrew the labels, clarified the shade markings, and added more ISO versions. Checked the fit against Leica’s dimensions and drew the placement guide at full size.