Table 1. Luminance levels of typical scenes in EV (for ISO 100 film) and cd/m²

EV	cd/m²	Examples¹⁾
17	16,384	Snow field at noon^b
16	8,192	Looking down onto the lunar surface at noon on the equator^a
15	4,096	Noon on a clear day, typical nearby scene^b
14	2,048	Planned luminance for Apollo down-Sun photography^c
13	1,024	Planned luminance for Apollo cross-Sun photography^c
12	512	Mean sunlit lunar surface near poles^a
11	256	Sky at sunset^a,b, backlit scene moments before sunset on a clear day^a,b
10	128	Late afternoon shadows^a
9	64	Nighttime sporting events^b, typical ShadowCam saturation level^d
8	32	Well-lit windowless office^a,e, open shade at sunset^a,b, brightest PSRs^a
7	16	Minimum recommended lighting for office spaces^e
6	8	Peak brightness of Shackleton crater in summer^a, ShadowCam signal-to-noise ratio 100 level^d, upper end of mesopic vision^f
5	4	Minimum recommended lighting for corridors and stairways^e
4	2	Well-lit roads at night^g
3	1	Peak brightness of Shackleton crater in winter^a
2	0.5	Peak summer brightness of darkest PSRs (Amundsen)^a
1	0.25	Peak lunar luminance under Earthshine^h
0	0.125	Beginning of nautical twilight^a
–1	0.0625	Approximate ShadowCam lower detection limit^d
–2	~0.0313
–3	~0.0156	Outdoor nearby scene lit by a full Moon^b, lower end of mesopic vision^f

References:
This work.
ANSI (1973).
NASA (1971a, b).
Humm et al. (2023).
ANSI (1993).
Kunkel & Reinhard (2010).
Alferdinck (2006).
Wagner et al. (2023).
EV, exposure value; PSRs, permanently shadowed regions.