Foot Candle definition

Foot candle refers to the measurement of light.  The term originated from exactly what its title is; the light of one candle that is one foot away is one foot candle.  Light meters convert foot candle numbers into an f-stop measurement.  However, one should realize that there exists several kind of film speeds.   Thus, using foot candles as a reference point is not necessary recommended because f-stops may not correspond exactly to any given number of foot candles since there are so many film speeds.