Spot Meter and The zone System

[Regdor]

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... ge=5778792

The above tutorial is from the Sony Talk forum at dpreview.

I found any post by Shay Stephens to be very useful.

He has the ability to put concepts that are sometimes difficult to understand, into a simple form.

Rodger.

[sirhc55]

Regdor - have to agree that this link is very good and I have bookmarked for a good read

Cheers

Chris

[lejazzcat]

Good tip.
All novices have to learn the zone system (IMHO). It helps so much if you want to create artistic B&W exposures- rather that just a bunch of mid gray flat images (always using Matrix AE will do that to you).

And as you say, also very well explained . Ansel wrote a whole volume on the zone system.


(Thanks Mr Adams.)

[the foto fanatic]

This is a great post & the original article is well worth reading.

[mudder]

Looks like some great info there... I've saved the page to digest later...

Thanks for the post Rodger

Cheers,
Mudder

[embi]

Thought I might bump this one as I have been studying it a bit lately.

Very informative and brings me back to the good 'ol days of learning the Zone System. It seems to sink in a lot better now.

[waspo]

Thanks for the bump, embi. Otherwise I might have missed this one. Will also bookmark and have a good read later.
Thanks for posting the link, Regdor.
Cheers, Jase.

[Sheetshooter]

Ansel wrote a whole volume on the zone system.


(Thanks Mr Adams.)

THREE volumes in fact. And well worth a read. Mind you, like any SYSTEM it can lose some of its benefit if followed slavishly.

There is another system of exposure and contrast control developed by a chap named Phil Davis which builds on the Zone System - it is called BEYOND THE ZONE SYSTEM. It may actually be easier to relate to digital technique where exposure and confining the Subject Brightness Range to the limitations of a given Dynamic Range.

If any Sydney people would be interested in an explanation and demonstration of how the BEYOND THE ZONE SYSTEM metering technique works let's have a shpow of hands and perhaps something could be arranged. Unlike the Adams/Archer Zone System this system actually works best with an incident light meter but can be made to function very well with a spot-meter also.

Cheers,

[christiand]

Thanks a lot for the link.

Great information.

CD

[Sheetshooter]

Well, I've been and read what he had to say and it is not very accurate information. He is only taking into account one end of the tonal range - the shadows (or low values) are left to fall where they will. A recipe for disaster because if the low values are set too low they will be swallowed up in noise and tonal separation will suffer. BOTH high values and low values need to be taken into consideration in your calculations.

[Nnnnsic]

I'll put my hand up for that.

I got to learn a bit about the Zone system as Uni, but never really got the hang of it or needed to use it for.. erm.. taking pictures of fighting donuts...

[moggy]

As a newbie I need all the help I can get and that link is great, thanks for that.
Bob.

[Onyx]

Sheetshooter, put me down as interested.

[krpolak]

-->Sheetshooter

I also would be happy in 'an explanation and demonstration of how the BEYOND THE ZONE SYSTEM metering'. For sure.

Regards,

K.Polak

[Sheetshooter]

Thanks guys,

It seems we are getting together a quorum for a gathering of ZONIES. I have a busy day today with three projects to shoot so it will be over the weekend that I am able to devote some time to thinking about how to best achieve this. Who knows, in that time there may be more express an interest.

What I can say right now is that ANY calibrated system of exposure is a highly personalised thing. It applies to YOUR particular kit and YOUR particular approach to imaging. So you would need to bring your own camera and we would need at least one or two people to bring a lap-top computer (preferably freshly calibrated screen) so that files from different camera systems could be analised.

I shall also check with Gary in the meantime that this idea does not contravene his community guidelines.

[gstark]

If any Sydney people would be interested in an explanation and demonstration of how the BEYOND THE ZONE SYSTEM metering technique works let's have a shpow of hands and perhaps something could be arranged.

I would also be interested in this.

[lejazzcat]

The more the merrier. Save a seat for me too!

[robboh]

SheetShooter, I had a bit of a read up on BTZS and looks interesting, though looks a little expensive since you need densiometers etc??
I wont be able to attend unfortunately, given that my car doesnt float

Its always made me laugh when 35mm (and any roll film) photographers tell me that the use the zone system. They may use aspects of it, but the full zone system covers the entire gamut of exposure, development and printing; pretty hard to do when you cant alter development on a per-frame basis

[gstark]

SheetShooter, I had a bit of a read up on BTZS and looks interesting, though looks a little expensive since you need densiometers etc??
I wont be able to attend unfortunately, given that my car doesnt float

Its always made me laugh when 35mm (and any roll film) photographers tell me that the use the zone system. They may use aspects of it, but the full zone system covers the entire gamut of exposure, development and printing; pretty hard to do when you cant alter development on a per-frame basis

But you can shoot a whole roll - especially a short roll that you may have custom loaded - under a given set of common lighting conditions.

It is possible, but you are correct in that it's not often likely.