Re: [Leica] Grey Zone

[Guy Bennett <guybnt@idt.net>]

>> since zones and stops are equivalent, the minute you say
>> 'the brightest and darkest important details are no more
>> than 5 stops apart' you are already thinking in zone
>> system terms.
>
>Good... does this mean that I won't have to buy any expensive books on the
>Zone
>System, then?
>
>  -- Anthony


all right, all right. for those who do not wish to spend a lifetime reading
expensive books on complex theories relating to the zone system, try this
one:

carson graves. 'the zone system for 35mm photographers: a basic guide to
exposure control.' 2nd edition. boston: focal press, 1997. $29.95
(currently available, try amazon.com or wherever)

i too had doubts about my abilities to use the zone system *practically*
with a 35mm camera. my first readings about the zone system gave me the
impression it was much more appropriate with large format photography,
where each image, as a single negative, can be exposed and developped for
maximum effect. i later learned that it is eminently practical for 35mm
photography as well, and this book explains how that is so.

as i see it, it is not an esoteric system requiring complex mathematical
calculation (otherwise i would never be able to understand or use it), but
rather a way of relating zones of gray to aperture openings and shutter
speeds in order to achieve correct exposure. you don't have to calculate
anything mentally before taking a picture, you just need to consider what
in the picture area you are reading for exposure, and then you compensate
accordingly, by opening up or selecting a slower shutter speed, or stopping
down or selecting a faster shutter speed, depending on the 'zone' of gray
represented by the thing off of which you metered. (the book gives some
good, useful examples of common things and the zones they read as).

i understand that the zone system is much more than that, that it can be
used to 'correct' improperly exposed negatives by over/underdevelopping,
and that there are ways to determine to what extent that should be done,
but i must admit that, for the time being at least, this is not practical
for me - i don't develop my own film. that said, the zone system as a
system of 'exposure control' (as the subtitle of the book indicates) is a
simple, useful language that helps explain the act of exposing film. in my
limited application of it, it has helped me understand how i can control
exposure by selective metering using only the meter in the camera.

guy