Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/27

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Subject: [Leica] zone system a la guy
From: Guy Bennett <guybnt@idt.net>
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 15:24:14 -0800

>I'm curious, among this group, who uses the zone system of
>exposure/development/printing?  Either formally or informally, color or
>b&w.
>
>Which spotmeters are good - accurate, rugged, easy to use, reliable?
>
>Thanks,
>  Tim K


tim k,

i use a kind of informal, idiosyncratic zone system for exposure. here's
how i do it:

- - read a f****** h*** of a lot about the z.s., skipping all the graphs
- - forget all except what i find *practically* (i.e. in praxis) useful
- - use it!

for me, this boils down to exposure technique, as i:

- - don't have the patience to test all aspects of my *system* (i.e. each
camera body with each lens, with each brand of film i use at each film
speed, not to mention which paper's i print on and through which enlarger
lenses)
- - don't shoot large format and thus find impractical for my purposes
z.s.-style development (i.e. n +/- whatever)
- - want to enjoy photography and not spend too much time worrying about details

that said, i find the fundamentals of the z.s. of great value when
determining exposure. it is a system beautiful in its simplicity in that it
relates the gray 'zones' of the print to the controls of the cameras -
leicas, mind you! - that i am already using to make pictures. the grays are
thus related to f stops and shutter speeds and film speeds and everything's
groovy.

in other words, i use it to 'previsualize' (to use that word) the tones in
the print at the moment of exposure - just as i do aperture and shutter
speed for relative sharpness and blur - thus giving me more control of the
printed image, and helping me to achieve it. here's my m.o.:

- - find the thing you want to emphasize in your image
- - figure out which zone it should be (for this one, i use 'classic'
examples of things and the zones they tend to be and relate to that)
- - push the button on the camera (on the m, there's only one) to take a
reading of the scene
- - compensate accordingly
- - shoot

that's it.

for me, the rest is all hubub and stuff, fit only for hopeless hobgoblins
with their big ol' boxey cameras and unique negs!

yo!

guy