The Zone System - In English?

[Dmitri]

ok so after trying to read through many sites that explain the zone system, I think I have it figured out.

Tell me if I'm wrong.

The zone system is basically HDR with two exposures, one for shadows and one for highlights. Yes?

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[KmH]

Keep reading!

[pharmakon]

Don't think we used the same translator. I'm not an expert but I don't think it involves more than one exposure.

My take was that it is a system that allows you to obtain your desired exposure. Also seems like you can use it to tailor your exposure to preserve highlights or shadows depending on your vision and/or photographic medium (film, digital, etc..)

You take what you know about the scene/subject and use it to aid you when you meter and dial in your exposure.

Only thing I read was Wikipedia so I might be off...

[Dmitri]

ugh!! lol The combination of me not being smart, with lots of charts and numbers, make for a tough time. I'll keep reading

[white]

ok so after trying to read through many sites that explain the zone system, I think I have it figured out.

Tell me if I'm wrong.

The zone system is basically HDR with two exposures, one for shadows and one for highlights. Yes?

No.

Zone system is a way to expose & develop film to achieve a print with a wide range of tones. All tones, from pure black, to white, should be represented in the final print. It was devised using sheet film, which made it easy to adjust development times according to each images' unique needs.

For people shooting roll film, the Zone System is typically just an exposure guide. Light meters are calibrated to render a scene as 18% gray, which in Zone system terminology is ZONE V. Light meters were designed this way to give a good exposure most of the time -- i..e, darks are dark, lights are light, etc.

The key to understanding and using the Zone system is pre-visualization -- how is the scene going to look as a photograph. You have to learn to see things as a tonal quality. Google Zone System and an image of a bar with 11 tones comes up.

Look at it this way: everything in the world is shades of gray.

So when you are determining an exposure, you can choose to place tones in different zones by either underexposing or overexposing. If the normal meter reading, for example, is 1/125 @ f/8, and this normal reading yields 18% gray, or ZONE V as it is also known, then underexposing 1 stop shifts the tonal range by 1, so that ZONE V becomes ZONE IV, and ZONE VI becomes ZONE V.

[Dmitri]

ok, so would I be correct in thinking that the zone system is irrelevant with digital cameras and RAW editors?

[dxqcanada]

It's basis is understanding how to control your medium to obtain the exposure that you have visualized/imagined.

When using film camera's it was manipulating the camera exposure with a specific film type, manipulating the development of the film, and then manipulating the final print.

With digital you still need to understand how your camera captures light. As the camera is also the film, there are some in-camera manipulation you can perform.
Most of the manipulation occurs during post-processing before printing.

The Zone System is a method to visualize exposure.

As suggested, continue reading.

[Derrel]

Might as well learn it from perhaps the best book about how to learn it....
Amazon.com: New Zone System Manual: Minor White; Richard Zakia; Peter Lorenz (9780871001009): Minor White: Books

The book was revised in 1990. I have the older 1977 revision. It's "the" classic introductory text written for students and beginners and 'normal people'.

[Dmitri]

Gratsias!

[willisdek]

zone system is a photographic technique to determine the exposure of the film and the optimal development, formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer in 1939-1940. The technique is based on the 19th century, studies of sensitivity metric Hurt-ado and Dr-if field

[Breaux]

ok, so would I be correct in thinking that the zone system is irrelevant with digital cameras and RAW editors?

I'm no expert, but I agree with this. The zone system was a way to capture the desired range of brightness in a B&W film and development situation. With digital, there are better ways to do the same thing using levels, histograms etc.

(BTW: I shoot B&W film and use the zone system myself. I wish I had histograms!)

[ann]

True, however, it is also a way to learn to think in greyscale which never hurts anyone along with pre-visualtion which would be of use to help avoid, why are my photos so crappy!

[clanthar]

A very long time ago Hurter and Driffield discovered that film's response to exposure and development wasn't linear. With this information Photographers developed manipulative techniques.

Practically speaking, increases/decreases in development have a greater effect on those areas of the film that received greater exposure. Therefore, development changes effect the recorded highlights more than the recorded shadows. The recorded shadow detail then is primarily set by exposure while the highlight detail can be manipulated via development. This allows the contrast response of the film to be adjusted to better match the contrast range of the original scene lighting. The zone system as such was never applicable to studio photography where the lighting could be manipulated to match the ideal contrast response of the film. Every film has a best-possible tone response produced with a controlled lighting condition and an ideal development time.

An unfortunate side effect of the zone system is a compromise of the film's mid-tone response due to increased or decreased development. This is an acceptable compromise when altering the scene lighting isn't practical -- Grand Tetons are hard to light with strobes and so zone system manipulation allows the photographer to extend the range of what can be successfully photographed under "given" lighting conditions.

Since you can't develop the sensor in your digital camera the zone system doesn't apply -- it's a different game.

Take Care,
Joe