Re: [Leica] Grey Zone

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>]

>I've never been able to understand the zone system and admire folks who
>wade through all that zone, this, that and every number in the book, before
>making an exposure.
>...
>
>I guess if one is working a single sheet of film at a time

The Zone System was formulated by Ansel Adams for just that purpose: 
working one sheet at a time, optimizing exposure for each photograph, 
because of his fundamental belief that the finest prints come only from 
the best negatives. Ansel was such a technician sometimes ... 

The basic principles, simplified for roll film camera use, are useful as 
a way to understand what's important when you're evaluating a scene for 
an exposure if you like to think analytically about it. Knowing the 
response curve of a particular film and developer combination, you can 
use your light readings in an way that has logic, process and structure 
to determine the correct exposure for your intended results. 

Of course, many types of photographic endeavor do not lend themselves to 
so careful an analytic approach to exposure. Many time you do not have an 
intended result in mind other than to have a suitable photograph at the 
end of the assignment, and since when you're covering a ball game or a 
news event you don't know what's going to happen, you just hit the median 
and adjust later in the darkroom when you see that brilliant photo. 

I find that understanding the principles of the Zone System are helpful 
to analyze what I've done right or wrong but spending too much time 
working it out doesn't help me get anywhere. But then I'm not a "one 
sheet at a time" photographer either.

Godfrey