[Leica] Zone System, BTZS

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

>>>If you develop all your negatives for the same time/temperature, then
you are really using the zone system and have worked out a way where the
exposure/development times work for you in your system<<<


With all due respect, this isn't remotely "the Zone System." This is the
system worked out by C.E. Kenneth Mees and Loyd [sic--that's how he
spelled it] Jones of Kodak in the 1930s, whereby average exposure and
average development are given sufficient for most outdoor pictorial
subjects with final image contrast being controlled by way of of paper
grade. The Zone System is a specific method of controlling negative
density by means of materials testing, spot area measurement, and
control of development for achiving an optimum CI for a given paper and
"place and fall" interpretation of scene luminances.

The "Zone System" is a specific, defined method. It is not just a fancy
way of saying "intelligent exposure and development control."

The Zone System itself is not very precise. To name just a few
inconsistencies, the concept of "N" is arbitrary, film speed point
changes with development (this is not controlled for in the Zone System)
and to different degrees with different films, and plus and minus
development is averaged. It should be remembered that Ansel Adams was
already a very experienced photographer by the time he and Fred Archer
formulated his system...and most so-called "Zone System" photographers
also have made adjustments based on their own practices and experiences.

There really is an incredible amount of misinformation floating around
out there, and there always will be, I guess.

This is not to denigrate anyone's exposure control or personal methods,
most of which work well.

- --Mike