Zone system pdf

Thank you!!! Each large hash mark is one full stop. Depending how you have your camera set up, depends upon which way you over or underexpose. Factory set ups from Nikon, you over expose to the left I the center on the meter make brighter and underexpose to the right of center. That is the way I have mine set up, most other cameras are opposite. Hope this helps! The zone system was figured out for film during the early days, sheet film in particular. Bracketing is the norm these days.

And thus if true, would this render the zone system obsolete for digital capture? Then there is the histogram to refer to. So far with the present generation of films and variable contrast paper, I do manage to churn out some half-decent prints. After reading your excellent piece on the zone system, I may not have to sweat so much in my darkroom in future. I live near the Equator. Thanks for the education Laurie. Regards Hong. I started off on DSLR rather late in life — at 62 — and there my learning curve is rather shallow.

Thank you for taking the time to explain the Zone System. It was really helpful. Thank you for all that you do! Pinned, K-. Thank you so much! Thanks for this article. I am struggling with getting the zone system right in camera. I feel i know it theoritically…. I am a Canon user. I feel when i meter an almost black object at -2, the picture looks like it is underexposed. How can I get this right? Is the only solution to chimp and readjust my settings? It sounds like you are already on your way.

Your camera may need another third or two thirds of a stop, or you may need to retrain your brain to see the depths of color a little differently. Keep plugging away! Great article in explaining the zone system. Hit is one full stop per zone. You could use exposure comp or adjust your exposure triangle ap, ss, or ISO to compensate. I have been shooting in manual for years, and understood using the various methods Aperture, shutter speed and ISO to adjust for lighting but as much as I have read and tried to figure out, I never understood how to use the camera for metering.

I finally get it!!! Thank you so much for this awesome article. The zone system was formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer. In today DSLR word is used for taking a photograph, when working with camera raw and editing in photoshop but the zone numbers are never reversed because you get a positive raw image directly from the camera.

Remember that just using the zone systems literally will give you a photo that is exposed correctly from a technical view but not necessarily the correct exposure for that photo, that one is on the hands and brain of the photographer. There are photographers now who have never used an aperture ring, and Nikon could hold back their system only so long for old guys like me The advantage over full M is that if the lighting suddenly changes, your exposure changes to suit.

I alternate between this mode and full manual. Luckily there are shortcuts to making good exposures. We present a simplified zone system that will enable you to expose your image correctly most of the time.

It works equally well with color and black and white negatives; exposure technique is identical. Zone system chart Looks pretty good on my PC monitor, but may look very different on monitors and printers with different brightness curves gammas. The zone system begins with a zone chart.

Zone 1 is pure black; zone 9 is pure white; zone 5 can be described subjectively as middle gray. These cards are used by professionals for exposure metering in the studio: They place the card next to the subject and meter from it. This is equivalent to incident light metering: measuring the light that reaches the subject.

Meters built into cameras measure reflected light. The eight steps between the nine zones in the chart represent a luminance range of 2 8. On paper surfaces, this difference is considerably compressed. The maximum tonal range is around 45, equivalent to about 5.

Reflectance differences between zones are less than a factor of two. The difference between zones at the ends of the scale 1 and 2 or 8 and 9 is much less than between zones in the middle 4, 5, and 6. Colors are rich and saturated where you expect them to be, and no important areas are washed out or too dark.

First, there should be detail in all important shadow areas. Information is lost. Shadow detail is extremely important in tonally rich, satisfying fine prints. Negative film can capture a huge tonal range, and the detail you need to print is probably still present. Portions of the negative may be denser than the Dmax of the scanner the highest density it can respond to, typically 3 to 4 on a logarithmic scale.

Nevertheless, image quality is generally degraded in overexposed negatives. The situation is reversed is slides, where overexposure is the cardinal sin. Overexposed areas are washed out and lacking in detail. Slides capture a much smaller brightness range than negatives, hence they require very careful exposure. Some detail may be lost in contrasty scenes, even in well-exposed slides. In landscapes, where the sky and scenery at the top of the frame is often much brighter than at the bottom, a graduated neutral density filter dark on top; clear on bottom can be invaluable for reducing the brightness range.

These filters come in several gradients and maximum densities. It takes practice to use them effectively. The key to the zone system is visualizing how you want areas of the scene to appear in the final image, or in the language of the zone system, where you want to "place" them.

The zone system can then be expressed in a single statement:. Select an area of the scene, meter it, then adjust the exposure by the difference between the zone you want in the final image and zone 5. For example, say you want to place the snowy mountains in scene below Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, with the Jungfrau range in the background at zone 7. Meter them, then increase the exposure by two f-stops, i. Or if you choose to place the shaded mountain on the left at zone 3, meter it, then decrease the exposure by two f-stops.

I probably pointed the camera, a Canon FTb with a narrow angle meter, down slightly towards the Zone 5 region, then exposed as indicated. Of course the devil is in the details. And there are several. The zone system was designed for narrow angle meters, such as 1 o spot meters see sidebar. These meters are not designed for the zone system and must be used with care.

You have to average over the region of sensitivity. The second devilish detail is how to determine the region to meter. The Zone 3 mountain on the left is a good example. For slides, where overexposure must be avoided, you should bias your choice towards middle to lighter regions, with emphasis on the most important part of the image. You may want to take several zone-adjusted readings and use them as the basis of bracketing.

Gamma should be set to 1. Gamma is extremely sensitive to viewing angle in most Laptop LCD screens. This chart is only for monitors; it doesn't work on printed media. I encourage you to load this chart on your computer and check it occasionally.

I'll be happy to grant permission to reproduce it on your website if you e-mail me, give me credit and a link to this page. An exception to the dumb exposure meter rule can be found in modern single lens reflex cameras with matrix metering , which tend to be expensive high-end models. A good example is the Nikon F , which has a 10 segment meter. It meters each segment individually, then uses a computer program to determine the optimum exposure.

The program employs artificial intelligence or fuzzy logic— it's been taught to respond correctly to a wide variety of scenes. Of course there will always be exceptions— a reader's comment in the photo. View image galleries How to purchase prints. An excellent opportunity to collect high quality photographic prints and support this website. Adams used a view camera and developed each sheet film negative individually, based on the scene contrast and the previsualized print tonalities.

The greater the contrast in relation to the print, the shorter the development time. His system is very elegant— it produces prints of exceptional tonality, and most images print on a single grade of paper Adams preferred grade 2 , but it requires a tremendous amount of testing, calibration, record keeping, and time.

It's not practical unless you have access to a darkroom and plenty of time. The difference between the "simplified" and full Zone system. You give up the idea of making most of your prints on a single grade of paper. This is no problem if you plan to scan your film and print digitally because you have total control over print contrast. The goal of the simplified Zone system is to expose film for optimum image quality— to make sure all the critical information is present.

Note 1. To display these tables correctly in Netscape, the Always use my colors, overriding document box must be unchecked. Scroll down and check the box, " Print background colors and images. Note 2. The best way to print these charts, which are HTML tables, not image files, is the following. Low values Zone 0. Complete lack of density in the negative image, other than film base density plus fog. Total black in the print. We will omit zone 0 from the remainder of this tutorial; zone 1 will be considered pure black.

Omitting zone 0 makes little practical difference. Effective threshold. First step above complete black in the print. Slight tonality, but no texture. First suggestion of texture. Deep tonalities, representing the darkest part of the image in which some detail is required.

Middle values Zone 4. Average dark foliage. Dark stone. Landscape shadow. Recommended shadow value for portraits in sunlight. Clear north sky panchromatic rendering. Dark skin. Gray stone. Average weathered wood. Average Caucasian skin value. Light stone. Shadows in snow in sunlit snowscapes. High values Zone 7. Whites with textures and delicate values not blank whites. Snow in full shade. Highlights on Caucasian skin. Glaring white surfaces. Snow in flat sunlight. White without texture.

The only subjects higher than Zone 9 would be light sources; they would be rendered as the maximum white value of the paper surface. A beginner's glossary of confusing photographic terms. Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open during exposure. It is the inverse of the number on the dial. The standard sequence is 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, , , , Aperture is the variable opening in the lens that admits light. F-stop is a measure of the aperture opening, defined as a lens's focal length divided by the aperture diameter.

F-stops are sequenced in multiples of the square root of two: 1, 1. Increasing the f-stop by one step halves the light reaching the film. F-stop also refers to a change in the aperture by one step, which doubles or halves the light reaching the film.

Similarly, "stopping down" means admitting less light; increasing the f-stop. The speed of a lens is its maximum aperture, i. Film speed is a measure of a film's sensitivity to light. Faster films tend to have more grain and less resolving power. Exposure is the total light reaching the film. Can the Zone System Go Digital? The computerized metering systems in modern cameras are really amazing, ….

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