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Thread: BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

  1. #1

    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    BTZS is easy... Here's why:

    You don't even have to understand how it works to use it!

    1. With each filter (-1 thru 5) on your enlarger, you contact print a step wedge. You develop with your standard method/chemicals and dry.

    2. You read these numbers with a densitometer and type them into the software (or have Fred at the View Camera Store do this for you)

    3. You expose 5 sheets of film to a step wedge (or have Fred do it)

    4. You develop those sheets per your usual method for 4, 5-1/2, 8, 11, 16 minutes.

    5. You read the negs with a densitometer and type the numbers into the software. (or send them to Fred and he'll do it)



    You're FINISHED! You now have all the numbers you need to precisely control your film. (Real world variables still apply.) Your negs will be tailored to your paper curve making printing a whole lot easier.

    Out in the field you can use the incident metering system that Phil describes or you can use your spot meter. The choice is yours. If you want to plug the numbers into a Palm Handheld Device then you can, the Palm isn't a necessity. With BTZS you quickly arrive at all of the facts about your film/dev/paper so that they work together like a charm. No guessing at film speeds for various n developments and so on.

    No learning how the motor is built to drive the car. If you want to learn, there's plenty of material to help with that! (try the videos)

    I think with Phil's book the thing that scared most people, (including myself as I'm not a math major), is the math and all the chart drawing. It seems many couldn't get past that! I had to read the book many times to understand. But, I wanted badly to understand so I kept at it. Unfortunately, at the time, it was all manual work. Now the math and chart drawing has been eliminated with the software. Even the grunt work can be eliminated by paying Fred a few bucks to do it for you. ( I don't work for the View Camera Store. I just want to alert those that don't know about it that the service is available.) So, if you're a non-technical type and just want to get on with making photos, there's no excuse not to give this system a shot. It's FAST and tailored to your way of doing things.

    Phil is a bright man and gave us a beautiful thing with BTZS. It's not some mystical religion... it's a cogent, concise method of attaining what we all set out to attain when we test our materials. It is quite an achievement. I'd venture to say he worked very, very hard to put it all together. It frustrates me to see so much negativity and misunderstanding when people who don't understand it discuss and knock it. As a brother in photography and passionate contributor to our craft, he deserves better than that. Unfortunately, the archilles heal of the system is that, in it's original form (book only), it scared people. If you got past that, the rewards were all yours. You could then quickly achieve numbers for any new film/developer/paper without the time consuming iterations of trial and error. Now, with the software system, there's NO learning curve to speak of. You can take advantage of it's power with minimal effort. However, it will cost you a few bucks if you want the View Camera Store to do the grunt work.

    Granted, in the past (pre software) the system was hard and people had a logical reason not to use it. However, to justify their inability to understand and use it, some turn to bashing it declaring it's way too technical and simply unnecessary. Some say you're either technical or artistic conveneintly placing the confused into the artistic category. You can be both! But I digress.

    BTZS is just a tool! Do you need to use it to make good photographs? Of course not. I acknowledge there is so much wiggle room built into the materials we use, any reasonably accurate system or even guessing at exposure with no meter and developing by inspection will get you close enough to make things work. BTZS simply centers and makes more narrow the margin of error. This just might be, to a greater or lesser degree, something good.

    I you feel so inclined... TRY IT!

  2. #2

    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    I use the "freeloader" method of the BTZS system. As Sandy has stated in previous posts that the numbers are tranferable. As I use the same method of film development as he does (tubes in a waterbath) I can use his dev. times for my film. When in the field I use the BTZS Power Dial ( a poor mans palm pilot of sorts) on side is for incident and the other for zone system. Both work quite well for me. I note the SBR on the film holder and when back in the darkroom I refer to Sandy's or Clay's times or Dick Arentz has tables in his book for the film and dev. combination I'm using, works great.If I am exposing and developing for palladium (my normal process) I just check the tables for developing to 1.75 for the SBR I have exposed the negative to. Some "tweeking" might be needed once in awhile but not much. There is such a thing as BTZS Lite from the View CAmera Store that really helps in understanding more about the system.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    27

    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    How do you pronounce it, Butt-Ziss?

  4. #4

    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    I have been using the Zone System for over 40 years. Learned it for Ansel's books and the man himself. Phil Davis, in my not-so-humble opinion has succeeded magnificently in making it complicated and opaque. I have been trying to read his book for several years and it puts me right to sleep. Along with convincing me that black is white and up is down. Oh well.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Seattle, Washington
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    3,020

    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    A.A.'s books were the first I read on the subject of process control, and even as a newbie, I knew something was amiss. How can film speed be independent of development? Why should I have to test for every lens/shutter/camera I use, but not for the printing paper? What's with all the roman numerals, and plusses and minusses? Compared to Adams' text, Davis' is utterly transparent and illuminating. I read once Davis' comment that he wished he'd never included ZS terminology in his book, as it only serves to confuse the basic concepts, and I agree wholeheartedly. Cut to the chase, and give me the straight dope. I can take it.

    Jay

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Dec 1999
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    1,905

    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    I don't test for every lens but I do try and match the film. film developer and paper. This is your 'team" and they have to work together.

    steve simmons

  7. #7

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    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    Jay DeFehr: "Compared to Adams' text, Davis' is utterly transparent and illuminating. I read once Davis' comment that he wished he'd never included ZS terminology in his book, as it only serves to confuse the basic concepts, and I agree wholeheartedly. Cut to the chase, and give me the straight dope. I can take it. "

    Jay,

    I completely agree with you. I have Adams' book on the negative and find parts of it very difficult to understand, whereas the concepts Davis puts forth in Beyond the Zone System seem remarkably simple to me.

    On the other hand, I have seen a number of very intelligent and well-educated persons who react to Davis as Grump did. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
    For discussion and information about carbon transfer please visit the carbon group at groups.io
    [url]https://groups.io/g/carbon

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Dec 1999
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    1,905

    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    Which Adams book are you referring to. The early, thin, edition was very difficult for most people. The later thicker one was much easier. The early Adams appealed to a few, the later Adams book appealed to a lot more, The Picker approach (with or without reading the zone 1 with a densitometer, appealed to many as well). Apparently BTZS has its followers as well.

    steve simmons

  9. #9

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    Sep 2003
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    South Carolina
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    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    I have both of the books, the thin one and the larger one. However, I was in fact thinking of the thin one in making my comment about my difficulty in reading it.

    Picker did make Zone a lot easier for me to understand than any of the previous works, say by Adams or White.
    For discussion and information about carbon transfer please visit the carbon group at groups.io
    [url]https://groups.io/g/carbon

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    NJ / NYC, USA.
    Posts
    331

    BTZS is EASY! Here's why...

    This is a wild, wild, totally out there new concept.

    1. Rate your film at half the listed ASA and develop 30% less than recommended to insure negs with adequate shadow detail and manageable overall contrast.

    2. Learn to dodge and burn until your prints look good.

    Whoa!! I know, I know, totally cutting edge. I'm pretty sure I'm going to introduce a line of interactive DVD's called BLOPPLSYDRN: Beyond Lining Other People's Pockets Learning Stuff You Don't Really Need.

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