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!