Roman Numerals in Zone System

[Nick_3536]

V is pronouced 5. If you're confused by that well what can I say-)

[Kirk Gittings]

we might as well name the zones Dopey, Sneezy, Sleepy, Creepy and so on...

Now that is a zone dial I would like to see....

[Michael Graves]

<<Gosh I have a lot of hobbies but I don't think I've ever experienced any hobby where the other practitioners are so touchy! >>

Wasn't being touchy. Simply explaining why the status quo is the way it is. As for touchy????? The last thing of significance the French invented was the white flag.

[cyrus]

It's actually quite simple -- He used ROMAN numerals to avoid confusion when making field notes, creating a built-in distintion between the Zones, EV's, shutter speeds longer than 1/2 second and wider apertures.

Somehow I have a problem seeing someone -- anyone -- getting "confused" by 11 numbers yet still capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.

[cyrus]

V is pronouced 5. If you're confused by that well what can I say-)

Well, this shadow is in Zone vee-eye-eye, so I'll just go to zone eye-vee or perhaps eye-ex, and then I'll set the exposure time for X sigma seconds.

Anyway...Hmmm...I wonder what time it is...why, its eye-ex o'clock! I have to go home by ex-vee-eye-eye-ex. I had better hurry up!

Yes, that makes so much sense. How have I survived without Roman numerals thus far, I sarcastically wonder? Gosh, its such a good thing to use Roman numerals because otherwise I would get oh so confused with all those silly Arabic numerals like "zero" through "eleven" . . .

Ha! "Eleven"! Like that's a real number! pfffft!

[Michael Graves]

Cyrus,

Please don't take this the wrong way...but whatever you do...don't buy a 21-step wedge.

[Brian Ellis]

Yes, that makes so much sense. How have I survived without Roman numerals thus far, I sarcastically wonder? Gosh, its such a good thing to use Roman numerals because otherwise I would get oh so confused with all those silly Arabic numerals like "zero" through "eleven" . . . !

If you can't remember what Arabic numbers the first ten Roman numerals stand for just wait until you get to the really confusing stuff. For example, did you know that f/22 represents a SMALLER aperture than f8 even though 22 is obviously a BIGGER number than 8? Now isn't that silly? What idiot do you suppose devised a system where the SMALLER something is the BIGGER its number? There's lots of other stupid things like that in photography that I won't go into here because I think you get my point. It isn't just dumb old Ansel Adams and his stupid Roman numerals that are going to give you trouble, photography is loaded with confusing things.

[Kirk Gittings]

Brian,
I used to use a one ounce beaker to measure some chemical into a liter bottle. That just happened to be what I had on hand. I can't remember what it was, maybe HC110. Anyway, out of habit, this was the way I would put it to my students, an once to a liter. I always watched them dutifully write it down. It was years before anyone pointed out to me my pitiful lack of continuity. But I suspect many people dutifully used my "ounce to a liter" measurement long after they left school.

[cyrus]

If you can't remember what Arabic numbers the first ten Roman numerals....

I can remember that and a whole lot of other entirely useless stuff that I spent a lot of money earning too many advanced degrees in ...

The point is that the Roman numerals really aren't necessary and serve no purpose and so should be substituted with regular ol' Arabic numerals.

PS actually f/22 as the smaller aperture makes perfect sense if you know what the f-number means. Those issues have a logic behind them though not everyone bothers to check - using Roman numerals on the other hand doesn't.

[Ole Tjugen]

I really only care about three "zones". I call them "Darkish", "Boring", and "Brightish". They correspond approximately to III, V and VII in Roman numerals.

I try to keep detail in "Darkish", avoid blowing out the "Brightish", and avoid large areas of "Boring".

Works for me...