BTZS Metering Technique

[Bruce Watson]

Bruce - It sounds like you perhaps don't understand the "BTZS technique." It's as usable with a spot meter as with an incident meter. Phil Davis happened to prefer an incident meter but you could use the system with your spot meter equally well if you were so inclined.

You miss my point. All these processes all boil down to "expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights." There are many paths to the waterfall as they say. And many tools to use on the way, be they incident meters or spot meters or sunny-16 rules, whatever.

My point is that one should use the tools and processes with which one is comfortable. There is no right way or wrong way.

The OP asked why Mr. Davis uses an incident light meter. My theory is that this is what makes Mr. Davis comfortable. But just because Mr. Davis is comfortable with it doesn't mean that everyone is. Just because he has a better way for himself and others who like his tools and methods doesn't mean they'll be right for everyone. That was the point I was trying to make anyway.

[mikxer]

Thanks to everyone for these replies.

I'm getting the sense that everyone has their own preferred methods and even amongst BTZS users that their technique for metering is unique to them. Which makes sense.

That said, it does seem from reading other threads that not everyone exposes for the shadows. Some prefer Fred Picker's expose for ZVIII or ZVI.

[Bruce Watson]

Thanks to everyone for these replies.

I'm getting the sense that everyone has their own preferred methods and even amongst BTZS users that their technique for metering is unique to them. Which makes sense.

That said, it does seem from reading other threads that not everyone exposes for the shadows. Some prefer Fred Picker's expose for ZVIII or ZVI.

Mr. Picker was a special case. My take after reading vast quantities of his writings (and his excellent Zone VI Workshop book) is that he was only interested in the highlights. He wanted highlights that "sang" for him. So he created a workflow that worked for him, which was expose for the highlights and let the shadows fall where they may. Worked well for him apparently. So who's to say it's wrong?

My own variant, which I don't actually advise anyone else to use, is the exact opposite of Mr. Picker's. I expose for the shadows and let the highlights fall where they may. This works for me because my workflow is fully optimized for drum scanning. I'd hate to try to print these negatives in the darkroom. That wouldn't be at all pretty.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I read the article about 10 years ago, whipped out my incident metre and tried his technique. Didn't work for me. I found it to be inconsistent. I prefer metering the subject to evaluate the light coming off of it...you have to be in the subject when using his method and you can't always be in it. I only use my incident meter as a backup.

[Don Hutton]

I read the article about 10 years ago, whipped out my incident metre and tried his technique. Didn't work for me. I found it to be inconsistent. I prefer metering the subject to evaluate the light coming off of it...you have to be in the subject when using his method and you can't always be in it. I only use my incident meter as a backup.

It works perfectly even if you can't get into the "subject" - but it needs a decent understanding of the system...

[Chuck P.]

[QUOTE=sanking;439227]Better in that compared to Zone testing............ gives more precise results. /QUOTE]

How so? Can you expand on this?

[sanking]

You can assume that if there is full sunlight falling on the subject it will be the same as full sunlight falling on you. For the shadow values you take the reading in your body shadow, or perhaps under a tree. In practice this works very well and gives the same values you would get if you were in the subject.

Sandy King



[QUOTE=Chuck P.;440011]

Better in that compared to Zone testing............ gives more precise results. /QUOTE]

How so? Can you expand on this?

[Shen45]

It is always interesting to see the level of shared knowledge from so many that know so little about BTZS.

The system works equally well with incident or spot metering. My preference is for incident.

Although not very active you can get excellent information on the system at

www.btzs.org.

Sandy's description of the metering method should give a starting point to any who are after a good understanding.

Please remember this is not the Zone System --- it is similar but not the same. It is a complete testing, exposure and development system. The system relies on accurate data otherwise -- gigo.