zone system target?

[Tom Johnston]

I misstated something above that made the method sound worse than it is. You don't need 12 old slides to modify as I said above. You only need eight. As I said, I have three rows of holes with four holes in each row (only one hole per slide). So the first four tests would use up four consecutive holes along a long edge. These four slides can also be used for the last four tests too simply by flipping them. I have each slide marked so it is easy to keep things straight. The first four slides (with four consecutive holes along one long edge) are marked 1 through 4. On the other side of these same slides they are marked 9 through 12. I just make sure that the number are always pointing in the same direction (out) when doing the test.

The method works very well but, as I said, you have to make a separate exposure for each test density. But you can do them all on one sheet of film. The only cost involved is for 8 extra slides. I just bought a pile of old wooden holders for my test setup. Total cost was probably no more than $20.

Well, now I have to dig them out and get started.

[Brian Ellis]

Why do it yourself? Let The View Camera Store do it for you. Costs $30 and saves a lot of time and trouble. Plus you'll get lots more information than you can get on your own unless you also own the Plotter program. If you're interested in The View Camera Store's system, it's essentially Phil Davis' method of zone system testing as described in his book "Beyond The Zone System." By letting The View Camera Store do it you get the benefit of Phil's system without having to wade through Phil's book, which is an excellent book but difficult and time-consuming reading.

[Steve J Murray]

Seriously, this is how I approach this: Shoot a normal sunlight scene at the manufacturer's asa (using a spotmeter and recording the zones) and one stop over and maybe one stop under too, if you are curious. Develop at recommended times. If too flat, increase development time about 33%, if highlights are blown, decrease development. Next time you shoot, you can vary exposure a little to check with the new development times.

Someone one on of the forums quoted an interview with AA, in which the interviewer asked him if the gist of the zone system wasn't just basically "don't underexpose, and don't overdevelop." AA apparently replied, "yup."

I have 4 older lenses and I would have to completely test each one because of variations in shutter speeds, coatings, with each film/developer combination. I would be spending all of what little free time I have testing. I won't do that.

I find especially with scanning negatives that the scanner can accomodate easily small and even not so small variations in density and contrast. I need only to get a negative that is adequately exposed and not grossly overdeveloped or underdeveloped, without getting real nit-picky.

The bottom line is that I am making very nice prints and I am pretty compulsive about print quality. I can spend more time on the the other factors needed to make a good photograph, like concept and composition/graphics.