Just acquired a Pentax Spot meter with Zone V Conversion

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Almost mint condition. Very nice. Now to use it. Cannot wait. Still need to learn the zone system completely. How to expose and develop for the exposure.

[peter schrager]

Steven I do the opposite of everyone else. set your speed on the meter. place the highest value on zone VII and 1/2 and you're all set to go
you have the advantage of living in a place where there is lots of sun so don't worry about the shadows they will all fall in place...one reading...set it and forget it!

[pepeguitarra]

Or as Peter said: Many others would worry more about the shadows and place the darkest value you want to have detail shown in Zone III. Some take the meter reading at the highest value and the meter reading at the lowest value and average them.

[jim10219]

Or as Peter said: Many others would worry more about the shadows and place the darkest value you want to have detail shown in Zone III. Some take the meter reading at the highest value and the meter reading at the lowest value and average them.

That's what I do. Find the highest and lowest value of the scenes, and then set the dial directly in between those two readings. If they extend beyond what the film is capable of, or if there's something in the scene to leads me to believe that method won't work (like if it might set some skin tones out of where they should be or I purposely want to blow out some highlights or bury some shadow detail), then I slow it down and use the zone system to figure out what I want to do. But most of the time, the zone system isn't necessary. Still, it's a great tool to have on those occasions where you need it.

[pepeguitarra]

That's what I do. Find the highest and lowest value of the scenes, and then set the dial directly in between those two readings. If they extend beyond what the film is capable of, or if there's something in the scene to leads me to believe that method won't work (like if it might set some skin tones out of where they should be or I purposely want to blow out some highlights or bury some shadow detail), then I slow it down and use the zone system to figure out what I want to do. But most of the time, the zone system isn't necessary. Still, it's a great tool to have on those occasions where you need it.

Correct. I have a Pentax spot meter (the best), I measure the highest and the Lowest and check the difference in stops. If it is five stops, then fine, the dark goes to Zone III and the highlight goes to Zone VII. As Ansel said, the white snow in the sun will go in between VIII and VII. If there is more than 5 stops, then keep my dark in the III, and develop the negative +1, or +2 depending on whether the highlight goes to VIII or IX. If more than that, time for filters.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Interesting. I have been either choosing the darkest shadow I want in zone V and letting all else fall into place or choosing the darkest spot I want detail in and going to zone iii. I like the highlight version too and is what I do with digital

By placing it in zone VI or VII. By doing one of the stated methods, how does that affect the development time? Especially if doing minimal agitation over say an hour?

[Corran]

Expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights.

[Bruce Watson]

Yes. This. It really is that simple.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights.

+1

[Paul Ron]

no matter what technique you chose, what it boils down to, is how well the negative prints. you have to taylor your exposues to accomodate a full range of tones with as little correction when making the print. if you expose for a zone v it should print as such.

ive been exposing for the shadow n developing for the highlights as typical for the zone sytem... but ive adjusted my iso to render what i need to control just how far my tonal range will go so i can control under develping to keep the highs in check but keeping shadows.

in other words... everything you do has to be adjusted from exposure to dev negs to final printing. they all have to work together. its a fine ballance that takes alot of experimenting to make it work in unison.

i suggest you get a good book on zone system and preform all the testing untill you get it right where you want it. it cost me 50 sheets of film when i switched to a different brand n speed film in a different developer. now its a matter of small compensations at exposure n a tweak in developer to get almost perfect negs to render prints i feel are exactly what i invisioned when taking the shot.