Sunny !6 Users Unite!

[r.e.]

Yeah, when I go out with a meterless 35mm camera and B&W negative film I usually just wing it - can't be bothered to fuss with a separate meter when I'm shooting on the fly. Occasionally with LF too, but only when I'm working in bright sunlight.

The camera that I most enjoy using is a 65 year old Leica M3. No meter, but I usually bring along my Sekonic for an occasional incident reading. It's a bit like putting my finger in the air to judge the wind direction.

I'm reminded of a 2004 post by a gentleman named John Cook, who had a wry sense of humour, in a thread about Zone VI spot meters. The sentence next to last has stuck with me ever since I first read this post:

In my highly opinionated opinion, some folks attempt to use the zone system to photograph scenes which are impossibly (read: poorly) lit. They go to excruciating lengths to spot-meter every square inch of the scene, making copious notes for later super-heroic development antics.

I was taught still photography in 1960's Hollywood, by old-timers who were heavily influenced by the lighting and metering techniques of cinematography. A universal right of passage was the acquisition of the ubiquitous Spectra 500 incident meter.

If you work outdoors at the same altitude and latitude, in the same weather conditions and time of day, you can make absolutely breathtaking photographs with a simple incident meter like the Sekonic L-398M Studio Deluxe II, currently available from B&H for $161. And after a few hundred sheets of film you won’t even need that.

If, on the other hand, you insist on making photographs of a white bride standing out in full July sun at high noon in Arizona, while simultaneously carrying shadow detail in a black cat hiding under a nearby parked automobile, you probably will benefit from a whole suitcase full of expensive equipment.

My short answer to your question is that you might not actually require a Zone VI spotmeter.

Link to the original post: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...ll=1#post74142

[Oren Grad]

Here in the Chicago area it was sunny 11.

+1. The only place I've ever been where sunny 16 is enough is the desert southwest.

[Oren Grad]

I'm reminded of a 2004 post by a gentleman named John Cook, who had a wry sense of humour, in a thread about Zone VI spot meters....

I've studied Phil Davis' BTZS system and find it an excellent tool for learning about sensitometry, but in routine practice I don't think it's worth the fuss. When I'm using LF I sniff around with an incident meter to be sure I'm getting adequate shadow exposure, then develop all sheets to the same standard time/temp designed to keep the highlights under control - that is, I treat my sheet film the same as I treat my roll film. In this era of variable-contrast papers that generally suffices to give me negatives that print to my taste without heroics.

[r.e.]

I've studied Phil Davis' BTZS system and find it an excellent tool for learning about sensitometry, but in routine practice I don't think it's worth the fuss. When I'm using LF I sniff around with an incident meter to be sure I'm getting adequate shadow exposure, then develop all sheets to the same standard time/temp designed to keep the highlights under control. In this era of variable-contrast papers that generally suffices to give me negatives that print to my taste without heroics.

I love this sentence from John Cook's post

"If, on the other hand, you insist on making photographs of a white bride standing out in full July sun at high noon in Arizona, while simultaneously carrying shadow detail in a black cat hiding under a nearby parked automobile, you probably will benefit from a whole suitcase full of expensive equipment."

[Daniel Unkefer]

+1. The only place I've ever been where sunny 16 is enough is the desert southwest.

Sunny 11 perpetually here in Ohio

Now if I am shooting ambient LF outside I prefer to use the TTL Sinarsix for a long list of reasons

[BrianShaw]

I use a meter almost always… at least once. That’s all that is needed until the light changes significantly. Mostly it’s for a sense of security. Light changes based on many factors - season, time of day, location, atmospheric conditions, etc - so a verification seems quite reasonable to me.

[Vaughn]

... In this era of variable-contrast papers that generally suffices to give me negatives that print to my taste without heroics.

I tailor the contrast of each negative to the alt printing process to be used, so I need to pay a little more attention to such things. An idiot perhaps, but no hero.

I do have some limited contrast control with the printing processes, and I can do some post-development changes to the negative to alter contrast.

So when I am under the redwoods, it is nice to know if the shadows I want detail in read 2, 3, or 4 on my Pentax spotmeter. At the same time, the highlights might be constantly changing values as the overcast shifts in thickness, with occasional partial direct sun... while leaving the shadows almost unchanged. Under these circumstances, it is nice not to be guessing too much with 8x10 or 11x14 film.

A couple 5x7 images from the redwoods (pt/pd print and a carbon print):

[Oren Grad]

I tailor the contrast of each negative to the alt printing process to be used, so I need to pay a little more attention to such things. An idiot perhaps, but no hero.

For sure - if the process requires it, then of course that's what you need to do. There's no merit in making things more complex than they need to be, but there's also no virtue in fetishizing process simplicity at the expense of expressive goals.

[Michael R]

Well, it really isn’t that complicated, although yes I suppose you’d need a spot meter. Meter the cat and you’re done. The film will handle the rest.

People over-complicate exposure/development because they don’t understand it.

But yeah sunny 16 will work well for a lot of photographs.

I love this sentence from John Cook's post

"If, on the other hand, you insist on making photographs of a white bride standing out in full July sun at high noon in Arizona, while simultaneously carrying shadow detail in a black cat hiding under a nearby parked automobile, you probably will benefit from a whole suitcase full of expensive equipment."

[Ulophot]

I'm still looking for the histogram and white balance on my 4x5. Maybe I need to upgrade models.

Maybe that new Ghibellini has them...