How To Use The Zone System - Black and White Metering 

Hi Braedon, always struggled to understand the zone system so thank you for making a clear video about it. Just wondering how you personally make the decision to use the zone system vs. just taking a reading from the spot/incident/ttl meter?

We hardly see the meter, and you don’t discuss that EV chart you have taped to it anyway. There is no explanation that you’re measuring in E.V. (Exposure Value) or how that relates to the exposure triangle of shutter speed, aperture and ISO. You discuss the placing of certain EVs into specific zones, but this would have been more helpful with a discussion of how EV relates to the exposure triangle, how that chart applies to the light meter, how the spot meter differs from wider pattern meters, incident and reflected metering, etc.

Do you carry a Sawzall in your kit to cut down stop signs and other traffic devices that get in your way?

detour cancelled

How to understand the EV values and exposure settings with his spot meter: 1. The spot meter internally displays an LED EV value, with 1 being the darkest reading, and 20 being the brightest reading possible. 2. There are two rotational dials on the meter; an EV/Shutter Speed dial (upper) and an Aperture/ISO dial (lower). 3. Both dials have two scales attached with numerical values. 4. For each dial, the two scales are locked with the dial's rotation. 5. For example, turning the upper dial, moves the top and middle-upper scales. 6. The EV/Shutter dial moves the upper and middle-upper scales. 7. EV values are the top-most scale (big orange numbers), and shutter speeds are the middle-upper scale. 8. The Aperture/ISO dial moves the middle-lower and lowest scale. Aperture scale is middle-bottom, ISO/ASA scale on very bottom. 9. To get started, first look at the two aligned white dots on the top and bottom of the device. 10. The first dot is above the EV scale and the second dot is below the ISO/ASA scale on the bottom. 11. To get an exposure, he must align values exactly between these two dots. 12. To get started, first he must set his film ISO speed. 13. He is shooting Tri-X 400, so turning the bottom dial to align ISO 400 with the bottom white dot would be normal in this case. 14. But as stated, he is metering this film at ISO 320. You can see that he sets the dial to one marker lower than 400, which is the ISO 320 setting. 15. With his ISO set, he can now use the device and read the measured EV values. 16. In the video, when he meters the restaurant, he gets a bright EV value of 17 and a dark value of EV 10, a total of 7 stops of light. 17. He decides that EV 13 is a good mid-point between 10 and 17, allowing him to retain detail throughout the image (using the Zone System). 18. Aligning the upper dial's EV 13 value with the upper white dot, gives him his needed exposure settings. 19. Between the dots, he gets the following exposure settings, Shutter: 1/250, Aperture: f/9.0. 20. With these values aligned, all of the current aligned values, encircling the device, will result with the exact same exposure if he used them. 21. Using '1/125 - f/13' would result with the same exact exposure as '1/250 - f/9.0', or '1/500 - f/6.4'. 22. Instead of using the values between the dots, he instead opts to use the slower shutter speed of 1/125. 23. At this shutter speed, the meter actually says that he must use aperture value f/13, but he "rounds down" to f/11, which is not a problem. 24. In a nut shell, that how it works :)

Oh please loose the music. Why does every video on RU-vid need pointless background music??

Why do people insist on playing music over what they say? Better if you just play the music or just talk, not both.

8:27 Where the dude go ? HE IS A FUCKING GHOST! He was there when you was filming and disappeared on the picture. WTF!!!

Dude this was a very nice video and I understood most of it but when you're talking about the numbers 11 12 17 I don't have a clue what you are talking about

i appreciate all this but it seems im just not as bright perhaps.... all the references to the light area at 7 and dark grays at 3 etc etc... but never can we see the numbers on the meter and how to read a meter so simply say something or talk about what the idea is doesn't just mean one knows what any of this is / i wish someone will one day explain just how to use and read a meter / meaning what do the numbers mean to transfer to my camera settings / not just zone 14 and total white zone x or what ever.... hope you understand / thanks

You can simplify the metering process a lot (multiple readings are rarely needed): Negatives (b&w and color): It almost never matters how bright the highlights will be because the dynamic range is so large. You can lower the contrast of the print or dodge&burn. So, all you have to do is spot meter the darkest shadow you want detail in, then set the camera two stops less than middle grey, thus exposing it at zone 3. For example, if the meter says f/1.4 at 1/60 when you meter the shadow, set the camera to f/2.8 at 1/60 (or change the shutter speed instead: f/1.4 at 1/250). Slides: Spot meter the brightest highlight instead, or use an incident (“artificial highlight”) meter instead. Adjust the camera to expose it at zone 7 (or to taste).

Could have been interesting if you didn't put that annoying music in the video.

that bg music really irritating. stopped watching.

very interesting but remove this back music pls

Lol I just move the road signs because those don’t matter

Hipster causes traffic disaster zone, story at 11

Hi Braedon, loved the video thank you. I have just purchased one of the spot meters you are using in the video. On the written scale you have 0-10. To make my own, is it as simple as lining up the EV scale on 5 on the dot and then marking off the increments 0 -10 as you have done? Thank you. Best regards Paul

Dear Sir, please can you re-upload this excellent zs video without background music?

You moved a detour sign? For a crap test photo? You epitomize everything wrong with photographers.

great video! the holding line music its quiet a pain though

This is very simplified, i believe you need to explain also push/ pull and development/ print techniques to make people understand how to contain or extend contrast

First! Here we go! Edit: That was a fantastic video btw

Hi ... I just started shooting with a 4x5 large format field camera (Intrepid). I found this video really informative, easy to watch and easy to follow. I have never used the EV value method before and did not know much about it until yesterday, but I like the concept. Do you have a video that gives a tutorial on the EV value method? I have a newly purchased Sekonic 858. I don't know if it gives out EV readings but if it does, I would use it.

FYI you can get a zone sticker for your soligar spot sensor 2 ( i use it too) on ebay

5:14 Zone 2 is likely why camera manufacturer's use 2 for spot metering in digital cameras. They tend to use 0 for matrix on older models and for modern digital they can go lower like -3 and highlights as high as 20. (Center weighted too). Highlight metering is great for editing raw in post. You get everything. 0-20 I wonder if we'll ever get a hybrid film/digital camera that shoots film exposures with a raw file.

Ufffff... I don't understan never... If your White Is on 3 and your black Is on 9. Wich Is your couple? The middle? 😭😭😭 And... If Is the middle why you don't decide to click on the middle immediately? I'm italian... Sorry maybe you explained and I did not understand ... because I see that each number corresponds to a coupled between shutter speed and aperture. so after you've given a number to the highlights and the lowlights, which match do you decide?

When combining spot metering technique with the theory of adding brightness and subtracting darkness in exposure, photographers can more precisely control the exposure of different surfaces of objects, thus achieving better tonal and detail representation. Spot metering is a technique that measures the brightness of a specific area pointed by the camera lens. By conducting spot metering in different areas, photographers can understand the lighting conditions on different surfaces of objects in order to adjust exposure. Guided by the theory of adding brightness and subtracting darkness in exposure, photographers can adjust exposure based on the information obtained from spot metering. For bright object surfaces, photographers may reduce exposure appropriately to prevent overexposure and retain details; for darker object surfaces, exposure can be increased appropriately to ensure details are not lost in shadows. Furthermore, combining spot metering technique with the theory of adding brightness and subtracting darkness in exposure can help photographers address challenges posed by high-contrast scenes. By selecting representative areas for spot metering and adjusting exposure based on measurement results, photographers can effectively control details in highlights and shadows, thus achieving a more balanced exposure. In conclusion, by combining spot metering technique with the theory of adding brightness and subtracting darkness in exposure, photographers can more accurately control the exposure of different object surfaces, creating photographs that are more expressive and artistic.

Great background 'music' thanks, it wasn't distracting even when I kept having to adjust the volume between hearing your speech and the uncomfortably loud intermediate 'music' bits. What a shame.

Hmmmmm...............A lot of photographic masters before 1940 never used light meters or the zone system and they were masters. What secrets did they know that photographers today don't. And besides why do you need the zone system if you shoot in raw then make your adjustments in photoshop or light room you'll still get that photo you want with highlight and shadows adjusted.

As other comments have pointed out, this video is rather lacking in an explanation of what the Zone System actually is, which is a two part process of choosing both how to meter a scene to capture on the negative all the information you want, but also then, crucially, how to develop the negative to map the information on the negative to the tonal range you want. You are doing a disservice pedagogically, I think, to pretend it's just about the figuring out your exposure settings, although that is of course the important first step. If you've ever heard an experienced photographer say, or read in a photography text something like 'expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights', then that's the zone system that they are implicitly invoking. To emphasise, it is a two part process, the first being the exposure, the second being the development, that let's you, to use Ansel Adam's favourite word, end up with a final print that is what you 'pre-visualised'. Charitably, you could say that the development half is less important in a world where you scan your negs and then flail the curve tool in Darkroom to your heart's content, so long as there is the information in the negative you can then manipulate it digitally away from the darkroom. And, of course, this is all much easier with sheet film where you develop on a per-sheet basis, and the per-image development is less applicable to a roll film full of a bunch of different photos. So, this video is a useful guide to metering with an understanding of the latitude film, and has value as that on its own, but it is a stretch to claim that it is an explanation of the Zone system - it isn't really.

Your presentation was excellent, but left out so much of the Zone System. You took advantage of the full tonal range and didn't need to compensate with reducing or increasing development. In particular, expanding the tonal range is one of the most valuable things the Zone System can offer. Maybe next time ?

Expose for the shadows. Develop for the highlights. This is a very simple explanation of exposure but says nothing about tests of film and densitometer measurements. Nor about development times to get the zone placements where you want them. Ansel did not teach us to go half way with the Zone System. If your highlights fall too high you must use a minus development time. If highlights are too low you must use a plus development time. And to determine development times you must test each film / developer combination and measure the results. We did that in college at the direction of the professor, Ansel Adams and Brett Weston. It took a full term and lots of film and time. But the results spoke for themselves and the concept is easy, but to learn it requires a deeper dive.

I like the video, but had to stop watching because of the distracting background 'music'

Good video Braiden. What meter you using? Looks like Soligor pr Pentax.

The zone system HAS LOT MORE STEPS and includes calibration of your film/developer with a densitometer, THIS IS NOT THE ZONE SYSTEM!!!!!

@13:10 I don't get it. Why aren't you getting the police called on you for filming in public? 🤔

Are you overexposing the film 1/3rd a stop it pulling it in exposure? I was thinking with that shot of the side of the building I would have shot a stop up but your result was brighter than expected

pentax is set acc to F stop, you measure ev values to use the zone system, that's clear.. now, is it superior to just measuring f stops in dark and light areas, evaluating the range and setting pentax accordingly without translating EV into F stops?

Sorry, but the background music is so annoying that I had to get out after 2 minutes.....

I was looking at fence behind the truck which looked middle gray. But I think the shot could have been done at f-11

Did Ansel have a zone set aside for Work Zone?

I learned so much from Ryan Reynolds

Why playing music background that is too loud or just not likeable on a tutorial? Annoying

@4:00 you did what you should of done at first and that is putting your shadows in zone 4 not 3 , then develop and print to 3.

lose the light meter and use sunny 16. it will save you time and you will feel like a better photographer.

Missed badly on the truck, but overall nice info

03:37 rushed shadows, no details lol 09:07 you suppose to meter from the camera position , not to walk around what r u doing?

I studied the zone system in college and your explanation is super confusing

Annoying music makes it hard to concentrate on what you're saying..

You lost me just after the bit about waiting for the traffic and standing in the road...

The good - The video gives some of the clearest explanations of how the pre-visualization, metering, and exposure placement should work together in the Zone System. The bad (really bad): Like nearly every other YT video on the Zone System, it starts with the assumption that every film and developer combination will produce a ten stop range from white to black, and that the box ISO rating of every film will properly determine the baseline for a "black" exposure. Both of those assumptions are false, so this exercise in "placing" subject densities on "zones" is objectively nonsense. Until your film/developer combination is calibrated for use of the zone system, what you learn from this is a concept of how to measure exposure by spot reading subject densities which are not "middle grey" per your meter's calibration, then adjusting exposure to compensate, more or less - an approximation. That's a positive step, but it's not the zone system in any serious way. For example, Adox sells a slow B&W film of great sharpness and almost non-existent grain. If it were processed in D-76 developer, it would have less than five zones, white to black, because it is microcopying film. It requires use of a special developer to yield a conventional range of "zones". By contrast, were you take Tri-X and develop it in POTA, a developer with an exceptionally low contrast result, you'd probably get 15-20 "zones". Generally, the published ISO for a film works adequately in conventional developers like D-76 or Xtol. The development time/temp required to yield ten zones is going to be a matter of testing to find a working combination before you start using your personal zone system. As a side note, Adams organized his zone system around a ten stop range of printable negative densities from white to black, using films from the 1940s. By the 1970s, he concluded that film makers had cheapened the quality of their films to the point where a ten zone range was no longer optimal, recommending use of a nine zone range thereafter.

Ryan Reynolds takin a break from Mint Mobile??

Great vid ... how do you transfer EV values to Zone System values? I see you do it with a bit of tape but not sure how one replicates this. Might make a good topic for another vid

expose for the shadows, develope for the highlights

Newbie here: I get the concept but how can I do this metering on a mirror less?

This is super difficult to understand, especially cause I never use a spot meter vs indecent meter. It’s a totally different setup

pretty sure tampering with those signs is super illegal...

Thank Ken Rockwell, likely the easiest way to understand zone system. LV 18 and above: Bright reflection off a sunlit object, including reflections off the sea LV 17 White object in direct sunlight LV 16 Light gray object or skin in full sunlight LV 15 Gray card in full sunlight; typical exposure for ugly front-lit noon daylight photos LV 14 Typical light level for side-lit daylight shots in good afternoon light LV 13 Typical shadow cast in a daylight scene; cloudy bright days LV 12 California bright overcast LV 11 LV 10 Dark, dreary overcast day in Boston, London or Paris LV 9 LV 8 LV 7 Typical indoors; light outdoors about 10 minutes after sunset LV 6 LV 5 LV 4 LV 3 Brightly lit night street scenes LV 2 Typical night street scenes LV 1 Dark scenes outdoors at night LV 0 LV Zero is defined as the light level that requires a 1 second exposure at f/1 with ISO/ASA100 speed film. LV -1 LV -2 LV -3 LV -4 LV -5 Scene lit by the full moon LV -6 LV -7 LV -8 The Milky Way * * * LV -15 Scene lit only by starlight. I have loaded sheet film in light this dark, so don't expect to photograph it or meter it.

im just as confused as before i watched this

I really like your attitude, Brandon for teaching, which I value very much, I saw sincerity in your person. Thank you in advance for sharing. I went back to using film, it has more warmth and more natural colours, it's more handmade to make the photo, therefore more value and you have to be thinking about everything before you take your shot. Hopefully you will make a video with the reciprocity failure for long exposures. Take care. All the best.

What is the make and model of that spot meter?

Don't zone me bro.

I learned the Zone System from Adams Books with 1° Honeywell spot meter back in 1970 when spot meters had just become affordable and quickly realized the easiest way to use it with a spot meter was directly read the Zone 1 shadow areas of the scene for the exposure with the ISO setting of the meter adjusted, via a single simple bracket test so the aperture / shutter needed to get perfectly exposed Zone 1 shadows on negative and print could be read directly without any interpretation and mental gymnastics. To recalibrate the meter for a direct zone 1 reading start by setting the meter at the nominal ISO speed of the film (e.g. 400) shoot a bracketed series of exposures by changing the meter ISO to 200, 100, 50, 25, etc, and shooting with the indicated shutter and apertures. Make a contact print of the negatives on #2 grade paper exposed just enough to render the border maximum black as Adams suggested and the ISO setting for the meter directly reading Zone 1 will be easy to see on the print and then corollate to the shadow density above film base seen on the negative. Something photographers shooting digital today might not realize is that with B&W the contrast of the negative, and how it rendered the highlights on the print when print exposure was based on correctly rendering the shadows was controlled by either: 1) The Kodak approach of developing all negatives for the same time regardless of scene range, then changing the print paper contrast to match the density range of the negative, or; 2) the Ansel Adams approach of adjusting the development time of the negatives based on the brightness range of the scene, the approach photographers used in the darkroom in the days before Panchromatic B&W films required development in total darkness. Prior to the mid 1920s B&W emulsions were Orthochromatic meaning they did not react to red wavelengths. That allowed the photographers of the day to develop their film under red safelights the same as prints and watch as the density in the highlight areas of the negative increased. Back then there was only a single contrast grade of print paper and with experience they were able to judge by eye under the safelights when the shadow-to-highlight range of the negative fit the range of the paper and stop the development. With the Adams system, after correcting nominal ISO for correct rendering of the shadows with a bracket exposure test you put a subject wearing black and white clothing in direct sun and shot 4 sheets (or rolls) of film at the same exposure but then developed each of them for a different time starting with what was recommended by Kodak on the data sheet for the developer. As with the first test you printed the negatives for film border = max., black with min. exposure on #2 grade paper and inspected the highlight areas of the print to find which develop time produced a density range on the negative which matched the contrast range of the paper - around a ten-stop 3.0 negative density range between Zone 0 (clear film) to Zone 10 (white paper base) specular highlights, with the non-specular Zone 9 whites actually rendered on the print as a light shade of gray. The need to render the non specular whites in a scene as a gray tone on the print is necessary to create the illusion of 3D shape on smooth white objects, such as the hood of a white car. It is the position of the specular highlights on objects (not just the shadows) which create the illusion of 3D in any 2D rendering, photo or artwork, which is the reason with transparency film and digital capture highlight exposure is so critical. With the Adams Zone system getting the development time of the negative was critical if the goal was to always reproduce the full tonal range of the scene without dodge / burn manipulation when making the prints. The “Sunny Day” development time was Adams’ “normal” development time. The same systematic development time test performed in open shade, partly cloudy skies, overcast or very contrasty lighting of beach and snow scenes allowed him to know when shooting how each negative would need to be developed to meet his goal of printing the full range on #2 paper. It makes print making pretty much a no brainer and much simpler and cheaper than the Kodak roll film approach of developing all negative for the same time then making test prints on different grade papers to find the one which matched the range of the negative, or using a densitometer based enlarging meter the highlight and shadow area of the negative were read to determine exposure and paper grade. Equipped with a spot meter adjusted for direct Zone 1 exposure readings I would meter the shadows to set exposure then the Zone 9 highlights to determine the scene range and know via the testing how long to develop the film. I was using roll film cameras but bulk loading my own 10 shot film cassettes, exposing an entire roll for each different scene EV range. The problem with applying the Adams Zone system to digital is that the recording medium, the camera sensor, has a fixed range which is shorter than the range. The histogram and overexposure warning are much better indicators of exposure than the meter readings. Just take a shot exposed so only the specular highlights are blinking to preserve Zone 9 /10 separation them look at the left side of the histogram to see how the range of the scene fits the sensor. If the left side is piled up (underexposed shadows) bracket exposure enough to record the shadows then blend the exposures in Photoshop automatically with HDR or manually with layers and masks.

Wow this video is great! Fantastic explanation, I understood everything, thanks! :)

Damn good audio. Can barely hear the traffic right next to you.

07:04 that place used to be called Fantastic Cafe about 10 years ago. It was fantastic.

I think well explained!! 👏

So, I think I can figure this out, if I remember to expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights. But, I guess the developing bit won’t matter, until I begin to develop my own film, and make my own prints.

I usually use my Sekonic 358 with 1 degree spotmeter attachment but I measure like 4-6 points in the area that I consider different and then I hit the "Average" button to throw me that Zone 5 value... is this similar ?

I'm just embarking in the film world and while your video does help, I'm still a little confused. I see some numbers written on white tape on the spot meter. Where did you get those numbers? I don't think you explain how the spot meter works. Thanks for your help.

You presumed to move someone else's detour sign! Is that what they mean of the USA being The Land of The Free?

Brilliant material full of very useful knowledge, thanks a lot :)

Hey Braedon, Great video, I was looking for that! the spotmeter you are using is an old one. It still uses 1.35V batteries. Were you able to recalibrate it somehow and how accurate was it? I want to get one too, however I am worried since the mercury batteries are no longer available and the adapters can never produce the correct voltage. Have you been able to calibrate it? Regards

I`m a very beginner but although this is a great explanation it seems to me, though I can be very confused, that the scale of grays you use to show the system has something stange, like 8 is lighter than 9 and 7. Am I wrong or confused? Or blind.

is so confused...

What is your development charts for zone system and sheet film like? Let’s say for hp5 4x5 film?

This video is so underrated

PLEASE HELP, it's urgent. For my photography class, I need to take a pic which contains a tonal range with zones 2-8. I'm still confused about how to do that. We can only cange one setting - ISO, F values or shutter speed. Any help? :/

Hi Braedon, why do you take few measurements ?? I shoot digital now and since digital back are sensitive to shadows, all you have to worry is not burning your highlights, so you spot meter your lightest part and if you know your digital back get see details two stops over exposed then you over expose two stops knowing you can recover details for these two stops and by doing this it brings your shadows two stops then you can do minor adjustments for highlights and shadows in Lightroom or Photoshop…

The way you explain the zone system is incomprehensible for newbies unfortunately

Or just sunny 16

Great explanation, some of the criticism here is ridiculous. You have to have a basic understanding of the zone system before watching this. Of course you can go way deeper in the zone system, then this video would be 2 hours.

Dodge!!!

Love it. Moving stuff outta frame. I fux with this guy! 😂

awesome

It is the best way to explain the Zone System... Doing it by shooting! Thanks for your video!

Your spot on. Photography IS more impotant than traffic safety/flow etc.

Hilarious that you moved the sign. Was expecting a pile up in the background haha

To truly do the zone system you must do a film speed test and find the toe of the film with your developer. Here you just use the idea of the zone system. I learned in Lab Practices back in the day where we tested film every week was almost maddening… oh and to find the toe you need a densitometer…

Great video mate, and finally understanding the zone system. One question, the hand written zone scale on your meter, are the numbers spaced the same as the ones on the EV scale, with zone 5 being over the red dot?

So most film will have a dynamic range of 10 EV or do we ignore that, as it's just about getting details in darker areas, while highlights are retained well most of the time?

Hi, what’s the name of the light meter? Or how can I find it? Thank you

I also noticed that on the couple spots we can see the f stop and it's always f8 but that doesn't lign up with any of the reading, what f stops did you use in the different pictures taken ?

Very nice video, thank you for uploading this, very interesting and well crafted

Merci beaucoup friend from brussel belgium very clear viva Ansel Adams

👏👏👏👏👏

Thank you so much! I learned a lot with this video. Spot meters are really cool.

How do you place the tape with the Zones on it? Where does that align on the meter so that you can figure out where to align the target zone?

There should be a Zone 0 in the chart in @3:17. A total of 11 different zones.

Great, short and to the point. Easy to understand, just put the tones where you want to see them. Thanks