Digital Zone System

[RalphLambrecht]

for problematic exposures such as night photography,I started to try a digital version of the Zone System but after many attempts,I have to admit that the automatic exposure of my Nikon D800 does a much better job.anybody with similar or f]different experiences?

 

[NortheastPhotographic]

The zone system was such a success because of 'pre-visualization' and development technique. With the advent of live view plus the realities of exposing for a digital image, there is little use in the field IMO. It is useful for evaluating whether you retain the tonal scale you want though.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Do you realize that 'revisualizationain't a word and Ansel Adams never used it?

 

[Eric Rose]

I tried to shoe horn the zone system into digital practice but found it a wasted effort. Like you I found my camera did a pretty good job all by itself. That being said I quite often use the + and - exposure compensation to compensate for meter bias depending on subject color or brilliance.

 

[Cholentpot]

Full auto and blaze away for me. I'll get something at some point.

I use Magic Lantern and have a clipping overlay on the review. If it's red or dashes I reshoot.

 

[juan]

I found the same, Ralph. My Nikon D750 has a setting that takes into account the brightest object in the scene, such as a streetlight, and prevents that from blowing out. I don't see the need. Standard matrix metering seems to work best, and using Capture One for raw processing, I don't generally even have to shoot multiple images for HDR.

 

[wiltw]

I find the best application of the Zone System to digital photography is merely the training of your eye as to the different tonality associated with each Zone, so that when you point a meter at a non-18% tonality you know how much to adjust in Exposure Compensation control.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

My sense is that using the Zone System in analogue photography is like learning to read the histogram in digital, and if you can think in zone system terms, it's easy to understand a histogram. So when I'm shooting digital, I'm thinking about where I'm placing the histogram much like I'd think about where I'm placing tones, but it's more like shooting color slide film. I'm putting the highlights around Zone 6.5 like I would with Provia 100F and making sure the shadows aren't too compressed, sometimes planning for post processing to bring it all under control.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

I use the Zone System for my black and white film photography, but I find that I get the best exposures with digital cameras using an incident light meter. Digital cameras are a lot like slide film, as far as their exposure requirements, and an incident meter works best for that, too.

I have the Sekonic L-758DR meter, and will sometimes use its built-in spotmeter to check to be sure I won't lose highlight or shadow detail with high-contrast scenes after taking an incident reading.

 

[Diapositivo]

for problematic exposures such as night photography,I started to try a digital version of the Zone System but after many attempts,I have to admit that the automatic exposure of my Nikon D800 does a much better job.anybody with similar or f]different experiences?

For night exposures with a digital camera I would recommend an "histogram based" and "zebra-stripes based" approach.
My old my always excellent Sony DSC-R1 has an electronic shutter and an "always-on" sensor so it gives me a histogram in real time. That warms up the sensor (one has to be careful to turn the camera off during any dead moment) but works very well to "place" the highlights where you want them to be.
I suppose with a digital camera such as a D800 one has to take the picture, examine the histogram, take another picture.

The histogram will show clipped highlights for non-relevant highlights that we want to let blow in any case, such as stretlamps. In my case, I use "zebra stripes" on the viewfinder to see which part of the image is clipped. The viewfinders shows the parts of the image with clipped highlights and not just the histogram.

The "curve shape" part of the zone system (increasing contrast or flattening contrast) will be dealt with in post-processing with curves on the luminosity level, in my practice.

Some modern external light meters allow the memorization of the real dynamic range of the camera (not the BS which is published in DPReview and similar sites) and they would be useful, or practical, if you want to use "placing" of zones into the dynamic range of the camera. If memory serves, Sekonic makes such light meters and probably others.

 

[Chan Tran]

I found for night photography the automatic meter doesn't do a good enough job but chimping does.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

The zone system was such a success because of 'pre-visualization' and development technique. With the advent of live view plus the realities of exposing for a digital image, there is little use in the field IMO. It is useful for evaluating whether you retain the tonal scale you want though.

as someone who is fascinated by the Zone System, I still have to agree with you; had the same experience, conclusion.