Hi. I'm Chris and I'm a 35mm Zoner.

[bluedog]

Thanks for the thread. Very informative.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

I'm glad you got a little something from it.

 

[Jayd]

There is no subsitute for correct exposure Fred Picker points this out early in his book the
Zone VI Workshop. No matter what you do latter you can not make up for quality that is not captured at exposure.
I personally find using a spot meter and the zone system a wonderful tool no matter what the film even film processed by C41 mini lab. As for processing when I have control I stick too the same normal processing with strict attention to time and agitation as well as temperature.

Jay

 

[ozphoto]

I shoot the ZS in all my work: 35mm-5x4 (when I can) and personally use an exposure meter to get the tonal range I'm looking for.
I have found that by doing so, it makes my printing a whole lot easier and the resulting image closer to how I envisioned it originally.

Like others have posted, get it right at the exposure stage, makes a whole lot of difference to the printing - I have AA's books Camera, Negative, Print and thoroughly enjoyed reading his process; Kodak also had a book on Advanced B&W Printing, which gave a simplified ZS and calibrating film speed etc to your equipment which I still use to this day.

I do bracket on those scenes I think will take some extra work, but 9/10, I can usually get it spot on with the correctly exposed neg; I just like to cover all my bases, and give myself options just in case.

(All in all, I still shoot the dreaded d****** exactly the way I shoot film, and yes, it makes all the difference to my digital technician's processing and manipulation. Who says film is dead? - everything I learned shooting film, I now apply to d****** as well and it makes all the difference.)

 

[Christopher Walrath]

And I think this is the key in using TZS in a 35mm application. You cannot augment processing but to affect the entire roll unless you strip dev and you risk cutting through that most prized shot in doing so.

Of course, you can apply it to the printing. But I think that, regardless of procedure, if you don't have the basic information, your report will miss it's audience.

Wow, glad folks are still reading this article. Awesome.

 

[Sirius Glass]

As far as the zone system with 35mm, I choose where I want to be my middle gray and set the exposure to that.

For MF and LF, now that I have a meter with the zone system on the dial, I take a reading of what I want used as a particular zone, adjust the meter accordingly. For example if there is something that I want to be zone 4, I use the reading to set the meter to give me an exposure that will render that as zone 4.

Steve

 

[williamkazak]

Over the years I have studied, purchased and own the AA books and the Fred Picker book. Nothing like getting the 35mm exposures correct in the shooting stage and then standardizing on the film/developer combination. Keeps a guy sane.

 

[Ed Bray]

Adams passed up a life as a concert pianist to lug around a huge view camera.

He took the easy option as the huge view camera was smaller and lighter than a baby grand piano.