Who says “Use half box speed for ZS”?

[Bill Burk]

But we do not place shadows anywhere. That statement alone makes talk about 2/3 or whatever a bit silly.

There are shadows with no detail or no texture, shadows with detail, and so forth. First one has to decide what type of shadow one wants where before one can to do anything with a light meter reading.

I am not sure I understand. Using a meter with a Zone sticker… If I meter the darkest part of a scene where I want “some” detail, then I need to decide whether I turn the dial to align the reading across from Zone II or Zone III. If I pick Zone III there had better be something darker than my metered point or I will be burning or printing down. If I pick Zone II, then it’s going to be black unless I dodge. Zone 0, Zone II and Zone III look about the same on my Zone sticker, though I know a densitometer can tell them apart.

Anyway I think that’s called placing your shadows in Zone System terminology.

 

[Vaughn]

You are correct, of course. My point is that the phrase "Place your shadows in Zone III" is incomplete and rather limited in meaning. It sounds to me like telling a new student driver to "Put the car in gear", without worrying about which gear when. A little shy of the needed details. Until a person can figure out what particular depth of shadows need to have detail preserved, the Zone System is just a bunch of Roman numerals.

 

[Bill Burk]

So we go through Zone System exercises as if to find the working speed of our film and then ambiguously expose it within a stop or two of what might be perfectly correct exposure because instructions for placing exposure readings are inconsistently taught.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

So we go through Zone System exercises as if to find the working speed of our film and then ambiguously expose it within a stop or two of what might be perfectly correct exposure because instructions for placing exposure readings are inconsistently taught.

I'd say that sums it up perfectly.

The solution is, as it always has been: bracket, bracket, bracket.