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Digital Zone System? | Ask David Bergman

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Today's question from Michael C. is, "David, can we apply Ansel Adams' Zone System in digital photography? Is it still practical?"

Go to http://www.AskDavidBergman.com to submit your own photo question and view the episode archive.

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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:47 What is the Zone System?
01:47 Light Meters
05:08 Place and Fall
07:53 Is It Practical
10:05 How I use the Zone System
11:23 Outro

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20 Comments

@BrianKilgore-b4d 3 months ago

That's the best summary of the Zone method I've seen in 65 years. ~~-BAK-~~

@tomg6286 3 months ago

David: Thanks for the explanation of the Zone System. Its now makes sense,

@user-bzh 3 months ago

Cheatsheet (if I understood properly from the video):

- Zone 5 == EV+0 (the 18% gray, the zero-reference-point in the camera's light meter)

- Snow: Zone 8 == EV+3 (to have margin of 2 stops above)

- People's skin / portraits: Zone 5 to Zone 8 == EV+0 to EV+3

@Sportserjeff 3 months ago

Just imagine if Ansel could shoot today.

@hawg427 3 months ago

I learned The Zone System when I went to Daytona Beach aka Florida State College and studied photography for 2 yrs. We did an entire semester just on The Zone System and shooting with 4x5 view cameras. Our new better digital cameras will still give you a range of 8 units of value to go by, anything plus or minus will not be in the range.

@garrettfitzgerald955 3 months ago

Great explanation, David. Thank you.

@D-Imagine 3 months ago

Excellent explanation of a great system and brought to today's technology

@LAinChgo_312 3 months ago

I started in the film days and thought I knew what the Zone System was, TU for clarafying some details, and also how the reflective meter option should be use, which I thought I knew. great presentation, TU!

@michaelharmon721 3 months ago

It’s a simple process to do digitally though it’s best used with film. As always You explain it in simple terms. Keep up the great videos.

@LenLipton 3 months ago

Nicely explained, David

@MartinV. 3 months ago

Great Video as always!

@jargonfreehelp 3 months ago

That's a fab remind. 👍

@KathyEyster 3 months ago

As I learned photography with slide film back in the day, i was taught a modified Zone System approach. Looking at the overall scene using evaluative/matrix/pattern metering, if 75% + of the scene was darker than middle grey (Zone V), then underexpose by -1 for dark or -2 for black with detail. If the scene was 75% + brighter than Zone V, then overexpose by +1 for light or +2 for white. The place & fall technique using the camera's spot meter to measure the desired highlight with detail also worked. I still follow this basic approach, using the histogram as a check, though I seldom need to use a spot meter reading unless a scene is extremely contrasty. Also, highlights tend to clip sooner with digital sensors (even in raw files) than with film (very little "shoulder" in the curve). So I generally go for +1.7 for white instead of the full +2, especially if I'm teaching beginners shooting JPEG files. I've found that this modified Zone System approach is actually more reliable in digital photography than the old Sunny 16 standby!

Really great explanation of the Zone System history and application, David. Well Done! 🙂

@davidturner5 3 months ago (edited)

I use the Zone System to help me think about what I see before I press the shutter on my digital camera. Learning to translate what I see with my eyes into Zone categories makes me a better judge of lighting conditions. You can divide a modern camera's 0-255 levels of brightness into Zones and use that to check your intuitions when reviewing RAW captures. There are too many technical differences between film and digital to make much practical use of the Zone System in a digital workflow. Your thorough explanation of the film process makes that clear, David. But two things that haven't changed from the film days till now are the properties of light and our human eyes. The Zone System's principles will always have a place as long as that stays true.

P.S. You look great in that Choir! Choir! Choir! video featuring Colin Hay, David. 😉

@frstesiste7670 3 months ago (edited)

My first SLR was completely manual with a semi spot meter. I read about the zone system but didn't use it directly. My strategy was more like yours - I just metered on the main subject and used compensation if I couldn't find a place on the subject that I'd like to be middle gray. If I couldn't get close enough for my spot area, then metering off my hand with one or two stops adjustment usually worked well for negative film. Slide film needed a bit more thought. Now the build in metering just works for most of my subjects but it's useful to know how to do everything manually if necessary or use ETTR for optimum file quality.

@terrygoodfellow1876 3 months ago

David that's a brilliant tutorial. Should be compulsory 101 photography viewing.
I use a sort of Zone System when I am shooting digital since like you I set my exposure triangle values and then tweak the exposure according to the subject, often using the correction dial to give me the "look" rather than what the camera sensor wants me to use. When I am using analogue (and I do still use film) the Zone rules OK!
You give the classic snow and cat examples. A thought .... AI in the future might be able in real time to analyse the scene and ........... who knows.

@mauriziofranzini8418 2 months ago

Grazie. Non è facile spiegare il Sistema Zonale di Ansel ADAMS in pochi minuti. Hia fatto molto bene a fare una netta distinzione tra LUMINOSITA' della scena o del soggetto e COLORE. Bravo!!!