The Zone System and Light Meters in Digital Photography (Podcast 503)

The Zone System has kind of fallen into the shadows as digital enables us to see our images instantly, and view information like the invaluable histogram even before we release the shutter, but The Zone System is still a useful tool, and something worth taking the time to understand whether...

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Martin Bailey is a nature and wildlife photographer and educator based in Tokyo. He's a pioneering Podcaster and blogger, and an X-Rite Coloratti member.

Ansel Adams, camera profile, digital, dynamic range, exposure, light meter, photography, The Zone System, tutorial

6 Comments

Aleksandrs Jemeļjanovs
Posted at 05:28h, 29 December Reply

Hi Martin, thank you for such huge, detailed and useful article. I found some takeaways for me like Silver Efex Pro that I had never used but will try.
- Martin Bailey
  Posted at 08:42h, 29 December Reply
  
  You’re welcome Aleksandrs. I’m pleased you found this useful.
Søren Kvistgaard
Posted at 06:36h, 11 November Reply

Thank you, Martin for this excellent tutorial on the zone system for digital. I’ve been wrestling with the rechnique for quite a while without ever really getting to a point where I could put it to use. Reading through this definitely has remedied that!
- Martin Bailey
  Posted at 13:14h, 12 November Reply
  
  Hi Søren,
  
  Thanks for letting me know that this helped. That’s great! I’m pleased to have been able to help.
  
  Cheers,
  Martin.
Jeroen Martijn van Wijk
Posted at 03:50h, 19 June Reply

I’m very happy thet you are stress that the ZoneSystem from the analog era is of great value in digital photograpy.
You explain the Zone System without over simplyfying it, yet it is very clear to the photographer who hears about it for the firt time.
I am sure that even in colorphotography the Zone System will find people practicing it and getting more out of there pictures,
- Martin Bailey
  Posted at 15:44h, 19 June Reply
  
  Thanks Jeroen! I’m pleased you found this interesting. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
  
  Regards,
  Martin.