I learned more from these 3 metering videos than I did over several weeks of watching other videos and blog posts. FANTASTIC approach to teaching this.

This is the clearest and most concise explanation of how the zone system works. I’ve been confused about it for months. Thank you for providing such a great depth of knowledge John!

This channel should have more followers. It is quite informative and John explains in a didactic and simple way each topic. Thank you John!!! 🙂

Great; finally somebody is explaining the zone system in a plain simple manner (for dummies like me :-)

I keep coming back to this video when I need a refresher course - it really is THE video on the topic.

This is the closest I have gooten to understanding the infamous zone system, thank you, I will consider ordering Your book...

I've thought of the system similarly, on N-development. Those are the important points. Zone system developing is about bringing the dynamic scene back to those 3 important zones mostly.

I have returned to film phoitography and find myself using a handheld lightmeter for the first time in 50 years. Your short series on metering is very helpful

You are a wonderful teacher! All of your videos have helped me. Thank you!

It could be interesting to see what are the results of metering and photographing the same scene with these two different methods. Thanks, that was useful and fun!

Fantastic series. Short and simple but very informative. I really like seeing the final image at the end, it really helps with visualization! I grew up with smartphones and digital cameras but have dove head first into the world of analog. Thanks for the videos, it's great knowledge!

Just saw this video. Seems to be perfect 😊 Will see it again and make a test. Thank you so much 😘

I love that the chicken appeared in the doorway of the coop just in time for you to take the picture. He wanted to be in the picture too lol 😂

This is the simplest explanation of correct spot metering technique I have seen. Excellent!

Very good. Thanks. I learned a lot from this series.

Such an important subject and very, very well done.

Very useful ,thank you John .

Simply amazing explanation and thank you for sharing your know how in a manner which is easy to follow, consume and digest. Also well-done to the chicken for playing it's part too; that did make me smile :) Cheers.

Best explanation ever, finally

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Very clearly explained John 👍

Thank you. Great video!

Very well explained video. Now i understand more of the zone system

Great video thanks for making this!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

I really appraciate all your videos, such a clear simple way to understand, and great quality of sound and video making... Thank you so much for sharing

Hi John, just discovered your channel and I am absolutely thrilled: such an informative channel and everything explained in a very pleasant way. Good luck with your channel and all the best from the Netherlands.

Excellent teaching video.

Great video, as always, John, so clearly explained. With my Sekonic I switch from aperture priority to EV as I find it is easier to count the difference than calculate in f-stops.

Great explanation, I rarely change just the aperture especially with the possibility of movement within the scene. For some reason I have gotten in the habit of adjusting shutter speed first. Very clear and thorough, can’t wait to try it.

This one video would have taught me so much when I first started haha

Great explanation I must say that the Pentax spot meter makes this so much simpler , watching you do all the mental arithmetic reminds me of why my sekonic is gathering dust

Thank you great video Sir!

Well explained. Thnx.

great vid mate

You're a really good presenter👍, I shoot digital but have shot b/w film in highschool and boy oh boy there's so many nuances and technique to developing film that I never thought about when developing in class back in the day.

that's amazing thank you

Follow up to my last comment. I have watched a ton of videos on using light meters and spot metering, your explanation is presented clearly and easy to put into practice. I haven’t seen any other camera specific videos from you. I would recommend you touch on the various manual focusing techniques as well as using aperture and shutter speed for different effects. Just a thought.

great material thanks for sharing. I got here from your website, and to your website from a forum where you posted. Friendly suggestion, when clicking on a youtube link from you website it should open a new tab, because at the moment it leaves the website. thanks!

Very useful info, as always, John. However, a couple of important points, IMO, are: 1) the exposure scale really doesn't mean a lot until one locks down a person EI through testing, and 2) any light meter's response to different colors of light can vary quite a bit. Experience through many exposures will ultimately lock down technique.

Thank you for the great videos, very easy and simple to follow, professionally to the point! I have a question though, how do we use light meters to average the scene?......I'm lost on this point and really hope you could elaborate...thanks!

Hi! Thank you for the videos. I have learnt a lot from them. Do you have an opinion on using digital cameras as light meter? I do a lot of street and often use my pocket digital camera to get a quick reading of the scene.

Hi John. Appreciate your videos and advice. I have been using film for over a year mainly B&W from Ilford. I didn’t understand a few things: 1) shadows metered will give a reading consistent with Zone 5. To place shadows at Zone 3, shouldn’t you I overexpose by 2 stops ? Namely F2.8 at 1/15 ? By using F5.6 at 1/60, you’re underexposing by 2 stops ? 2) for landscape compositions do you recommend spot metering rather than incident metering if the scene is a ways off ? Thank you

Easy to understand...many thanks....one question...you will reduce development time by 30%? to keep the highlights from blowing out...correct?

Great info. When shooting landscapes it's difficult to get close to the subject to meter. Is there a work around for metering from a distance? Thank you.

Another great informative video, John! Quick question. By moving the shadows from Zone 5 to 3, will this also be moving the highlights in this image from Zone 8 to 6?

Nice, thanks. Do you want explain what is N+ or N- in development?

Great tutorial! Thank you. What light meter do you use?

Hi john!! Did you rated your film at box speed? What will happen to the zones if i use the same metering technique but rating my film +1 stop?

is it possible to use this zone system in studio / strobe setting, my Minolta can read flash reflective and incident, if so, what is the algo? is it the same read the shadow reflective and stop down 2 stops or a different approach…thx.

HELLO John. Thanx for your information. I have a question. Not sure how to average out the different readings. In this example you close 2 stops but there is 5 stops difference between shadows and highlights... So what determines the average.? And secondly I use my cameras spot meter. Is that ok also? Thank you.

Hi again, another question. What if i want to use a fixed apperture e.x f11 or f8 and close two steps down on the time instead. how do i do that? example: i want to use f8 and get time 125. Should i then go to 250 or 30? Thanks

how would you expose color positive film? shadoes in zone 3 and highlights in zone 7?thnaks

Hi John, will this technique work with all b/w films, for example Ilford pan f.? Thanks Edward

Did you ever do the video on Zones 9 & 10 (as you mention at 3m40)?

Why the direction of metering was not aligned with the axis of the lens, or the perspective deceived my eye in the video?

In the beginning, you said green grass is almost always in middle grey zone. So in this case, can we just take a measurement of the green grass and dial in for that EV ?

But how do you adjust if the highlights are outside the latitude of the film so they are not blown out and still have detail of the shadows...................

Is there a way to do a spot meter without owing a light meter that has that capability?

Your descriptions of the Zones are incorrect. Zone 0 is a black void in the scene like the deep recesses of a cave. Zone 1 is a black object like a magic 8-Ball in the scene but on the print it must be RENDERED as dark gray to CONTRAST on the print with the Zone 0 void RENDERED with the max. black the print can produce with MINIMUM exposure. Exposing the print with just enough exposure to get max. black but no more is a critical part of Adam’s approach due to the response to light of the silver halides on the film as seen on the DlogE curve for the film which has a curved toe in the Zone 1 and Zone 2 values then a higher contrast straight logarithmic response in all the other Zone values. To get the very subtle gradients in the shadow that Adams did on #2 print paper great care must be taken when exposing the print. What we Zone System purists would do back in the day is file our negative carriers larger than the frame so the film base would print a black border on every print proving that the image wasn’t cropped during printing and exposure of Zone 1 scene contact was reproduced with the first density above the film base with Zone 1 and 2 (first hint of texture) down on the toe. In the 1968 printing of The Negative and the Print Adams, in the Forward admits he screw up. That edition only has Zone 0 - 9, a ten step gray scale, because he forgot to assign a Zone to SPECULAR REFLECTIONS which is what the PAPER BASE must be reserved for. That oversight led acolytes to blow out the specular highlights on sunlit whites. Why is that significant? On a smooth white object like car hood the only clues to 3D shape in a 2D photo is the contrast between the hood, which on the print must be RENDERED as a light gray tone and the specular reflection of the sun rendered by the paper base alone. He was lazy or vain to revise that edition but in later ones added Zone 10 for paper base equaling specular reflections-a bit like grafting on an extra finger to play more notes on the piano 😂 In 8-bit histogram terms Zone 0 voids have a value of 0 and Zone 10 Specular Highlights have value of 255. Zone 1 needs to be around 25-30 before it will be perceived creeping out of the void and on the highlight end that white car hood needs a value in the 245-250 range in order for the contrast with the 255 specular reflections to be noticed. I was fortunate to learn the Zone System with a Honeywell / Pentax 1° spot meter and understand why all ASA rated meters were calibrated at 18% and why in Adams Zone System correct shadow exposure is obtained in the first calibration test by starting with the meter set to the ASA number on the box but then adjusting it until you actually get a Zone 1 value just above film base on negatives and CORRECTLY EXPOSED border = Zone 0 black prints. What I realized was with a spot meter I could skip the card, just meter on a Zone 1 object in the scene and adjust the ASA setting of the meter until it was recalibrated on Zone 1 reflectance not Zone V = 18% gray off the card. The EV numbers no longer equaled actual lumens but all that really mattered to determine film development time was the EV range between Zones 1 and Zones 9 - black and white objects in the scene. It was simpler, faster and required no mental gymnastics or guessing about scene range. Instead of -1, Normal, +1, +2 development based on guessing the scene range with testing I knew the exact development times needed fit each precisely measure EV range to the #2 print paper. I also developed a spreadsheet which told me what amount of yellow or magenta filtration would be needed for any scene EV range using the color head of my enlarger. Understanding metering and the Zone System on that level is one of the reasons National Geographic hired me in 1974 work reproducing photos and map relief with halftones and color separations created on litho film with halftone screens. At NGS I got to know and learn from Kodak’s top technical specialists and from them I learned the story of what Kodak didn’t change its 18% gray cards to 12% to conform with the new ISO film speed standard. When Adams learned it was planning to make the change he pitched a fit with Kodak executives because it would mess up the Zone V = 18% metering for exposure. But today if you meter off an 18% gray card with a ISO rated meter and film your exposure will be off by 1/3 stop. If you fill the frame of your digital camera with an 18% card the histogram spike will not be in the center because the metering of the camera uses the ISO calibration value of 12%. Why 18% to begin with? That was the reflectance of a cross-lit outdoor scene composed per the ROT with 1/3 sky and 2/3 land. That worked to expose negatives back in the day but not transparencies so ISO changed the meter standard to 12%

I guess i am the only one who does not get it. The black frame(with the chicken) in what zone was at start? Your measure was 1/60 2.8 there. Then you shoot with 1/60 5.6, isnt this going to make that black frame darker and no details? Can you explain me or somebody else, please?