-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Windrim <brian@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Olympus mailing list <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, September 07, 1999 12:38 AM
Subject: RE: [OM] ... spot metering technique ...
>TMLee asked:
>
>> Anyone of U out there employ the technique of the zone system when taking
>> pics with the OM-4Ti ? Even with colour film.....
>
>Yes, I am strongly of the opinion that the OM4 (and OM3) manual mode
>was designed with the Zone System in mind.
>
>Why else would the LCD display bar cover such a long scale (-4 to +4
>stops) and be marked off at 1-stop intervals over that range?
>
>
>> What I do is to look for the mid shade of grey ( stage 5 of the total 9
>> stages of grey in the zone system) , then I take a spot reading of that
and
>> then shoot.
>
>That's a reasonable approach in auto mode, but in manual you have
>*far* more flexibility.
>
>If I resort to some ascii art I can try to show how neatly a zone
>scale maps onto the OM3/4 manual-mode finder display:
>
> IX VIII VII VI V IV III II I
>
> + . . | >|< | . . -
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
>You can see that nothing forces you to align the reading with the
>center (Zone V) mark, instead you can place a spot reading on
>whichever zone you think it requires. Even fractional zone placements
>are easy.
>
>Furthermore, if you store more than one spot reading (of different
>values) you can still see them all on the scale, and can judge how
>they relate to each other and to the tonal range of the film. The
>important thing in this case is to *ignore* the LCD bar (i.e. the
>averaged value) and concentrate on the individual spot diamonds.
>
>Of course, experience and/or testing of your film&processing
>combination will be necessary in order to be able to relate the zone
>measurements to the actual result on the negative or slide.
>
>
>> Am I doing something ridiculous ?
>
>Certainly not. Ansel Adams himself was of the opinion that the Zone
>System *wasn't* just relevant to large-format black-and-white
>photography, but was also of use to photographers working both with
>35mm and in colour.
>
>Maitani-san appears to have thought much the same.
>
>Incidentally, C*nt*x try to call their S2 a 'Zone System camera' with
>rather less justification than the OM3/4. The S2 has a spot meter of
>sorts, but doesn't have the viewfinder display needed to make it
>really useful.
>
>
>-Brian
>
Thanks Brian for the reply..... I agree totally, especially about the part
where U said U thot the camera was designed with the zone system in mind....
I posted this message to find out whether anyone else thot about how
'different' the OM was from the other makes... and why ....
TMLee, Singapore
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