[LargeFormat] BTZS --- first steps

[Steve Nicholls]

I have battled with "correct" exposure for years. And recently I 
purchased a very nice densitometer on ebay and a followed that with a 
copy of Phil Davis' book Beyond the Zone System.
I imagine I was no different to most people in my first reaction to the 
apparent complexity of the system and took sometime to start to digest 
the methodolgy involved. I have tried to use the zone system for years 
and for me it hasn't provided the information I required - consistently.
I explored the BTZS forum and absorbed as much material as I could but 
failed to comprehend a couple of points. After a couple of private 
emails from Phil I felt more than confident to at least takle the paper 
testing. This proved to be an eye opener as I use a D2 with condensor 
head and the step wedge test immediately identified paper characterists 
I felt I knew but was not fully aware of. The contrast curves of the 
paper were much steeper than I expected.

I was apprehensive about exposing film under an enlarger but it turned 
out to be almost a complete no brainer. The most difficult part was 
establishing a standard exposure and this took 2 sheets. At the end of 
the day I had all my step wedges exposed and processed and read by my 
densitometer. I'm still at the plot on paper stage but I imagine that 
also will change in the near future.

The big test was a sheet of real film under real photographic condition 
and I'm happy to say I'm very pleased. Considering I have no prior 
experience with this type of testing I achieved more useful information 
than I have even done in the past. I have a small laminated chat of 
SBR's and Development times and that seems to work quite well. I love 
the fact I can use the incident meter as part of the system.

It has taken me a little while for the lights to come on with a basic 
understanding of BTZS but the learning curve is not really as steep as I 
first though.

Steve
Adelaide - Australia