The zone system for black and white photography enables you to visualize what the final picture will look like before you make the exposure. Luminance is the many reflective qualities of the subject. Understanding the relationship between the subjects luminances and the way in which those luminance values are rendered by photographic material will make you a better photographer. The procedure consists of accurately measuring those reflective values, visualizing how they should be translated into black and white print values, and then controlling negative exposure and development to achieve the desired result. It is a way to better understand how photographic materials respond to exposure and development, and will help you avoid unpredictable and complicated darkroom manipulations to achieve an optimum print. But the zone system is best when used on individual negatives. With roll film that is not possible. Ideally you would apply unique exposure and development times to each individual picture to achieve the desired print. But where an entire roll is processed in the same solution and for the same time, you have to make a few compromises and adjustments.

For example you can limit the images on a single roll to subjects of similar luminance values. By carrying two or more camera bodies or film backs, one for high-contrast subjects and another for low-contrast subjects and then by developing accordingly, you can create images that better reflect how you experienced and visualized each subject. Here are some ways in which I incorporate the zone system into my workflow when shooting medium format and 35mm film.

In the zone system scale, zone 0 represents maximum black and zone X represent pure white. There is no discernible textural detail in those areas. Zone V represents 18% gray, zone lll good shadow texture, and zone Vlll good highlight texture. All meters will give the f-stop and shutter speed combinations to produce a zone V density at what ever they are pointed at. (If you measure only the bright white fabric in a wedding gown or a black cat in a coal bin and set your exposure accordingly, both subjects will be rendered as the same 18% gray in the resulting 2 pictures) So to produce the true tonal value of the cat and see good textural detail, I would place my metered value of the cat on zone lll, because zone lll represents good visible shadow detail. The cat then must be underexposed by 2 stops from what the meter recommends, so that area will record as a zone lll value in the print. [note: a spot meter is best because you can meter important parts of the scene separately from a distance]

The principle of "expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights" is true as altered development times will enable you to compact or expand the highlight densities of any subject into the printable range of photographic paper without changing the shadow densities.

To begin, you would pre-visualize the scene in terms of tonal values and decide the darkest area of tone where you want to see some detail. You then meter those areas in the scene. In this church interior for example, using the spot meter in a Leica M5, I selected and metered the dark areas on the front of the altar and front of the small pipe organ, and placed them on zone lll to show textural detail in the shadows. That determined my exposure.

I felt an enveloping light and wanted to see the rich detail on the altar and organ while not losing detail in the stained glass windows. It was a sunny day outside and the windows measured a full 6 stops brighter than the shadow areas previously selected for zone lll placement. This put the window detail outside the printable range of the paper indicating that an adjustment be made during development to hold highlight detail in the final print. By reducing the development time of the film I was able to condense the exposure scale by one stop and hold the detail in the windows while leaving the tonal values in the shadows unchanged. Shadow density was determined by the exposure, highlight density was determined by the development.

One thing to remember is our eyes perceive things differently from sensitized film. It's important not to think of your subject only in terms of metered luminance values. You must think in terms of printed tones, how you visualize those tonal relationships, and how they will be expressively translated onto photographic paper. In order to use the zone system effectively it's necessary to first find the effective speed (ISO) of your chosen film using your meter, camera and lenses so you can determine what normal, normal-plus and normal-minus development times are. In part 2, we'll examine a simple test to determine the operational exposure value to assign to a film using your personal equipment.

I have been dedicated to Berger fiber-based papers for exhibition printing for years. Their products have always been of high quality so when they announced they were going to make a totally new black and white film emulsion for roll film users it immediately caught my attention. They claim that Panchro400 has a wider tonal range than conventional films. Most companies in the imaging business release beautiful companion images with the release of every new product and Bergger is no exception. I was inspired to see if I could actually see a difference in my pictures.

BERGGER Pancro 400 has two photographic emulsions ( Silver-Bromide/Silver Iodide) that differ in grain size in order to achieve the films promised tonal range. It is a fast, fine grain film that gives good results when exposed anywhere between 100 and 1600 ISO. It has an anti-halation coating that gives it a very high resolution, but requires a water presoak before development to dissolve this layer away.

The box speed is 400 but in my first film speed tests I determined that with my equipment the proper ISO for this film is 200. I chose the developer ATM-49 (diluted 1-1) to maximize the tonal range and produce ultra fine grain negatives, and after my first development tests I settled on a shortened development time of 12 minutes at 24C. The 35mm and 120 versions are actually coated on different base materials. The 35mm film on an acetate base and the 120 film on a PET base with an anti-curl layer. The film base fog was more pronounced on the 35mm version by 0.12 when measured on a densitometer. But I find no reason to change my exposure/processing procedures when switching between the two formats, at least until I can do more extensive testing.

Then I headed to the beach to shoot this film side by side with my old standby (Ilford FP-4 plus). Both films were loaded into separate backs on a Rolleiflex 3003 and shot with the same camera and meter for an accurate comparison. After development, both were scanned on an Epson V500 and the raw scans posted below without any adjustments.

Bergger Panchro400 (left)                                          Ilford  FP-4 plus (right) — Bergger Panchro400 (left) Ilford FP-4 plus (right)

First impressions:

There was more pronounced grain in the Bergger shot. But this is to be expected with a film that is rated 2 stops faster. I was initially surprised with the tonal range when compared to the FP-4 plus version. I expected the Panchro400 shots to have a flat low-contrast appearance and subtle gradation of tones. But on closer inspection I realized that the Berger shot did deliver the extended range as promised. While the shot on the left appears to have more contrast, it actually does render greater tonal detail. It maintains good printable densities in both the shadows (cave entrance) and the highlights (waterfall). The snappy look of the Panchro400 negative is more pleasing to my eye. The delicate detail on the cliff face above the cave is much more defined and the sky rendered a discernibly lighter shade of gray.

Conclusion:

I noticed a pleasing visual difference with Pancro400 with it's extended tonal range. The grain, while slightly enhanced over the FP-4 plus was not a problem for me. But I probably won"t be developing it in Rodinal, at least not in 35mm. In landscape work I tend to like a darker sky than Panchro400 produced, so maybe I will play with a few filters to see how that effects the films overall tonal scale. I think it will be excellent at rendering the delicate tonal differences in rich foliage under even light such as an overcast sky. I also want to see how it handles portraiture under controlled lighting situations. Lately I have been shooting more street photography and taking a camera with me when I go out. The increased speed of Panchro400 is convenient for that purpose, but I need to do more development tests to establish good negatives at higher ISO's in marginal lighting situations, and compare the results with Ilford's HP-5 plus. When I have done that, Panchro400 may well be my new film of choice for those situations requiring more speed. There are lots of possibilities I am really excited to explore with this film.

My observations so far have been on the basis of scans, and the shots below required very few post-scan adjustments to achieve the look I wanted. But for me the real proof of a quality film is how easy it is to make expressive silver prints in the darkroom. I try to keep pretty tight control over negative development to avoid time consuming and costly darkroom adjustments. So the next step for me is to go into the darkroom and print these puppies!

Recommendation:

When I heard that my local camera store (Blue Moon in Portland) received a shipment I immediately picked up a few rolls. About a week later it appeared that they were sold out. So buy some if you can! The possibilities are definitely worth the effort.

Below are a couple more shots from my original beach tests and a few shots of the medium format version.