using gray levels

If you’re stuck with using gray levels for your Information readouts (Photoshoot calls this Intensity), all is not lost. Place the following list of equivalencies on your monitor somewhere so you can get a feeling of where reflectances are falling. Unfortunately, gray levels are not very intuitive as to relationships between 0 and 256. Of course half of 256 is 128 but what is 35% of 256? How about 85% of 256? The problem is, it’s hard in 256 to know if you’ve got the right brightness for important values between highlight and shadow. Although most shooters using the 256 Info readings will use a Q-14 to lock in the transition from highlight to shadow, you’ll still get to use light to fill in reflectances that need filling. How much light is enough? Use the following chart to infer Zone System values (and printer’s inks) from the gray scale readout.

Zone I
90%
30
Zone I 1/2
85%
43
Zone II
80%
55
Zone II 1/2
75%
67
Zone III
70%
80
Zone III 1/2
65%
92
Zone IV
60%
105
Zone IV 1/2
55%
115
Zone V
50%
128
Zone V 1/2
45%
142
Zone VI
40%
155
Zone VI 1/2
35%
167
Zone VII
30%
180
Zone VII 1/2
25%
192
Zone VIII
20%
205
Zone VIII 1/2
15%
217
Zone IX
10%
230
Zone IX 1/2
5%
242
Zone X
0%
256

Although we do not recommend gray level readings, you may be forced to use them. Refer to the Digital Zone System topic for additional information.

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