[wim]

First, you're not the only one who worked with the zone system. I did so, too, and it was a huge boost to learn it for me. Pictures improved a lot.

To zone system belong various techniques to reduce or increase the tonal range of film. Such as overexpose and develop shorter for situations with general low contrast like foggy landscapes. Or underexpose and develop longer, preferrably with a softer developer for high contrast scenes. If I recall correctly? Or was it the other way round? I never went very deep into this + 1 or -2 stuff although I read Henk Roelfesema's books as well as Ansel's. I had two film magazines on my Mamiya, but some memories I also wanted to catch in colors. Today I would be very happy if I had had a bigger DR.


Now, I see statements like "no one needs more than x f-stops" like a very unreasonably set yet unneccessary limit. Sure, different people, different approaches, but as long as there are bigger contrasts around in nature, I have to ask "why not take advantage of sensor improvements" and instead stick to film era limits? Any good reason for that? I'm just asking because I can't think of a single one.


All dodging and burning or playing around with tonal curves can only improve the recorded data. Be it on film or sensor: lost or unrecorded data simply can't benefit of post production refinements because it's not available in the first place. Recovering highlights only works within the limits of captured highlights. Lost ones remains lost!


And if it still remains unclear, what I say, here's one of thousands examples what higher DR can do: <a class="bbc_url" href="https://www.dpreview.com/articles/9895055303/this-eclipse-photo-shows-crazy-dynamic-range-of-today-s-image-sensors">https://www.dpreview.com/articles/9895055303/this-eclipse-photo-shows-crazy-dynamic-range-of-today-s-image-sensors</a>

 

Note that I said that I personally do not need it. I am quite capable of recovering what I need, as long as I expose according to the principles I set for myself. If I ever do need HDR, it generally is of static subjects, and in that case I can always shoot an HDR sequence. IOW, the lack more than 10 or 12 stops of DR has never limited me personally in any way.

 

The question rises, BTW, what you do or do not want to lose, from a highlight POV - and yes, that is a personal choice, a deliberate one for me. It is impossible to retain all highlights when the environment shows you a DR of say, 24 stops, and not even the human eye can cater for that (the human eye can handle 17 stops of DR relatively quickly by shifting focus/viewpoint, but it is about 10 to 11 stops without readjustment). Neither do I like the overdone HDR shots you used to see in the past (haven't used those for a few years now).

 

Kind regards, Wim