Editing Zone System (section)

== Misconceptions and criticisms ==

The Zone System gained an early reputation for being complex, difficult to understand, and impractical to apply to real-life shooting situations and equipment.

Criticism has been raised on grounds that the Zone System obscures simple densitometry considerations by needlessly introducing its own terminology for otherwise trivial concepts. Noted photographer [[Andreas Feininger]] wrote in 1976,

{{Quote|I deliberately omitted discussing the so-called Zone System of film exposure determination in this book because in my opinion it makes mountains out of molehills, complicates matters out of all proportions, does not produce any results that cannot be accomplished more easily with methods discussed in this text, and is a ritual if not a form of cult rather than a practical technical procedure.<ref>Feininger, Andreas,'' Light and Lighting in Photography,'' Prentice-Hall, 1976</ref>}}

Much of the difficulty may have resulted from Adams's early books, which he wrote without the assistance of a professional editor; he later conceded (Adams 1985, 325) that this was a mistake. Fred Picker (The Zone VI Workshop 1974) provided a concise and simple treatment that helped demystify the process. Adams's later Photography Series published in the early 1980s (and written with the assistance of Robert Baker) also proved far more comprehensible to the average photographer.

The Zone System has often been thought to apply only to certain materials, such as black-and-white sheet film and black-and-white photographic prints. At a time when introduction of electronic still image cameras to the consumer market was imminent (e.g. the [[Sony Mavica]]),  Adams (1981, xii) stated

{{Quote|I believe the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to comprehend and control them.}}

which is sometimes interpreted as evidence that Adams envisioned his Zone System to be useful for electronic or even digital image capture/processing. However, in this quotation there is no claim that the Zone System would be a suitable instrument to comprehend and control the new imaging devices, and Adams explicitly states that electronic systems may have their own characteristics (which might thus require different approaches).

Yet another misconception is that the Zone System emphasizes technique at the expense of creativity. Some practitioners have treated the Zone System as if it were an end in itself, but Adams made it clear that the Zone System was an ''enabling'' technique rather than the ultimate objective.