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Miles --
The two metering systems should, of course, produce the same exposure/development recommendations if they''re used with equal skill and a common purpose. But it isn't surprising that they don't always agree because they measure different things. Briefly, the zone system attempts to control two "internal" grays while the incident method attempts to control the extreme ends of the value scale. In this respect the incident method is probably more foolproof because (if used sensibly) it "guarantees" that the full subject range will be recorded. but because materials' characteristics can cause the internal grays to shift rather significantly, you may not get the gradation you visualized.
If all goes well with zone system metering (and if you're familiar with the gradation characteristics of your film/developer combination) you'll probably get your two selected zones reproduced satisfactorily but you may find that the ends of the scale aren't recorded properly.
In other words, the incident system locks the ends of the scale and lets materials' characteristics determine gradation; the zone system locks two grays and lets materials' characteristics determine how the extremes are recorded.
In general the zone system works well when you're familiar with spotmetering and are thoroughly acquainted with the gradation characteristics of your materials (so that your visualized zone grays are realistic) but it can be a bit of a crap shoot if you're using materials you're not familiar with. The incident method doesn't work very well if you think of it in zone system terms and try to "place" visualized grays (other than the ends of the scale).
Play with the Matcher for a while and these concepts may make more sense.
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