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Phil,
I have some thoughts...
1 - We all know what the Zone System is: so what do you think BTZS is? Is it a metering method, a testing procedure, a philosophy, a state of grace, or what??
Well, BTZS is definately not a metering method, unless you use the ambient metering method. It's not a metering method (at least not any different from some others), and it is partially a testing procedure.
I think it is a generalized iterative approach that takes advantage of current technology and understanding to apply exposure and development adjustments to film based on the available data. More on this below...
2 - Assuming a response to 1, what do you think is the core of BTZS? What parts of it can be stripped away without destroying it for practical use? Is the software (Plotter, Expo/Dev) part of this essential core?
I think that the core of BTZS is the undertsanding of how the interactions of the subject luminance, film density and print density are related. There aren't many shortcuts to this understanding, because it involves the dilligent use of the process, and retrospective analysis of negatives and prints to really understand the process well.
If you really wanted to strip away some, then remove all of the hand plotting information from the book, and assume that everyone out there will be using the plotter program. Write a few educational animations that take people through the plots and curves, and gives them a thorough understanding of the process on the computer. It's unreasonable to assume that most people will pull out pen, straight edge, and graph paper to do the exercises in the book anymore.
Also, I think a lot of education can be removed if you provide an explicit explaination of how expodev actually works, and tie this into the book. All of my questions tend to be about the application of BTZS in the program, not on philosophy of BTZS in general.
3 - If you're a BTZS convert, whether as a result of taking a workshop or simply studying the book, when did it finally make sense to you? Was it a sudden flash of insight and, if so, what triggered it?
Well, I'm not really a convert, I started out with it. But I feel that there was no real point of insight, because I already THOUGHT I understood how the ZS worked before I started. The more I use it, however, the more I think that I have a COMPLETE understanding of it's usefulness. That is, starting out after reading the book, I knew enough to get going, but now, I know much more, having been able to analize the negs and prints, and then review particular passages in the book once again.
I think the real points of greatest learning have happened recently, and I have been using BTZS for years now. This is tied to the appreciation of what I am seeing in my own work, and how it relates to the results you predict in the book.
---Michael
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