New version of PhotoTool (Free) available

I am pleased to announce the availablilty of my latest version of PhotoTool - a completely free program that is intended to assist one in learning about exposure. It is also quite useful for displaying the actual transfer characteristic of any camera.

Your free copy of PhotoTool version 1.6.0 is zipped and ready for downloading at
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/programs/PhotoT​ool.zip

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So, what does it do; why would I want/need it? Do you have a description and instructions of it somewhere?

gooble wrote in post #4857812
So, what does it do; why would I want/need it? Do you have a description and instructions of it somewhere?

There's a detailed hel;p file included with it that explains what it does and why you would want to use it.

gooble wrote in post #4857812
So, what does it do; why would I want/need it? Do you have a description and instructions of it somewhere?

Good question - I'm so close to it that I can't imagine why it would not be the "greatest thing since sliced bread" - Hi!

Imagine that you start with a light-meter reading from a typical scene [the program allows you to input a reading in Exposure Value (EV) units].

Next, you want to pick an aperture, shutter speed and an ISO setting that is "correct" for that scene. Those three controls work together as you make settings of those three parameters to generate an exposure based on the EV, aperture, shutter and ISO. The result is a placement of the light-meter reading onto the 11 Zone range of possible exposures in the Zone system [you are immediately using the Zone system without ever having had to learn it]. So, at this point you find out how well you have set your camera controls, because if you get any placement other than Zone V, you are probably wrong, or you know something the light-meter did not know.

Rather than being content with just a Zone placement, you should want to see exactly what shade of gray this produces on a scale of 0 to 255. Why?

The reason that you want to see it is to get a graphic indicator of the digital brightness or shade of gray that has been ordered from your settings. At this point, hopefully, you have begun to be more familiar with both the Zone system and the basics of exposure control through the shutter speed and aperture.

But not all cameras are the same, you say! How do I know that this is the shade of gray that my camera will produce from this scene brightness and these settings?

The Help file gives you detailed instructions on how to incorporate the characteristics of your own camera. Then when you set the controls the actual digital brightness value generated both numerically and graphically will be correct for your camera. The program includes a calibration curve taken with a Rebel XTi.

Hope that gives you some insight into the program.

The program does have one system requirement that I have failed to mention, and that is that it requires a monitor of 1280 x 1024 or better. I would hope that most people processing images on their computer will have at least that large a screen.

Oh, ok. I'm not sure if I fully understand but I'll check it out. Sounds interesting.