Interactive 3D tool

Zone System Visualizer

Analyse a photograph, place it on eleven zones, and get a suggested EI.

Zone distribution

Zone 0 — blackZone V — middle greyZone X — white

Luminance histogram across all 256 levels. The amber line marks the mean luminance; red divisions mark zone boundaries.

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Educational simulationThe suggested Exposure Index is derived from a published approximation of the zone relationships and from the tonal distribution of the image you load. It is a starting point for your own film-speed testing, not a calibrated result for your camera and meter.

How placement works

Exposure decides where the shadows land. Development decides where the highlights land. Moving the exposure slider shifts the whole distribution; moving the development slider changes its spread. That is the entire Zone System in two controls.

Reading the result

A healthy negative puts most of its pixels between Zone III and Zone VIII — texture in the shadows, texture in the highlights. Pixels at Zone 0 or Zone X are clipped and carry no information at all.

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