Thank you for creating such a useful app.
For someone who does not want to carry a dedicated spot meter around but always has a smartphone with them, this is an excellent substitute. It is also a fantastic tool for “visualization” how a scene might translate into black & white. Since we naturally see the world in color, it can sometimes be difficult to immediately recognize where different zones will fall within the Zone System. This app makes that process so much easier and much more intuitive.
Great job developing this. I am genuinely glad someone created an app like this, and in my opinion, it is worth every penny.
I also really appreciate that you chose not to make it subscription-based. Please keep it that way. Stay small, stay humble, and continue making great products. I will gladly support and recommend it to others.
By the way, I am a professor in the field of photography, and I would absolutely recommend this app to my students as a practical tool for learning and applying the Zone System.
Response from developer
Thank you so much for such a detailed and positive feedback. Unfortunately many users rate the app based on how they would like it to work, not the way it was intended but there is nothing I can do about it. Cheers!
Could be better.
It needs work.
Response from developer
The purpose of this feature is not to average different readings, but to compare different areas of the scene against the initial Zone V reference. Averaging them would actually defeat the purpose of the Zone System approach. The readings are intentionally kept separate so you can decide how each area should be exposed.
Great but…
Response from developer
Hi! Thank you for your review: that’s a feature I’m working on. Stay tuned. UPDATE: coming right now ;)
Not really the “Zone System”
Response from developer
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. I think the key difference is that GrayZone was never intended to replicate the whole workflow of Ansel Adams. It was designed as a simplified introduction to zone-based metering, making the Zone System easier to understand and apply without requiring users to work directly with EV values and manual zone placement. If you’re looking for the complete traditional workflow (reading EV, assigning zones, and calculating exposure from those values) then you’re describing a different type of application. That certainly has value, but it goes beyond the scope and philosophy of GrayZone. I do appreciate your suggestion, though, and I’ll keep it in mind as the app evolves. UPDATE: version 3.5 is now moving exactly in that direction ;)
No placement of reference reading.
With a spot meter I point at an important shadow, place that shadow, say zone III, then read the highlights. With the shadow placed at zone III then the highlight reading will fall at say zone VIII. With that N-1 processing would be needed.
Can the reference reading be placed at say zone III? If not what is the point.
Response from developer
Thanks for your detailed feedback. You are correct about the traditional Zone System workflow: a shadow value is normally measured and placed on a chosen zone (for example Zone III), then highlights are evaluated from that placement. GrayZone, however, was designed with a slightly different approach, simplified: the first reading establishes a reference point (Zone V), and subsequent readings show their relative position on the scale. The goal is to quickly visualize tonal relationships rather than replace the complete Adams workflow. This doesn’t mean the method is incorrect: it is simply based on a different starting point. I understand that for photographers following the classic Zone System, the ability to assign the first reading to a specific zone would make the app more flexible, and I will consider adding this in a future update. Since your review is based on the assumption that the app should work differently, I would appreciate it if you could reconsider the rating in light of how the feature is intended to work. Thank you again for taking the time to share such thoughtful feedback and if you want, write to the support email for further details. UPDATE: version 3.5 supports exactly that ;)
