Digital Zone System ~ Panasonic Lumix S9 in-camera B&W jpg generation

I had ever more good fortune to be able to borrow for another 20 minutes a brand new Panasonic Lumix S9.  

I'm surprised at how nice the camera is.  I'd be really happy to own one.  It'd be a kick to use.  Would I have to choose between this and the GFX100RF Fuji?  Or could I have both?  I could use all the vintage lenses I own.  The Panasonic allows for user generated LUTs - something I wish my Sony cameras offered.  The menu system is understandable and complete (with a HUGE number of video options, should a person decide to go that route).  

The only downsides to the S9 being the lack of EVF and electronic only shutter.  As with the limitations of the GFX I'm sure I could learn to live with the Panasonic as is.  Humans are sometimes adaptable, right?  Even at this age.

Me being me I was curious to see how the Panasonic would behave with regards to Digital Zone System tonal values as I've come to understand them and to see how Panasonic implemented their in-camera jpg engine.  I put this camera through my little procedures two days after the Fuji and looked at the default Black and White creative style, then at the in-camera Leica monochrome "film simulation" on the S9.

Here's what I see.

Comments ~

Comparing the default Black and White Panasonic output against the 1EV per Zone standard I see that Zone 5/0EV is +0.3EV higher than the #76 luminosity 18% black standard.  This is consistant and confirmed by performing several sweeps to see what the Panasonic's metering/jpg engine are doing.  Is it part of Panasonic's deliberate "look?"  Or something else?

Like with the Fuji the S9 blacks drop off a bit quicker than the 1EV per Zone standard, but compared against the Zone System tonal range of my Sony A6300 APS-C + DRO1 I see the Panasonic tracks the Sony recipe down to Zone 2, and then extends gently beyond the Sony's Zone 0.  

Highlights are "hotter" than both the "ideal" and the Sony A6300 recipe.  This is due to the way the camera meters Zone5/0EV.  Again, as with the Fuji, in the real world I would expect the Panasonic Lumix S9 to deliver "open" shadow tones.

Turning to the Leica Monochrome "film simulation" at default settings reveal, for me, a horror.  Look at what this recipe delivers.  Hot hot whites.  Why would Leica take a short highlight region (as is standard with digital systems for how sensors are currently implemented) and _shorten_ it?  it seems like a recipe for disaster.  

Maybe it's just me and the "cool kids" know something I don't, but if forced to use the Leica style I'd start be setting the exposure dial to at least -0.3ev, perhaps more, just so the highlights don't get blown.  True film NEVER behaved this way.  GACK!  What a mess.  But, it says Leica, so it must be good.  To someone.  Somewhere. 

As with the cameras I've thus far looked at from a Digital Zone System perspective, the Panasonic Lumix S9 has a "spot" meter selection and that buttons/touch screen selections are customizable for AEL lock.  The S9 would make a very fine stills Zone System device.  Just put the EV dial at -0.3, avoid shooting artificial lighting at the lightings cycle rate (banding would be a problem), avoid that silly Leica Monochrome "film simulation" unless you really understand where the tones lay and everything should be "good to go." 

Having looked at two new cameras after starting with my Sony's I've come to understand something.  Cameras offer similar capabilities independent of the marque.  Understanding how in-camera jpg ASIC engines deliver tone values in the framework of a Digital Zone System in Black and White "works" regardless of marque.  

I now feel confident in the Digital Zone System method.  The process described below appears to be sufficient to the task.

------------- References From Prior Posts ---------------

Note: Sony RAW delivers very good tonal separation in the dark tones that are not expressed when using the in-camera jpg processor EXMOR and EXMOR R versions of the ASIC.  It seems that Sony made a conscious choice about how the dark tones are handled.  There's nothing wrong with their decision as far as I'm concerned.  It's just something to know and work with.  

In my own work  I mitigate the steep dark tone drop-off of the default B&W setting by adding DRO1, which brings up the shadows to the degree I prefer.  Panasonic doesn't seem to require this kind of massaging by default, but could benefit from being used at -0.3EV to ensure Zone 5/0EV meets the industry standard specifications.

Zone System Definition ~

• Zones are separated by 1 f-stop/1 Exposure Value (EV)
• Zone 5 ~
• old film days == 18% gray
• digital tone value == #76(hexidecimal)/118(decimal)
• Pure Black
• old film days == Zone 0 at -5EV
• digital tone values == -EV-whatever the camera system can deliver (commonly different between RAW - ideally -10EV!!!  and the in-camera jpg generator - Sony Creative Style Black and White in-camera seems set at -5EV, Fuji's GFX isn't demonstrably different from this)
• Pure White
• old film days == Zone 10 (last definition) or Zone 9 (earlier definition)
• digital tone value == +4EV  as Zone 9 for the Sony cameras I own (this has been measured and is very important! to successfully using the Zone System in digital)

Digital Zone System In-Camera jpg Step Wedge generation ~ 

To evaluate in-camera jpg generation here's the method I used to create a Step Wedge that I could visually inspect to when making various in-camera parameter changes -

•  Camera settings - 
• ISO == 100
• Creative Style B&W
• B&W Contrast to a test value - I've tried -3 to +1
• Dynamic Range Optimization - Off or DROx where x == [1, 2, 3]
• Meter to Spot
• Output file == jpg 
• Manual focus and defocus the lens as much as possible to fully blur the scene (wanting just tone, no texture) 

• Using an evenly lit surface (piece of paper, wall, etc)...
• Take two photos at 0EV and verify which 0EV setting gives exactly #76/118(dec) in the center (where the Spot meter metered) by measuring the tonal value using an image processing software on a computer.  This will be Zone 5 per definition.
• Raise EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 6 the tonal value as read on a computer 
• Raise EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 7 the tonal value as read on a computer 
•  Raise EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 8 the tonal value as read on a computer 
• Raise EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 9 the tonal value as read on a computer
• Verify that this tonal value is exactly or very very nearly Pure White
•  Returning to Zone 5/0EV... lower the EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 4 the tonal value on a computer 
•  Lower the EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 3 the tonal value on a computer 
• Lower the EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 3 the tonal value on a computer 
• Lower the EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 2 the tonal value on a computer
• Lower the EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 1 the tonal value on a computer
• Lower the EV by 1EV
• Take a photo
• Measure and note as Zone 0 the tonal value on a computer - this should record as #00/00(decimal), Pure Black

In practice, older/early mirrorless cameras only provide +/-3EV on the exposure wheel.  In these cases I use "M" (Manual) mode, set the aperture and ISO, then vary the shutter speed by 1EV up/down the test range.  On more recent cameras where +/-5EV is available on the I set the system to "S" (Shutter) mode, set the ISO, then vary the EV by 1EV using the exposure wheel.  Why any company allows +5EV is beyond me, but that's a topic for another time (noting that +5EV is 1EV ABOVE completely and utterly saturated pure white). 

Notes On USE: In a practical sense I find Zones 3 through 7 to be the most important.  If those are as close to 1EV separated as possible, then I like the output.  This is very similar to what I experienced back in the film days.

For the shadow areas I find I prefer Zones 0 through 2 to be rather outside the 1EV separation definition.  This matches film curves more closely and since I'm used to that I like a certain combination of Contrast and DRO settings.

For the highlights I like to make them "sparkle" if I can.  I find I prefer Zone 8 to be pushing closer to Pure White than not.  Having just written that, however, I shot an entire series of in-camera generated images that pleased me using nothing but Contrast == -3.  So it's worth testing different combinations of Contrast and DRO to see what works best for oneself.