[Stephen Benskin]

Bill, this is not about how much one factor or another has on the results or determining what you can get away with. I'm simply advocating a little critical thinking to better understand the process. It's more about the philosophy of testing. I'm tired of reading "I've heard that", or "this famous photographer says", or seeing uncritical and uncommented on links. I brought up the question of the validity of the just black printing method in my first post. This technique is part of a testing method that was linked to in this thread and the OP was considering using. I believe evaluating the strengths and weakness of this method would make for a worthy discussion. Beginners tend not to be aware that there are variances, tolerances, and nuances involved, and few absolutes.

If one camp claims exposure meters "read" 18% and another 12%, shouldn't a person have the intellectual curiosity to investigate? How many of the people who do Zone System type testing ask themselves why their EIs are almost universally 1/2 to one stop slower than the ISO speed? This would be my second question after wondering if I did the test correctly. I guess it comes down to asking the right questions. Most ask "how to" and not "why."