albert_richardson1

<p>Sanity is only a state of mind, after all!</p>

<p>Acid trip, anyone? Take some snaps along the way perhaps. No influence of the past here. It's hard to tell what role training and experience might play in these snaps. Perhaps a person might develop a kind of muscle memory for composition and camera handling simply by taking a lot of photos. I'm sure you would agree that there is a lot more to the human mind than imagination alone. Nevertheless, if it were possible to remove everything except imagination, one should not be surprised to see crummy photos in the end. Or would you prefer to remember the skills you have developed through past experience to get a better result? I do believe that you propose to lose yourself in your imagination without the encumbrance of knowing what you might be doing to make a photograph. Are you sure that you can actually identify what the influences of the past are in your mind. How do they affect your photos? Can you even tell? Can anyone? </p> <p>There is an important thread in Eastern Mysticism that emphasizes releasing the mind from sensory stimulus and concern for worldly things in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Meditation and strict discipline applied in a variety of ways are tools used to effect a more spiritual existence. I will tell you that I have a profound respect for people who are able to follow a path such as this.</p> <p>Let's suppose for a minute that the monk somehow loses his concentration for a brief moment to press the shutter button on his sophisticated Canon or Nikon camera. Let's further propose that either you or me happens to be touring the monastery near the same time. We take a photo of the same scene using our sophisticated Canon or Nikon camera. </p> <p>Would anyone be able to tell which photo is which? To be sure, the monk is not in his trance for the purpose of liberating his imagination, but then a trance is a trance after all. Let's go on to add the notion that you are there in a deliberate zone of creativity where you let your imagination run wild, and I simply push the shutter button because I don't know what else to do with it. Now could anyone tell the difference between all three photos of the same scene?</p> <p>If you cannot offer a testimony for the actual beneficial result of your position that unencumbered imagination is the root of the best creativity, then what's the point of making such a fuss about it? Although Don Quixote was demonstrably mad, he didn't make himself into a pompous ass about it. </p>

<p>I can't be the only one to remember Timothy Leary and "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out." The benefit to be obtained by applying a blank mind to itself - experience modified through drugs - is not a new idea. There are human zombies who, but for their imaginations, would be in a perpetual coma. Is it imagination to live only with direct sensory experience? </p> <p>I believe that Allen's line of argument leads to an absurd situation where one has emptied his mind to have the full benefit of his imagination at the cost of not being able to figure out what to do with it. There is no such thing as "Rational Alzheimers." A deliberate attempt to do nothing at all except experience one's immediate surroundings in the hope that something concrete will come of it. It seems that I have heard experiences like this described as being on heroin without the high. </p> <p>I believe that it is hard to tell the difference between doing nothing at all to dream of wonderful endings and the genuine experience of people who have their minds destroyed by disease, drugs or some disastrous accident. You can imagine explanations that try to assert that nothing is something after all, but I cannot understand how you might demonstrate the validity of any of them.</p> <p>Allen, where there is no past, there is no future either. Be careful of putting too much credence in the benefits of limiting your mind to the "here and now" world of immediate experience only. It is a trap. You might not even be able to experience the continuity of living from one moment to the next. There must be a more useful approach to creativity than yours.</p>

<p>Wow! I can't believe that this conversation has lasted so long. It's asking too much for me to actually read the whole thing.</p> <p>I do wonder, with all the quoting and posturing, why don't I see more evidence of actual experience making things? Purposeful problem solving, if you will. If wheel-spinning is going to do some good, you need to get the car on the ground first!</p> <p>I believe that wishful thinking leads to daydreaming. There is no requirement whatever to link it with anything a person might have inherited from his elders, finds in the world around him, or might expect to experience in the future. Don Quixote had his windmills. Wishful thinking suggests futility. Imagination gone sideways - to nowhere.</p> <p>Wishful thinking requires imagination, but it is not the same thing as using one's imagination to grow. I don't want to be maudlin or sentimental about this. I'm not talking about magical thinking. Some people understand how their imagination can help lead them into new things they might grow to appreciate. They can apply their imagination to things that hit them where they live. To make stuff. To explore their lives to create things such as fiction that tells the truth about us. Some people can challenge themselves to make really interesting photographs, as another example. </p> <p>I simply don't understand how these conversations get so screwed up. Everyone has his windmills I suppose.</p>

<p>This reminds me of the "determinism vs. free will" debate in an intro to philosophy class. If everything is determined by what goes on before then where does complexity come from? How would anything ever occur for the very first time? On the other hand, if formless random free will is where the truth lies, then there would be no reason for anything to have continuity and consistency.</p> <p>I suppose Aristotle should have had a camera. This thread seems to be a flimsy pretense for sneaking a freshman debate about extremes, neither of which can be completely correct, into a forum where one would think photography would be most comfortable. </p>

<p>I am grateful to you all for turning my intro into a such a sincere and thoughtful discussion. I really don't have any more of an idea of which elements play the major role in establishing continuity in photographs than anyone else. It is indeed an open-ended question.<br> Thank you for all your comments. </p>

<p>I heard yet another discussion about Fantasy Football and gambling today. I have to admit that I'm a little at a loss to understand how a person could combine the characteristics of real players in an imaginary combination to figure out which team might win in a real world contest.</p> <p>The football analogy opening kickoff asks how an imaginary event might be connected to the real world. Can one be the same as the other? The question that comes to mind that might interest us is, "what makes two photographs the same?"</p> <p>I wouldn't take the position that only identical photos can be the same. Two prints of the same image, for example, might be overlaid on a light panel to demonstrate that they are identical. I don't even mean to assert that only pictures taken in a burst mode would be close enough for one to consider them the same.</p> <p>Sameness is something else. Some ideas that come to mind are pictures of the same subject, pictures in the same setting, pictures that suggest the same theme, pictures made from the perspective of photographer(s) having the same intention.</p> <p>So the question for this discussion is what makes photos the same, and how can you tell? How can anyone figure out a photographer's intention? Is personal style enough to make photos the same? If you can look at a photo and tell almost certainly who made it, doesn't that suggest something in common in that person's portfolio? How easy is to to put your finger on sameness among photographs?</p> <p>What do you think?</p> <p>Albert</p>

<p>It seems to me that the thread begins with a technique a team of collaborators might use to explore their various views of some aspect of their joint project to reconcile their differences. Naturally, they don't always agree with each other, but nevertheless their efforts are often required to have a single resolution. Hence "creative antagonism" or perhaps you might call it a "working compromise."</p> <p>The OP then appears to go on to apply the term by observing a conflict between prey and predator which he sees as antagonistic. As well he might think that! Who can imagine that a creature would enjoy being turned into food? This seems to me to be a somewhat twisted interpretation of the original thought though. Here he is being creative with his photography as he observes his subject being antagonistic. The teamwork required to realize a common objective got completely lost.</p> <p>I think we ought to suggest that the OP go back to his drawing board to find a way to reconcile the difference between a group dynamic demonstrated in a of people working together and a single individual working on whatever he finds in front of him.</p> <p>The evidence for creativity is found in the results it produces, after all. Creativity fits into both the group and individual setting, but antagonism doesn't. Certainly not antagonism used to characterize a disagreement among the members of a team engaged in planning and managing some common project. In fact, I find it to be difficult to apply antagonism used this way to the individual photographer at all. Perhaps he is confused or conflicted in some way as he tries to see the perfect picture before tripping his camera shutter? Beats me! Naturally, you can overthink just about anything. Go figure.</p>

<p>There's more to the story.</p> <p>There are four things to attend when it comes to CA sales taxes. CA consumers pay the whole sales tax due based on the tax district location in the state where they take possession of the goods. The important thing to keep in mind is that the customer Invoice should document where this location is. Usually it is the shipping address used for the order. Be reasonable. If you write the order and then drop it off half way because you happen to be going that way don't bother to adjust the tax.</p> <p>You must collect the <strong><em>entire tax due</em></strong>. This is just practical. I have to pay the entire amount due to the State. I'm not going to pony up the difference for district taxes out of my own pocket. Neither should you. The reason I use the BOE tax table is that it shows me the whole rate due based on city without bothering me with the incremental percentage the district wants for itself.</p> <p>The first point is to <strong>put your sales transactions in writing</strong>. You may have to prove to the State that you have been managing this part of your business correctly. It's convenient for me to keep everything on the computer. </p> <p>The second point is to be careful and as accurate as reasonable in charging the customer for the tax. Some cities, Oak Park, for example, lie across county lines and fall into two tax districts. Look up "Oak Park' in the BOE table to get the right rate. Make sure you keep your documentation straight. I need say that again. <strong>Make sure you keep your documentation straight. </strong></p> <p>The second point explains why I highlighted the first one. The State can <strong>audit your books</strong> at any time to make sure that you are indeed keeping your documentation straight. In this case I'm referring to you accurately collecting the tax due based on the location you put on your invoices. You will have to have business records to show when required.</p> <p>Keep your invoices. You must report (and pay) the taxes you collected to the BOE by tax district. Whether you use eFILE or some other reporting system you have to identify the tax districts the taxes you collect fall into so the State can distribute the money correctly. I don't use an integrated accounting system myself, so I don't have the computer summarizing taxes by district for me as I make sales. Frankly, the accounting systems I have seen don't handle non-taxable services very well and they make me enter inventory in advance of any sales. Since most of my sales are unpredictable and small this is just a nuisance to maintain. (Plus - even though my business practices don't change that much from year to year, most accounting software vendors expect me to pay for their product over and over again every year.) I summarize my sales manually for the BOE. This works for my small business although it would not be suitable for a larger one.</p> <p>The third point, then, is that you must be able to remember where the sales taxes you collected came from so that you can tell the State. Don't screw around with this. Make sales on scraps of paper thrown all over the place. The State can <strong><em>audit your books</em></strong>and make you pay any money it feels you owe plus penalties.</p> <p>I'm asking you to practice some discipline in this area. If you just don't have the mind for it, and you can afford it, this is part of the service you would expect get from a hired accountant.</p> <p>The fourth point is that the <strong>sales tax you collect is never income</strong>. You are collecting taxes as an agent of the State. Be careful not to spend this money yourself. That is, you want to make sure you actually have the money on hand when you are required to turn it in. CA BOE establishes your payment schedule based on the amount of your gross sales. You might report annually, quarterly or monthly. I transfer tax money into a savings account every so often to keep it in escrow and away from my evil nephew. Exclude sales taxes collected when you enter gross sales on Income tax forms and when renewing a business license.</p>

<p>Jeff Spirer,</p> <p>Please delete the response I wrote just before this one (<strong>Mar 09, 2015; 08:56 p.m.</strong>) and this one. I exceeded my ten minute time limit before I had revisions ready to post again. The message is too long to have repeated in the thread.</p>

<p>There's more to the story.</p> <p>There are four things to attend when it comes to CA sales taxes. CA consumers pay tax based on the location in the state where they take possession for the goods. The important thing to keep in mind is that the customer Invoice should document where this location is. Usually it is the shipping address used for the order. Be reasonable. If you write the order and then drop it off half way because you happen to be going that way don't bother to adjust the tax. </p> <p>So the first point is to be careful and as accurate as reasonable in charging the customer for the tax. Some cities, Oak Park, for example, lie across county lines and fall into two tax districts. Look up "Oak Park' in the BOE table to get the right rate. Make sure you keep your documentation straight. I need say that again. <strong>Make sure you keep your documentation straight. </strong><br> <strong> </strong><br> The second point explains why I highlighted the first one. The State can <strong>audit your books</strong> at any time to make sure that you are indeed keeping your documentation straight. In this case I'm referring to you accurately collecting the tax due based on the location you put on your invoices.</p> <p>Keep your invoices. You must report (and pay) the taxes you collected to the BOE by tax district. Whether you use eFILE or some other reporting system you have to identify the tax districts the taxes you collect fall into so the State can distribute the money correctly. I don't use an integrated accounting system myself, so I don't have the computer summarizing taxes by district for me as I make sales. Frankly, the accounting systems I have seen don't handle non-taxable services very well and they make me enter inventory in advance of any sales. Since most of my sales are unpredictable and small this is just a nuisance to maintain. (Plus - even though my business practices don't change that much from year to year, most accounting software vendors expect me to pay for their product over and over again every year.) I summarize my sales manually for the BOE. This works for my small business although it would not be suitable for a larger one.</p> <p>The third point, then, is that you must be able to remember where the sales taxes you collected came from so that you can tell the State. Don't screw around with this. Make sales on scraps of paper thrown all over the place. The State can <em><strong>audit your books</strong> </em>and make you pay any money it feels you owe plus penalties.</p> <p>I'm asking you to practice some discipline in this area. If you just don't have the mind for it, and you can afford it, this is part of the service you would expect get from a hired accountant.</p> <p>The fourth point is that the <strong>sales tax you collect is never income</strong>. You are collecting taxes as an agent of the State. Be careful not to spend this money yourself. That is, you want to make sure you actually have the money on hand when you are required to turn it in. CA BOE establishes your payment schedule based on the amount of your gross sales. You might report annually, quarterly or monthly. I transfer tax money into a savings account every so often to keep it in escrow and away from my evil nephew. Exclude sales taxes collected when you enter gross sales on Income tax forms and when renewing a business license.</p> <p> </p>

<p>Benoit's article, although technically correct, overcomplicates how a California company would find out how much tax to charge for California sales. The California BOE maintains a comprehensive sales tax table showing the whole tax rate for cities and counties in the state. I use a shortcut on my desktop to pull this table up whenever I need it. It is important to make a note on every taxable sale invoice outside your own district to tell you which district tax applies. The BOE requires you to report taxes collected by district.</p> <p>Use your resale certificate to open commercial accounts with your main suppliers. You do not want to pay sales tax on goods you expect to resell, especially if you will be collecting sales tax yourself. I am not in the photography business so I can't tell you what items in a sale are taxable and which are not. Each state can write its own rules to settle the question for itself. If a service like photo shelter/Adorama collects out of state taxes on your behalf and then turns the money over to you then IMO it's all the better for you. You are not required to register your business in other states and it probably isn't worth the effort if you tried. Some states have residency requirements to meet to be able to register at all. You would want to turn over the tax collected, but the red tape needed to do it properly would likely cost a lot more than the amount of tax collected.</p> <p>My evil nephew thinks that you should collect the tax if it's given to you and just keep it! It's a mess that isn't worth straightening out. My nephew notwithstanding, the simplest thing to do if it is a matter of conscience is to just send the sales tax back to your out of state customer.</p> <p>BTW: You report out of state sales as a deduction on your CA BOE sales tax report. CA does not consider these sales to be taxable.</p>

<p>Jeff,<br> Zero work is not the case. Sales taxes are collected on behalf of the state that wants them. Even if your software can keep track of tax districts across the nation, the taxes must be paid to the proper states on separate returns. Here in California the reporting frequency during the year is based on gross sales in the State. What is more, taxes must be reported by tax district so that the money can be distributed properly. Your company must be registered in each of these states for them to recognize where the reports are coming from. </p> <p>Delivering goods in another state is not the same thing as operating a facility of some sort in that state. Businesses that do not have any presence (no employees, no mailing address, etc.) in another state are likely to be exempt from collecting sales taxes for deliveries made there. This where the role of the use tax comes into play.</p> <p>Sales tax is a consumer transaction tax. A state may not be able to make an out of state business collect taxes, but it will try to have its residents pay them anyway. That is, residents must pay sales taxes on all the taxable things they buy either to a reseller or to the state directly. States have no truly effective way to track merchandise shipped directly to residents from other states so many people who buy this way simply ignore use tax requirements.</p> <p>Of course I'm not a tax expert...</p>

<p>1.2mm is only .000369" bigger than 3/64". My guess is that either size will work.<br> Google "chrome steel ball" to find suppliers for the part. You are getting into an area that could easily be beyond the general audience conventional hardware stores cater to.<br> It might be worth a try to run around your work area with a strong magnet to see if you can find the ball. The spring will have propelled the ball away from the lens so look far and wide. I also like to use oblique lighting across floors, etc., to see if a bright shiny spot will give up the location of the missing ball.</p>

<p>I think that the series of jokes illustrates the strength of an opinion once it is formed. The mind seems to operate a little like a guided missile in making conclusions about objects around us such as a photograph. The mantra seems to be seek, identify and lock in. Fred pointed out in the beginning that once an impression is formed it can be very difficult to see beyond it to form another one. His concern is the quest for added meaning, perhaps sometime more significant than we understand at present.</p> <p>I think that it is fair to say that our brains are comfortable sifting out the personal relevance of millions of objects and people that surround us every day. Do I eat it? Does it want to eat me? Do I go there? Do I avoid it? And so forth on and on all the time. A strong conclusion satisfies the mind by bringing closure. - There's nothing more here so on to the next thing! </p> <p>If one of my funny captions strikes home, then you may find that it is meaning enough. This gets into real life issues such as how do you know that the current impression tells you all you need to know about a thing? Stereotyping is a likely concern somewhere in the direction our discussion might take. </p> <p>Rolling back to our bride at the taxi, it seems legitimate to ask how well the photo presents something we would be concerned about in real life? Genuine concern and interest motivate many conversations with people and exploration of interests. We show caring this way. The question would be, what clue is there in a photo like the one at hand that would lead you suspect that you might be missing something when you make an opinion of it? </p> <p>This question seems to have been close to the heart of the matter. My caption transforms the photo into an experience my brains records with my reaction to it. This is as personal as it gets. A strong bond satisfies my mind that I know enough about it. It is tough to unlearn one perspective to gain another. </p> <p> </p>

<p>Fred,</p> <p>Thank you for the compliment on my use of myth. I've never been an OP on this forum before. You have no idea of what you could be letting out of the bottle!</p> <blockquote> <p>Either way, the garb is a visual symbol of a bride and that becomes part of the meaning of the photo. Now, the photo would be a lot more interesting to me if the photographer gave me some reason in the photo for doubting whether it was a real bride, other than that I can never be sure of anything in life.</p> </blockquote> <p> <br> It's all in how you look at it. Consider the following captions for the photo.<br> </p> <blockquote> <p>OMG! Where's the groom?!!</p> </blockquote> <p> </p> <blockquote> <p>Limousine! You call this a limousine?</p> </blockquote> <p> </p> <blockquote> <p>Its the story of my life. I was supposed to offer the PM a bribe not a bride!!</p> </blockquote> <p> </p> <blockquote> <p>Hugo! - I wouldn't have believed it. You really ARE late to your own wedding!</p> </blockquote> <p>I'm afraid that I have not done so well in finding serious meanings hidden in the picture. This photograph is merely a starting point for my mind to play with. I couldn't say that any of my captions respect the actual intent of the photographer. Well, it's my mind after all. If I'm going to interpret things for myself, then, to paraphrase Admiral Farragut, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"</p> <p>Albert</p>

<blockquote> <p>There's an anonymous person inside a taxi cab on an alley at night and there's a bride out there, which is very curious, since I don't know why in the world a bride would be out there like this. How strange? And how wonderfully strange . . . maybe, if it were a better photo, IMO.<br /> What if, instead of asking what the hypothetical story is that would fill in the blanks, we asked something like, why did the photographer take this picture? What about what's there and what's not there makes it, at least in the mind of the photographer, a compelling picture to have taken and one to share with others?</p> </blockquote> <p>Fred, you're asking questions that don't have sensible answers. How can you tell the difference from the photograph alone between a model in a bride's costume and a bona-fide bride? Either could be used to create the same picture. To enter the original photographer's mind you have to talk with him directly. Nothing else will do as well.</p> <p>Unknowns? You don't get much of a choice on this one. Something can't be both known and unknown at the same time.</p> <p>But this is where story-making comes into play. I think that the importance of myth in our lives has been underestimated in the onslaught of the scientific method of inquiry. The lesson that everything has an explanation that humans can find, understand and prove is widespread. Yet one can find a belief in a story that makes sense in the very canons of science. Darwin wrote that the creatures on the Galapagos islands had reached a perfect stasis. Things changing over time is one thing, but how can you look around you and conclude that you are enjoying perfect harmony? That is the notion that there is no need for things to change any more. Things are always in flux. Nevertheless I have to admit that there is a great comfort in simply accepting the 19th Century myth that a perfect balance in nature is not only possible, but it exists right now in the natural world. Myth is a valuable tool for filling in the gaps in our minds as we try to explain what drives the world around us even in the sophisticated times we live in now.</p> <p>I think Fred is encouraging people who look at photographs to explore the same kind of myth building, but without quite presenting it as such.</p>

<p>I meant conflict as in a competition such as a race. Conflict is too strong a word for my intended purpose. I wanted to dramatize the intensity I feel when I work at choosing exactly the best point of view, but I can't decide which one to pick. NASCAR example: All the cars look good and the race isn't over yet.</p> <blockquote> <p>That is, is literary/verbal storytelling different from photographic/visual storytelling and can the instinct to interpret ambiguities in a photo actually mean missing some of the unique experience that is visual ambiguity?</p> </blockquote> <p>Sorry Fred. I had no idea that I would offend you personally. Some possible interpretations or stories made of things are best kept to oneself. Apparently some of the unique experience of visual ambiguity is actually worth missing!</p> <p>For my part - No harm - no foul.</p>

<p>Thank you for your thoughtful comments Fred.</p>

<p>Ambiguity is the result of a conflict between equally convincing points of view that might make sense of the same thing. I don't believe that something is ambiguous if it makes no sense at all.</p> <p>Ambiguity is inconsistent with the notion that there is one true or best point of view (interpretation) at least for the person who finds himself stuck up in the air between plausible but different interpretations. What's the point of declaring that there is a best point of view when you can't decide which one to pick?</p> <p>Consider the photo of the person who has suffered a beating mentioned earlier. The discussion around it described the subject as a woman. She's not a very feminine looking woman. In fact, I, for one, would be willing to believe that the subject is actually a man in drag. The way to find alternative interpretations is to ask questions about the subject and its setting. What exactly am I looking at here? What's going on? As matters of fact these questions typically have no answers evident. An object is simply there with little or no back story to make sense of its presence.</p> <p>So it's up to the viewer to stretch his imagination to make as much sense as he cares to for the photo. You can see that such things as a person's willingness to accept things at face value, inquisitiveness, tolerance for ambiguity, experience with things that the photo might suggest, etc. are all part of the subjective workings of the active viewer's mind. (An objective interpretation occurs when a consensus exists validating its plausibility.) My prejudice here is that a passive viewer would simply pass over a picture without putting very much work into trying to figure it out.</p> <p>At any rate I think that, when you find that the image before you is ambiguous, you have already given up as lost any notion that there is only one best explanation for it. You have the bounty of possibility before you. The idea of the one true interpretation gets in the way of you exploring the richness of your own mind. It could be a woman, but it could be something else instead...</p>

<p>Clean and dry the metal you want to protect first.</p> <p>I use paste floor wax. Paste wax spreads better than waxes in solid form. Apply the wax with a scrap of lint free cloth. Wipe your wax off right away before it sets when you use it on metal. A clean rag from a T shirt or a clean shop rag makes a better wipe rag than a piece of terry cloth. You will run into a lot of unnecessary work and bother if you have to buff the wax off once it sets. And if you let it set in gear teeth or other textured areas that are designed to be free and clear you really have your hands full!</p> <p>This procedure will leave a thin wax film that is enough to lubricate and protect the surface.</p>

<p>Julie,<br> There are ways to carry out your notion that everything you photograph might have significance to someone else to silly extremes. Should I keep my mistakes? How about all the duplicates my camera can take all by itself through its programming? What about still lives and studio pieces that shed no light on contemporary living at all? Nudes? Bodies haven't changed all that much over the years. Which photos are which?</p> <p>It seems to me that you are making yourself very busy by trying to put your mind into someone else's head! Naturally, <strong>ALL</strong> my photographs document a modern narrative historians and social scientists will DIE to get their hands on! ... I'm not so sure about yours... <strong>:-)</strong></p> <p>On a more serious note, you can put yourself in the place of someone who makes an effort to cull value out of everyday things if you have ever had to liquidate the estate of someone close to you after they have passed away. You have to make decisions about things that are still useful, but that you simply don't need for yourself.</p> <p>IMO, It's probably best to mind your own business so as to let the historians decide for themselves what is significant and what is not. (They won't pay attention to you for all your concern anyway.)</p> <p>On the other hand, you have to talk about <em>something</em> over a beer!</p>

<p>The balance of light and dark areas in the field of view for your light meter will control the result of the average it calculates for the exposure. I remember taking for granted that a meter in the camera and one in the hand would see and measure the same thing. This isn't true. The Luna-Pro sees a cone in front of it that is 30 degrees high and wide. The meter in your camera will see the same part of the subject that the lens does which will typically not be a 30 degree cone. It's very difficult to hold the meter in the hand to see the same thing as the camera without making a conscious effort to do so. It's the nature of the beast, not the fault of your Luna-Pro, that the results of the two measurements you made are not exactly the same.</p> <p>The reason spot meters are used for zone metering systems is to allow the photographer to do his own averaging to find the part of the scene that best exposes the whole thing. </p>

<p>From the Gossen Luna-Pro sbc Intruction Manual Section I "Basic Operating Instructions" Page 5.</p> <p><strong>I. a. Zeroing the Meter</strong><br> With the battery removed, check to see that the meter needle (3) rests on the green zero check point (2). If not, turn the zero adjusting screw (20) until the needle rests on the zero mark. The numbers refer to illustrations in the manual. The green zero check point mark lies between the word "UNDER" and the number 3 on the left side of the main exposure scale at the top of the face of the meter. The only direct reference to calibrating the meter appears on page 37, namely, "Your Gossen Luna-Pro abc is your valuable precision instrument, made with great care and accurately calibrated."</p> <p>I have my own copy of the manual. I also found scanned copies online using a simple Google search.</p>