I have listed the same question below on APUG and the Large Format site, so if you check those, ignore this post. Nevertheless, the 'real' experts are probably here, so I duplicated the post. Why does a digital camera record a Kodak Gray Card (Zone V) as 50% gray? A Kodak Gray Card represents an 'average' scene of 18% reflectance, but that has nothing to do with a mean or medium on a grayscale. A gray card has an absolute log reflectance density of about 0.75. Medium gray on a 2.2-gamma monitor and a calibrated print thereof is about 0.66. So the image of the card is lighter than the card itself. Why? Who came up with this assumption or standard? Is it a mistake? Did someone assume 'average gray' meant 50%? Disclaimer: I'm aware that this is a mainly or exclusively analog forum, but I doubt to get a satisfying answer for my question in a digital forum, since they usually understand little about the Zone System. That's why I post the question here. Besides, I need this to work out some details about making digital negatives, which will be used to make pure-silver contact prints. So, it's an analog question in a way. Regards Ralph W. Lambrecht http://www.darkroomagic.com ============================================================================================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.