Fred Archer (photographer)

: "For the unrelated"JC1220", [http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-37179.html "What's so great?" thread] , www.thephotoforum.com. Comment made 2006-01-22, retrieved 2006-11-03.] 19th century inventor of the photographic collodion process, see Frederick Scott Archer".Fred Archer was a photographer best known as the co-inventor of the zone system along with Ansel Adams, circa 1939-1940.

The zone system is a technique that allows photographers to translate light into specific densities on negatives and paper, giving better control over finished photographs. [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ansel_Adams&oldid=85264683 "Ansel Adams" article] , en.wikipedia.org. (No original source given). Version of article used dated 2006-11-02, retrieved 2006-11-03.] While the zone system is often credited to Adams, Adams always credited Archer as a co-equal in its creation. [Ellis, Brian, [http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=12614&page=2 Large Format Photography Forum - "If Ansel Adams Were Still Alive..."] , www.largeformatphotography.info. Comment dated 2005-02-23, retrieved 2006-11-03.]

The origins of the zone system lay in a series of articles Archer wrote for U.S. Camera magazine in the late-1930s while an instructor at the "Art Center College" in Los Angeles. After reading the articles, Adams approached Archer and worked to formally define the process. [Muir, Maxim M., , originally at thunderstorm.circada.com. Cited statement dated 1996-03-24. Article retrieved via Google cache on 2006-11-03 (original page already gone by then). Google cache itself expired on or before 2006-12-12; copied material still accessible via above link.