Rating: 
Summary: Still a secret to me!
Review: All the pictures in this book are stunning, beautiful, and have perfect exposures. My issue with this book is that the author stresses that, in order to get a perfect exposure, one would need to find either a middle tone with a TTL spot meter, or use an incident meter to get a correct reading of the light source. Unfortunately, not all scenes have a middle tone, nor do all photographers have or need an incident meter.
One example in the book, on page 61, is a classic snow scene. There is no middle tone to be found in the picture, so the author uses an incident meter. Why can't the author simply aim the built-in TTL meter at the snow, and add 2 1/2 stops to get the snow to be pure white? In another set of pictures in pages 44 and 45, the author took exposures according to both the incident meter and the TTL meter, becuase the 2 readings did not agree. Well, can't one just trust one meter and bracket the shots?
Quite a few of these so called "exposure" books fall short on being flexible, straightfoward, and comprehensible. Hence the "secrets" the authors tried to convey still remain secrets to me.
4 pages (pages 24 to 27) in John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide totally unlock the secrets of exposure. Mr. Shaw's 5-stop tonality chart, which is somewhat based on the Zone system, allows one to use any tone for a correct exposure with the built-in TTL spot meter. This practical knowledge, with enough practice, give us photographers confidence in our cameras and our own ability to metering, and frees us from carrying an extra incident meter to a snowy mountain or other no-middle-tone places.
Again, the pictures are truely awesome and inspiring. It's just I did not get any feel for the 'secrets' after reading cover to cover.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: Good book, easy to read, with a lot of suggestions about where read the exposure. Also if the book is more than 150 pages, there are a lot of big photos, everyone with a comment; instead of this I would have prefereed more photos with comment also if they would have been smaller. So, I read this book in too little time. My rate for this book is 3.5.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply Perfect
Review: I am still finding out some new stuff there when reading it now even I have read it from cover to cover for a couple of times. The chapter about finding a middle tune area and the appendix about sun f/16 rules( well, I bet you know it very well, but the author does have his own words) are very helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Very simple, instructive book.
Review: I own a couple of books from the Jim Series and this is the most simple to understand. The technique for metering the subjects and always take the control of the exposure is easy to follow. I own other book of exposure control and is quite complicated to understand, it uses the zone scale for exposure, and at first it was hard to follow. Since I read this book when I metering the subject is very easy and I'm always in control of the exposure. Now I can understand the technique of the zone scale and always put the subject in the correct zone to have a Perfect Exposure.
Rating:
Summary: Partly helpfull
Review: Jim Zuckerman's book keeps what it promisses: It's about exposures. No excurses into composition or ethics etc. Especially tricky light situations (Macro, flash, snow etc.) are well explained.
There's remarkably little text but a lot of well explained photos. Even though Zuckerman starts the chapter about exposure in snow with the words "This is the chapter you've been waiting for..." it was another chapter I finally found in this book (after reading many others)... and I've been waiting for: "How to find medium grey". A chapter with a lot of very helpfull examples where to find 18% grey-tones in colors and especially in nature. Where other books only refer to grey cards or your palm's skin tone, Zuckerman actually shows pretty well where to meter e.g. a sunset. This is far more helpfull than any aparture or shutter speed information in the caption of a photo (which I do not understand as helpfull at all, since I won't be in exact the same situation as the photographer and I'll only see the photo but not the real light situation at the spot!).
One drawback (which might be a plus for others) for me and what led me to only a 3 star rating was that Zuckerman's secret of correct exposure seems to lie in the frequent use of a hendheld external light meter, in many cases (especially in the snow situations) used as an incident meter. He explaines very well how to turn the meter with respect to the camera in order to achieve different effects and so on. Unfortunately I don't own a handheld meter (and do not intend to do so) and even though I can reproduce the reflective metering with my TTL system, it fails with incident readings. As I said, for those who own a handheld meter it will be a great help in its detailed examples and a higher rating of the book might be considered.
However, there's a lot to learn from Zuckerman's explanations. For those who would like more text I still recommend John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide which IMHO is still the best introduction in serious amateur photography on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Concise, to the point and challenging
Review: Ok first off, lets get this out of the way, The photos alone more then make this book worth its price. But this isn't a picture book, it is quite possibly one the most well written and to the point books on exposure out there. The author deals with exposure, not your camera, or its features, but on capturing the right amount of light. Regardless of the equipment your using. This was of great use to me, as all the digital photography books out there, worry to much about the digital part and not enough about the photography part.
This book will explain to you the things you need to consider in order to achieve proper exposure and give you some quick tips and finding that all important 18% grey point.
He also weighs in on the concepts of bracketing as well as the exposure rules of thumb. In a sense slaying those sacred cows and tell you ways to get the exposure right for that particular event instead of taking bracketed shots and hoping to get a good one out of the 3.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST -- THE SIMPILEST-PERFECT
Review: People, if you have any doubts about exposure with your camera, please read this book. I always had doubts, have read other books that are excellent for exposure, but you know what this is the FINEST book I have read that really does tell you how to find exposure on those difficult exposure. It is so easy to read and you grasp Zuckerman's teaching so fast. WOW
I use to have doubts on my exposure in photography, I bought the book, have read it 3 times in one week, now it is a reference book to check if required. To date have not checked. It is not a big book, but crammed with what YOU need to get perfect exposures. Good Luck, you will land up with a smile on your face
Rating:
Summary: best, most simple explanation of the exposure for a beginner
Review: This book, in my opinion, is the fastest and the most simple introduction into understanding of the exposure. Very clearly explained and pictures with author's comments just help so much to understand the author's way of working with exposure. I went to a book store to check highly recommended book of Bryan Peterson "Understanding Exposure". After reading several chapters I understood that the book is good but not as good as a lot of people wer saying. The main drawback of that book is inability to express the basic rules of exposure estimation clearly. That leaves a photographer-beginner with a vague feeling - like - ok, I read it, but what should be my first steps? I am not an experienced photographer and according to Bryan's book there are too many situations and the author leaves too many open doors for a beginner like me (that' good for more advanced amateur photographer, but too confusing for a person like me, who is just starting photography). Opposite - Jim explains it so clearly, giving just a few simple rules, allowing to go and start shooting using those rules and getting results which were not possible before reading the book. Also, I don't agree with one of the reviewers who was complaining about Jim's usage of incident metering. First, Jim almost always explains both situations - metering with the hand meter and metering with camera's meter. Second - it's always a probability that you can buy a hand meter. Having a hand meter will allow you to get much more precise exposure readings. Anyway, great book, I am glad I found it.I read a lot of good reviews about
Rating:
Summary: More Inspirational than Instructive
Review: This is an interesting book with some of the most beautiful photography imaginable. Zuckerman is clearly a master photographer and the books meets its goal of teaching photographers how to achieve "perfect exposure."
For each chapter, there is an introductory text that is brief and concise and most of the teaching is actually done through the caption text of numerous gorgeous photographs. Zuckerman guides one through the obligatory discourse on the weaknesses of automatic metering and then into various situations that a photographer may find him or herself.
Throughout the book, Zuckerman discusses his approach to obtaining exposure. And, there in lies the major weakness of the book - the approach is his. Although a very sound and effective approach, Zuckerman's "secret" is the reliance of a handheld meter. In the end, the book can become little more than a repetition of the idea that if you use a handheld meter, you can obtain good exposure.
This is in sharp contrast to Bryan Peterson's "Understand Exposure" which actually teaches the reader the principles of exposure and how to use those principles to obtain good exposure REGARDLESS of the equipment being used.
This book, however, has two saving graces: 1) the photography is amazing and does give great examples on how to deal with various exposure situations, and 2) the chapter on finding medium grey in various situations. The first provides the inspiration and the second provides information that is rare to find in books on exposure.
Overall a decent book that one would not regret purchasing; however, I would recommend purchasing it along with Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" rather than as a stand alone text on exposure.
Rating:
Summary: More Inspirational than Instructive
Review: This is an interesting book with some of the most beautiful photography imaginable. Zuckerman is clearly a master photographer and the books meets its goal of teaching photographers how to achieve "perfect exposure." For each chapter, there is an introductory text that is brief and concise and most of the teaching is actually done through the caption text of numerous gorgeous photographs. Zuckerman guides one through the obligatory discourse on the weaknesses of automatic metering and then into various situations that a photographer may find him or herself. Throughout the book, Zuckerman discusses his approach to obtaining exposure. And, there in lies the major weakness of the book - the approach is his. Although and very sound and effective approach, Zuckerman's "secret" is the reliance of a handheld meter. In the end, the book can become little more than a repetition of the idea that if you use a handheld meter, you can obtain good exposure. This is in sharp contrast to Bryan Peterson's "Understand Exposure" which actually teaches the reader the principles of exposure and how to use those principles to obtain good exposure REGARDLESS of the equipment being used. This book, however, has two saving graces: 1) the photography is amazing and does give great examples on how to deal with various exposure situations, and 2) the chapter on finding medium grey in various situations. The first provides the inspiration and the second provides information that is rare to find in books on exposure. Overall a decent book that one would not regret purchasing; however, I would recommend purchasing it along with Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" rather than as a stand alone text on exposure.
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