[ATM] How dark is dark?

[hermit]

Well, want to bring up another old discussion?  I have been getting back
into black and white photography recently.  I picked a densitometer to
help calibrate the process.  Given the same emulsion, a matte  black
surface will read about 1.7 while a glossy black surface will read 2.0. 
This is a log scale.  Every .15 is half a stop so this is a big
difference.   A full stop represents a 'halving' of the light. 
Basically this says a glossy surface will  appear much darker to the 
eye.  Well to the densitometer too. ;)  The densitometer is a sensor
with a little 'ring light' around it so in both cases you are measuring
reflected light.  Since we don't see the reflection with the matte
surface do we just 'think' it is better for baffling?

Ken