The APS camera

I started this forum for any collecting hobby and it turned into my camera collecting and using forum. I use it mostly to keep a record of my photo adventures. Nobody but me seems to have photo adventures that visit here....but however. I have so many cameras now that I forget which is which and which ones work and which ones don't. If you have cameras and adventures you would be welcome to post here.

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Niner
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The APS camera

Post by Niner » Fri Apr 30, 2021 3:41 pm

The Advanced Photo System was a notion that was introduced to public in 1996. It was a new film size, 24mm in a 35mm world, and in a specialized container that required a specialized processing. It had a few quirky things that were marketed as an advancement. It was marketed by Eastman Kodak under the brand name Advantix, by FujiFilm under the name Nexia, by Agfa under the name Futura, by Konica as Centuria and by Nikon as Nuvis. One end of the cartridge had a moving white dimple that would tell you if the film were unexposed, partly exposed or fully exposed. After processing the negatives were dialed back into the case. The customer got a single sheet of thumbnails, each of which had their own number. If you wanted reprints you gave the printer the number of the frame you wanted and handed over the cartridge of developed negatives and he could drop in the cartridge in his specialized machine and dial up the rest of the process. There were also three frame sizes including "normal" narrow and panoramic. But...although standard C41 processing...it is now days about impossible to process at home. No reels you can find. No scanner negative holders or software. On top of all this, when the digital world came along at the same time this idea was doomed to fail. The last film was made in 2011.

I didn't set out to buy any APS cameras. I had gotten some APS unexposed film in a purchase of some other stuff though. I was looking at Ebay, where many of these cameras go to find no takers if advertised for what they actually are and bought a pair of them for next to nothing. One is the Canon ELPH 490Z from the beginning of the fad made in 1996. The other is a Nikon Nuvis A20 also from early. And both worked fine.

I took the more bells and whistles Canon 490Z and added a roll of film under the auto opening door. The camera seemed to function flawlessly. Only problem was how to develop the film. Well... not having a reel the first thing I thought of turned out to have some draw backs. I found that an old 120mm aluminum developing canister would fit in a modern large tank. So I taped one end of the negative, in a changing bag, to the canister and wrapped the film around in a spiral around the outside and taped the other end. It seemed to be working alright in processing but the film slid down over itself during processing and ruined most of the images. Second problem was figuring how to scan the negatives that were more or less alright. An adventure.

The bottom line is... I still haven't tried the Nikon yet but it gives me something to think about as to what I'll try next in the developing and scanning stage.

Oh...one other thing.... considering how odd these cameras are they may be more valuable as time marches or as collectible oddities. Most of them have already ended up on the literal rubbish heap of failed technological advances. Back in 1996 the Canon listed for something like $300 and is now worth something less than $10...if anybody can be found to buy one.
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