Just as amateur shutterbugs have mastered their 35-millimitre cameras, the standard is about to change.
A new 24-mm. format called Advanced Photo System (aps) is being unveiled at the Photo Marketing Association convention in Las Vegas in late February 1996.
The target date for new aps film and cameras to be in stores is April 22, 1996, and, no, they are not compatible with current technology.
Eastman Kodak spearheaded the development of aps to avoid the emergence of two different standards, as in the case of vhs and Beta video technologies.
Three and a half years ago, Kodak enlisted four other major photography companies – Canon, Fuji Photo Film, Minolta Camera and Nikon – for the co-operative research and development project.
Early last year, the System Developing Companies began licensing the technology to the rest of the industry.
Although five companies worked together to develop the new technology, each company will be marketing its own products on an individual brand basis.
Janet Bendon Fabri, manager of corporate public relations for Kodak Canada, says it is too early to talk about the marketing plans for aps, but adds consumers should expect heavy advertising campaigns from Kodak and the rest of the industry for the last three-quarters of 1996.
Retail prices were also not available.
Fabri says 24-mm. aps is not meant to replace existing photographic formats, including 35-mm., but to provide an alternative for those who want to eliminate the possibility of human error in picture-taking.
Fabri describes aps as consumer-focused.
‘The system was developed in response to three major consumer needs, greater simplicity, more dependability and improved quality,’ she says.
‘Consumers come out with more pictures, better pictures from each roll of film, because there won’t be problems like double exposures.’
Kodak research showed that consumers are more interested in the picture than the picture-taking, and wanted the performance of that task made easier.
aps is said to answer not only those consumer concerns, but to provide many extras not available with 35-mm. technology.
aps film comes in a small cartridge about the size of an aa battery, and is available in 15, 25 and 40 exposures.
It is drop-in loaded and there is no film to feed into the camera.
This eliminates blank rolls, double exposure and fogged rolls caused by film loading and unloading errors.
The cameras are also more compact, but continue to offer a full array of features.
But it is not just the size that makes 24-mm. aps different from 35-mm.
With one camera, one roll of film and no special lenses, users can choose from three format options for each film frame: classic (close-up), group (standard) or panoramic (wide angle.)
The system’s magnetics, or ‘smart’ technology, allows consumers to provide information to their camera, which, in turn, provides information to the photofinisher, such as overall lighting conditions and whether a flash was used.
Each film cartridge and its accompanying filmstrip is assigned a matching identification number when made to enable matching at photofinishing labs and make it easier for consumers to organize pictures and order reprints.
Magnetic encoding of the film permits more information to flow from the picture-taker through all the elements of the system.
This means each photo can be backprinted with information specific to each film frame, such as the date of exposure, frame number, cartridge identification number and a title such as ‘Summer Vacations 1996.’
In addition, each roll of film developed comes with an index print, or contact sheet, to help consumers better catalogue their pictures.
Photofinishing of aps will be handled by existing photo labs, although labs will first have to complete an aps photofinishing service certification program.
