APS film that I've developed (in like 2015 at a Walgreens lab) that was very old actually came out OK. You should get it done asap because its just going to get worse.
I used to sell cameras and develop film.. Your video really tells exactly like the APS film was. Great presentation! I always had a dislike of the APS films, because the quality was worse than normal 35mm film. And people often forgot to change back from panorama settings, so all their images they got back were in 4×11 inch (10x28cm) - and it was a surprise to them. It also took 2x as long print the images, because the films came in 25 or 40 shots (AFAIR).. So if I was unlucky, it would be 40 shots in 10x28cm, it would take such a long time to run through the machine, compared to the other films :)
I backpacked around the world for a year or so back in 2000ish with my Canon Ixus APS compact. I loved that little thing. Still have all the prints and the exposed cans, of course. The single-sheet index print of thumbnails was quite an innovation at the time. Thanks for bringing back the memories!
I sure had the pinnacle of APS system cameras; the Minolta Vectis S-1. Why the pinnacle, well for a fact, Minolta took the APS system to heart, they were the driving force convincing the other camera manufacturers to develop cameras and go in for the APS system. The Vectis S-1 and S-100 used specially developed lenses, not the standard Minolta A mount lenses and the fact that the cameras were water or splash proof made it possible to go out in adverse weather. But the downside to the story is; if you ask former Minolta management, the Vectis killed Minolta. They had a few costly litigations but what really pushed them over the edge and made them sell the camera business to Sony was the costly development of the APS system and subsystems. I also confess to using the same Canon Ixus, but in silver, not the fancy gold special edition as a carry around camera always in the side pocket in my uniform. PS: I still have the Vectis S-1 and S-100 and all the lenses; the 17mm, 22-80mm zoom, 25-150mm zoom, 28-56mm zoom, 50mm Macro, 56-170mm zoom, 80-240mm zoom, 400mm reflex and a few other accessories.
I still have my S-1 and a few lenses and flash. I also have an RD-3000 which had surprising IQ for 2.7MP; I used and enjoyed it until it hit the pavement and broke the shutter button. I preferred the S-1 system for it's size and weight.
As a Pentax user for many, many, mannny years, I love these videos as it makes me feel I truly own a modern camera. But seriously at 44 and been into photography for well over 30 years these are the videos I most appreciate, keep up the great work lads.
Man watching this put a smile on my face, the cool faded colours are awesome too. Right! The excitment of seeing your developed photos, not knowing for sure how your photos would really come out - definitely different than instant confirmation on digital cameras today
Chris + Jordon, It's good to see the return of your analogue coverage, indeed I purchased a mint Nikon F4 after seeing your excellent review of it (thanks).. I liked this particularly, because of the film affects the out of date film achieved, oh of course: underlined by your excellent photos skills, and Jordon's skill behind (and) in front of the lens - I for one would like to see your 'retro' slot return more often (if possible)?! Congratulations to you both for some excellent subjects, where the camera / process is centre stage and not solely on the individual. Keep the quality work flowing, I (like a lot of Brits in the UK) look forward to your next presentation. . .
Chris your making me feel old, I remember this format though I never shot with but stuck to the 35mm film I'd always used. This episode was a nice trip down memory lane, thankyou.
Hi Chris & Jordan. Brings back memories, i was into 35mm slrs, but remember getting a Canon Ixus APS for my young cousin, way back then. Even confess to using it myself, as it was so compact. Shows how far we have come in 20 years, and how spoilt we are these days, with digital cameras, and yes, mobile phones.
Recently at the London Drugs I work at a customer came in with a roll of Polachrome film for processing. How many of you have even heard of that brief blip of photographic history? I am soooooooo old 😥
I remember a friend of mine from school had an APS camera. Man I was so jealous but she used it once on a school trip and I never saw it again. It went the way of the MiniDisc...I hope they're keeping each other company in discarded tech heaven.
I remember this distinctly since it started out when I was just getting into photography as an elementary student. The idea that you could change Isos mid shoot was mind blowing.
I found a Kodak Disc 4000 at work a while back. 30 years old and the non removable battery was still working. Ordered two discs from ebay to test it out, but it didn't work. Maybe the battery isn't strong enough anymore or something inside is gunged up. Need to take it a part some time and see if there's anything I could do to it. Image quality should be horrible, so I'm all in trying it out :D
Very interesting retro review. I do remember APS barely, I never had an APS camera, I just knew to make sure I got the right film. When I took up photography again in the digital era, I never connected the dots to APS-C. Interesting, I never consider what it stood for, or the history of it. Thanks for the history lesson.
I'm from Portugal and I had a Canon Ixus. The last time I used my camera was when I went to vacation to Brazil back in 1999. Loved the APS format. Thanks for the video.
Great video! I've still got my Canon Elph Jr. in my closet that I bought in 1998. I did take some APS photos with it and have some cartridges (negatives) in the garage, but I went fully digital in 1999 when the Nikon Coolpix 950 came out (still have that in my closet too).
Great presentation Chris. Thanks for clarifying the acronym APS. Nowadays in the world of digital cameras I have repeatedly heard about various sensor sizes, the small 'mom-and-pop' type of 1/2.3" sensors in compact cameras, the larger 1" sensor also in compacts, and then M4/3, APS, on up to FF. Well, I never really got to know / understand what APS was. When I was in Vietnam my first 'serious' camera was the Minolta SRT-101 which used what was known as 35mm film, also in a cartridge. Will you clarify one point for me? Is (was) this 35mm film cartridges then what we now call full frame (24x36mm) today? If so, then the APS that you present here is still yet another variant of that 35mm cartridge but in a smaller size? And that is how we get these crop factors in APS like 1.5x, 1.6x etc? Also, for the sake of clarification to myself and perhaps others, full frame is regarded as 24x36mm right? That makes the frame size ratio 3:2? And what about M4/3? That is what is regarded as 4:3? I am not sure how they come up with these calculations but from what I understand, M4/3 is 1/4th the size of FF, or a halving of the dimensions making it 12x18mm? I will appreciate any enlightenment you can shed on this. Thanks.
haha be still my beating heart! Every photo store had APSC film, the only person i knew who had an apsc camera was my friend emma, and she hated it, i was still shooting 35mm on my canon av-1 at the time and had no desire to use apsc, and neither did other photographers, and consumers already knew how to load film into their camera, and if they didnt know, there was always someone nearby who could. Who can load 35mm film now? Probably not many folk. Great trip down memory lane, thanks Chris and Jordan xoxox
When Techmoan revealed there were SLR versions of the APS cameras, I had to get one. I ended up with two plus a tiny PAS because it came packaged with film for $5! Should be picking up my first developed roll tomorrow!
I had a minolta vectis APS film and the reason I brought it was because of mid film roll exchange. I go to gigs, motor sports, plus the normal holiday photos and the APS system was the best option for my use.
I loved my tiny Canon ELPH APS film Camera. I was into it big time! I thought it was the wave of the future and I jumped right into it. :) You could make three different size pictures with it too.
Enjoyed this video a lot. Informative and entertaining. In the true sense of them each. Only knew one person who had an aps film camera. That was in Calgary Alberta back in 1998.
Hi guys, I live in Scotland and remember taking a month long holiday to Canada in 2000, I arranged to visit all my relatives in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, White Rock and Abbotsford. I also visited Banff Natioan Park with my cousin, my camera of choice for the whole trip was the Minolta Vitis S1 with a load of lens and the Canon APS ixus which I still own, I loved the compact size of the whole outfit especially while travelling and brought back lots of fantastic photographs I was sorry to see the system die off. As you said Chris the system was the grounding for the digital APS system to grow, great vlog going down memory lane....
Cool video - my first two cameras when I was about 8 years old were actually APS; I think I drove my parents crazy with all the panoramic prints that cost like 3x as much as a normal 4x6! Also, nice point about the R&D legacy - it was really APS-C that made digital tenable given that full frame sensors were so ludicrously expensive at the beginning.
I have a Canon Ixus APS. Just found an old roll not used. It was a great point & shoot camera. So easy to use; loading film especially. My Wife found it really nice. Went on to buy numerous Digital Ixus cameras. Thanks for the memories:-)
Thanks for a trip down memory lane, I had a Minolta Vectis GX-4 waterproof camera (can go underwater 15 ft). Took a lot of pics with it in Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest
Really enjoyed this - I am so glad I stuck to 35mm film as it is so much easier to get scanned etc these days while a few rolls of APS that I shot are just a pain to archive. Great concept in theory but overall not a good idea in practice. It's amazing how well the Fuji film held up after a decade - normally expired film requires 1-stop over-exposure so that may account for the Fuji scans looking slightly under-cooked but the great Fuji colours were all there. More of these please :)
Yesssss! Someone needs to bring this back. If you like the Contax T3 and can't sell any organs, try the Contax Tix.. such a great performer and has all the settings you need (lots of exposure control).
Yeah, but can you get the range of film in APS that the T3 has available to it in 35mm? A huge joy of shooting the T3 comes from using pro level film like Portra or Pro400H. I'm not sure if you can get that in APS.
Chris, you had forgotten to mention what the APS acronym stands for... I too worked in a photolab in Vancouver BC back in the days... I now live in Alanya Turkey, stopped with photography but thoroughly enjoy watching your vids. Thanx for all your hard work!!!
I had an Elph in addition to several Canon and Minolta 35mm film SLRs. I enjoyed the 16:9 and 3:1 wide formats for shooting groups of people and scenics.
Thanks for that, really enjoyed it. When my Mother was after a camera I aimed her at a little lump of stainless steel made by Minolta that just felt wonderful in the hand. I still have it somewhere (alas she's gone now) and I'm wondering if there's any film with it... Hadn't heard of the Interchangeable Lens APS cameras (that I can remember), although I still have my little 4MP IXUS digital which used to live in the bag I took to work, for instant photo opportunities pre-cellphones. (Update) Just found some of her photos, they came in a 310x120x22mm box with a plastic insert that held the film at one end (hence the box thickness) and the rest was a big tray for the photos. Has the APS logo on the front. The date taken was printed on the back of the photos (late 1999- early 2000 in this case, how far we have come in so few years). They also always came with an index photo giving the date range of the images and thumbnails. Oh and the film was a 25 exposure Kodak Advantix 200, so APS standards weren't 24 or 36 (not sure what else you got). (Further update) Found another one processed by Kodak, box is 292x115x24mm so no standard or anything. Curiously the film was Fuji Nexia 200 x 25 exp.
I work in a photolab that still does film development (in very small quantities) and we still get quite a few people showing up with APS film. About 90% of those come in with film that is already developed. People just didn't get the developed-film-in-the-same-container concept I think 😁. Plus, try getting your hands on non-expired APS film nowadays, I dare you😁
I both a Canon IX and an IX Lite. Told them both toward the end the active APS-C era including a couple lenses. The IX SLR was a nice solid camera that served me well. I probably still have some film laying around in one of those book like cases that held 16 or 24 cartridges.
Just found this, back in 1992 I was in the Gretag plant in Regensdorf Switzerland and saw some APS film in a room where I was told they were working on new products. Gretag was working with Kodak on APS processing and a lowly camera store owner such as myself wasn't supposed to see it. The hope was that it would only be processed by central labs, not in store one hour labs.
Oh I love that video - thanks for reminding me at my old Canon Ixus elph (or so). Well I had my experience with it around 2001 ...lol... as a backup camera for a Canon EOS 50E on my USA/Canada trip during that time. Greetings from Germany and keep on doing what you're doing - it's always a pleasure watching your reviews!!!
@@niccollsvideo well, Homer Simpson managed to get himself a nice cruise ship voyage to exotic tourist places knowing how to claim a 2-decades-old offer in an expired magazine because the ad said: "It Never Expires!" :D
I loved APS film, and was a godsend when I no longer had to advance my film manually AND the tiny LCD screen on my Kodak Advantix camera told me how many exposures I had left.
Cool video! Really a forgotten system! I remember that I loved the Ixus cameras at the end of the 90s and the were quite common, albeit relatively expensive - but it's true - the advent of digital technology quickly replaced them... Keep up with the occasional videos about that old stuff!
Had no idea about APS film. So cool. Any luck on a review of the F5? Really wanting one for shooting in my more modern lenses. But unsure if it would be better then a F100.
Nice history lesson. I never shot APS film when it came out because I didn't like negatives smaller than 35mm (do you remember 110 film?) and I much prefer 2 1/4 (6x6) or larger negatives. Regarding the 16x9 aspect ratio, it is interesting you bring that up because today the bulk of my best digital images I have cropped to 16x9. I like that aspect ratio because it fits perfectly on my large HD monitors and TVs when I display my work. I like to create video slide shows from my images and have them fill the complete screen. I also think it gives the images a more cinematic feel. I just wished the lab printers and paper providers would make that a standard size. When I want lab prints made from my 16x9 images I have to fit them into a 18x12 template and offset them so that there is a larger border along the bottom (where I end up putting my name and the title of the print to balance the void).
I had a Kodak APS point and shoot back in the late nineties. Loved it. Loved a nice panorama. Although the panoramas were lower resolution due to the crop the prints came back larger than the other sizes (same height different widths). No idea whether they were the same price or if my parents were paying for development and I didn't care.
After using only compact 35mm cameras for many years my return to SLR was the Pronea S mated to a Sigma f/4-5.6 70-300. The native IX 30-60mm lens was serviceable too. Loved the mid-roll rewind feature and the ratio options. Always carried both color and B&W rolls in the plastic 24mm film cans taped to the camera strap. Had a strong preference for Fuji films, faster options and was way more vibrant. Local Wolf Camera film processor was always amazed at the shots I coaxed out of it, as was I. The B&W film was "instant" processing capable (C-41?) but the resulting prints always had a very bluish cast.
Very interesting "history" video, never knew about APS film (writing from Italy, EU). Here it never really became popular, 35mm ruled until digital. But now I know where APS comes from !
I used to shoot APS film side by side with 35mm film. :D APS had cool features like visual indicators on the cartridge, easy mid-roll changes, saved exposure date/time, saved shutter and aperture settings, saved text captions and different aspect ratios. It was quite innovative then.
I nearly got a canon aps, I think it was the Ix7 but stayed with what I knew and got an EOS 300. Loved that, but boy did I go through film. Two or three years later I got my EOS 10D. What a revelation. I took even more shots and made even more mistakes, but learnt so much.
I had a canon Elph that went everywhere with me. You had the choice when developing to get the pictures on cd rom. My oldest pictures in my digital library are those apps shots. Thanks for the memories.
The last non-digital camera I bought was an APS. I bought it because it was advertised as the 'next advance' in cameras. As I recall, you could choose the size of each photo (panorama, normal) and when I got the prints back, the panorama ones would be quite wide and inconvenient! But the camera was easier to load than 35mm cameras, and the presentation of the printed photos was good (came in a box, with a thumbnail sheet). I bought the camera in 96. Got my first digital camera in 2000.
Great video thanks :-) Still got a Pronea with two lenses, still shooting it when I can get hold of expired film. Process it myself and put it back into the canister for scanning with an APS adapter for my Canoscan FS4000. Quality of pictures is not that high, but for artistic purposes it's more than enough - it fits perfectly along with my half frame cameras and my sprocket rocket.
I had completely forgotten about APS film until watching this! I remember having an APS camera now but I don't remember anything about it other than the format of the film canisters
Nice job on the video guys and an interesting bit of history. I had read about the format back when I used a 35mm but completely ignored it. I heard that comment about being old Chris, watch it, I’m sure I’m a good bit older than you. 🙂
I love it when it came out! I was so cool and easy for the average person to use. Even my mother couldnt screw this stuff up! I recently found my Kodak Advantix camera that uses the APS films and it still had a roll in it with two frames left to shoot!
I shoot 16:9 all the time on the D-Lux Typ 107. Never been a fan of 4:3, but I use 1:1, 3:2, and 16:9. It was really a feature I never thought I’d use on the camera, but the crop really adds to the composition.
I still have my old Canon Elph and EOS IX stored away. As much as I thought I’d use the SLR more, the Elph was super tiny & handy to slip into a pocket. Plus the optics were quite alright. Working at a 1-Hour Photo lab back then, I preferred processing Advantix film vs 35mm. No negs to cut, everything went back in the case easily, and reprints were super easy. Fun stuff for sure :)
very cool video. A year ago I found an old Nikon FM2 and the whole experience was a blast. Now I would really like to try a medium format analog camera, mby u can make a video about those too? I heard some portrait artists are still using them today.
The Nikon Pronea 600i was my second APS SLR camera. I bought the first one as well. I used the 600i on professional shoots. I thought it was a great little camera. The first autofocus Nikon that I liked. I had been using the Nikon F3 up to that point. I had the Pronea telephoto lens as well.
Would like to know where you bought the Pronea, as I soon will bee coming to Calgary, now that me daughter moved from Copenhagen to Calgary to do a Postdoc on the university. And for sure I will be visiting The Camera Store, hope to see you guys there 🙂
I had a little Kodak Advantix F310 or F300 when I was really young. It was one of my first automatic film cameras. Before that I was shooting on a K1000. I loved that camera and film system. It was really cool! But, shortly after that I found Casio and the D40.
ohhhhh I got that gold one too. I like my Elph 2 more though :-) and for SLR the Canon IX or IXE are INSANE. heavy metal compact tanks and takes all my nice EF glass.
Cool throwback film, thank you! My APS film experience back then was limited to disposable cameras. I liked the switchable aspect ratio and little contact sheet you got back with the negatives, but the results were always disappointing. Knowing what I know now, it's because I was expecting the little plastic lens on a cardboard camera to give me results on a stamp-size piece of film akin to an Ansel Adams print struck from an 8x10 negative, but I digress.
I've found myself going back through 10 rolls of APS-C I shot in the late 1990s thru 2001. Fujifilm ISO200 "all rounder" basically meant it sucked at everything.. hah
Thanks for the video I don't think I had ever heard of this film before as I only shot standard film. I would the colours from the Kodak were very Instagram filterish and made the images more interesting I think. The problem is always the cost and ability to develop the film if you can even find some but I am sure it would be fun to blow some rolls to try it out.
Damn it Chris and Jordan, now all the hipsters know what APS is!!
Cool throwback video, nice work! I still have my IXUS APS with a half-used film in it from the late Nineties. I daren't develop it.
APS film that I've developed (in like 2015 at a Walgreens lab) that was very old actually came out OK. You should get it done asap because its just going to get worse.
I used to sell cameras and develop film.. Your video really tells exactly like the APS film was. Great presentation!
I always had a dislike of the APS films, because the quality was worse than normal 35mm film. And people often forgot to change back from panorama settings, so all their images they got back were in 4×11 inch (10x28cm) - and it was a surprise to them.
It also took 2x as long print the images, because the films came in 25 or 40 shots (AFAIR).. So if I was unlucky, it would be 40 shots in 10x28cm, it would take such a long time to run through the machine, compared to the other films :)
I backpacked around the world for a year or so back in 2000ish with my Canon Ixus APS compact. I loved that little thing. Still have all the prints and the exposed cans, of course. The single-sheet index print of thumbnails was quite an innovation at the time. Thanks for bringing back the memories!
I sure had the pinnacle of APS system cameras; the Minolta Vectis S-1. Why the pinnacle, well for a fact, Minolta took the APS system to heart, they were the driving force convincing the other camera manufacturers to develop cameras and go in for the APS system. The Vectis S-1 and S-100 used specially developed lenses, not the standard Minolta A mount lenses and the fact that the cameras were water or splash proof made it possible to go out in adverse weather.
But the downside to the story is; if you ask former Minolta management, the Vectis killed Minolta. They had a few costly litigations but what really pushed them over the edge and made them sell the camera business to Sony was the costly development of the APS system and subsystems.
I also confess to using the same Canon Ixus, but in silver, not the fancy gold special edition as a carry around camera always in the side pocket in my uniform.
PS: I still have the Vectis S-1 and S-100 and all the lenses; the 17mm, 22-80mm zoom, 25-150mm zoom, 28-56mm zoom, 50mm Macro, 56-170mm zoom, 80-240mm zoom, 400mm reflex and a few other accessories.
I still have my S-1 and a few lenses and flash. I also have an RD-3000 which had surprising IQ for 2.7MP; I used and enjoyed it until it hit the pavement and broke the shutter button. I preferred the S-1 system for it's size and weight.
just bought a camera that I didn't realise was APS - ordered some film off of eBay and am now excited to have a go with it after this video haha
I know it was 4 years ago, but how was it shooting on APS? I also just bought a camera that I didn’t know was an APS camera
@@langelihlebulose467Just bought today an ixus elph aps for £5 in great condition but dont know if its working jhahah
I always thought where did the APS-C name came from. Now I know why I didn't knew :) That was fun history lesson!
As a Pentax user for many, many, mannny years, I love these videos as it makes me feel I truly own a modern camera.
But seriously at 44 and been into photography for well over 30 years these are the videos I most appreciate, keep up the great work lads.
Man watching this put a smile on my face, the cool faded colours are awesome too. Right! The excitment of seeing your developed photos, not knowing for sure how your photos would really come out - definitely different than instant confirmation on digital cameras today
Chris + Jordon,
It's good to see the return of your analogue coverage, indeed I purchased a mint Nikon F4 after seeing your excellent review of it (thanks)..
I liked this particularly, because of the film affects the out of date film achieved, oh of course: underlined by your excellent photos skills, and Jordon's skill behind (and) in front of the lens - I for one would like to see your 'retro' slot return more often (if possible)?!
Congratulations to you both for some excellent subjects, where the camera / process is centre stage and not solely on the individual.
Keep the quality work flowing, I (like a lot of Brits in the UK) look forward to your next presentation. . .
The Nikon Pronea 600i was my first SLR camera, I liked it a lot. Great to talk about it and APS cameras in 2018, good history lesson!
My dad bought me the Minolta Vectis S1 in high school. I had fun learning photography using it.
Got that camera myself 2 years ago, really fun to use, still works great today!
Chris your making me feel old, I remember this format though I never shot with but stuck to the 35mm film I'd always used. This episode was a nice trip down memory lane, thankyou.
Hi Chris & Jordan. Brings back memories, i was into 35mm slrs, but remember getting a Canon Ixus APS for my young cousin, way back then. Even confess to using it myself, as it was so compact. Shows how far we have come in 20 years, and how spoilt we are these days, with digital cameras, and yes, mobile phones.
Lol that grain in the middle of the day. Loved this segment. I'd like to collect one of those limited edition elphs!
Recently at the London Drugs I work at a customer came in with a roll of Polachrome film for processing. How many of you have even heard of that brief blip of photographic history? I am soooooooo old 😥
no way, that's awesome haha, did they know what they had?
Yes I remember Polachrome. If memory served correct it came as a complete home development system.
Cool-knew a photographer who would shoot some at the wedding-process-and show it at the reception! Remember it being crazy grainy.
Thank you. I have been on a personal crusade forever to educate people every time someone complains "Crop of what?" when they talk about crop sensors.
I remember a friend of mine from school had an APS camera. Man I was so jealous but she used it once on a school trip and I never saw it again. It went the way of the MiniDisc...I hope they're keeping each other company in discarded tech heaven.
My 1st and 2nd ever cameras were Hanimex and Canon APS film types; felt very nostalgic after watching this video. Thanks for uploading :-)
I remember this distinctly since it started out when I was just getting into photography as an elementary student. The idea that you could change Isos mid shoot was mind blowing.
So, when are you covering the DISC camera system?
lol or the 110
Disc was innovative *LOL*
I found a Kodak Disc 4000 at work a while back. 30 years old and the non removable battery was still working. Ordered two discs from ebay to test it out, but it didn't work. Maybe the battery isn't strong enough anymore or something inside is gunged up. Need to take it a part some time and see if there's anything I could do to it.
Image quality should be horrible, so I'm all in trying it out :D
110 lives!
Great video. Now, ... I wonder if I shouldn't buy some APS Contax cameras on speculation that new demand for APS film will warrant limited production.
I was skeptical at first how good your content would be @DPR, but I'm glad to proven wrong, I truly enjoyed this video!
Very interesting retro review. I do remember APS barely, I never had an APS camera, I just knew to make sure I got the right film. When I took up photography again in the digital era, I never connected the dots to APS-C. Interesting, I never consider what it stood for, or the history of it. Thanks for the history lesson.
The only time I've ever said "Oh no he dint!" when I saw Saneal. Too funny.
I'm from Portugal and I had a Canon Ixus. The last time I used my camera was when I went to vacation to Brazil back in 1999. Loved the APS format. Thanks for the video.
Great video! I've still got my Canon Elph Jr. in my closet that I bought in 1998. I did take some APS photos with it and have some cartridges (negatives) in the garage, but I went fully digital in 1999 when the Nikon Coolpix 950 came out (still have that in my closet too).
Great presentation Chris. Thanks for clarifying the acronym APS. Nowadays in the world of digital cameras I have repeatedly heard about various sensor sizes, the small 'mom-and-pop' type of 1/2.3" sensors in compact cameras, the larger 1" sensor also in compacts, and then M4/3, APS, on up to FF. Well, I never really got to know / understand what APS was. When I was in Vietnam my first 'serious' camera was the Minolta SRT-101 which used what was known as 35mm film, also in a cartridge. Will you clarify one point for me? Is (was) this 35mm film cartridges then what we now call full frame (24x36mm) today? If so, then the APS that you present here is still yet another variant of that 35mm cartridge but in a smaller size? And that is how we get these crop factors in APS like 1.5x, 1.6x etc?
Also, for the sake of clarification to myself and perhaps others, full frame is regarded as 24x36mm right? That makes the frame size ratio 3:2? And what about M4/3? That is what is regarded as 4:3? I am not sure how they come up with these calculations but from what I understand, M4/3 is 1/4th the size of FF, or a halving of the dimensions making it 12x18mm? I will appreciate any enlightenment you can shed on this. Thanks.
haha be still my beating heart!
Every photo store had APSC film, the only person i knew who had an apsc camera was my friend emma, and she hated it, i was still shooting 35mm on my canon av-1 at the time and had no desire to use apsc, and neither did other photographers, and consumers already knew how to load film into their camera, and if they didnt know, there was always someone nearby who could. Who can load 35mm film now? Probably not many folk.
Great trip down memory lane, thanks Chris and Jordan xoxox
I loved this history lesson!
Me too. Good job. Even the badly expired film images have their charm.
When Techmoan revealed there were SLR versions of the APS cameras, I had to get one. I ended up with two plus a tiny PAS because it came packaged with film for $5! Should be picking up my first developed roll tomorrow!
I had a minolta vectis APS film and the reason I brought it was because of mid film roll exchange. I go to gigs, motor sports, plus the normal holiday photos and the APS system was the best option for my use.
I loved my tiny Canon ELPH APS film Camera. I was into it big time! I thought it was the wave of the future and I jumped right into it. :) You could make three different size pictures with it too.
Yippie yes, 3 different sizes, like he showed in the video.
Enjoyed this video a lot. Informative and entertaining. In the true sense of them each. Only knew one person who had an aps film camera. That was in Calgary Alberta back in 1998.
Hi guys, I live in Scotland and remember taking a month long holiday to Canada in 2000, I arranged to visit all my relatives in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, White Rock and Abbotsford. I also visited Banff Natioan Park with my cousin, my camera of choice for the whole trip was the Minolta Vitis S1 with a load of lens and the Canon APS ixus which I still own, I loved the compact size of the whole outfit especially while travelling and brought back lots of fantastic photographs I was sorry to see the system die off.
As you said Chris the system was the grounding for the digital APS system to grow, great vlog going down memory lane....
Cool video - my first two cameras when I was about 8 years old were actually APS; I think I drove my parents crazy with all the panoramic prints that cost like 3x as much as a normal 4x6! Also, nice point about the R&D legacy - it was really APS-C that made digital tenable given that full frame sensors were so ludicrously expensive at the beginning.
9:12 even that guy walking down the street felt that camera shake 🤣
I have a Canon Ixus APS. Just found an old roll not used. It was a great point & shoot camera. So easy to use; loading film especially. My Wife found it really nice. Went on to buy numerous Digital Ixus cameras. Thanks for the memories:-)
I had one of these ELPHs back in 2000. Thank goodness that they offered to digitize the film at processing.
Thanks for a trip down memory lane, I had a Minolta Vectis GX-4 waterproof camera (can go underwater 15 ft). Took a lot of pics with it in Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest
Really enjoyed this - I am so glad I stuck to 35mm film as it is so much easier to get scanned etc these days while a few rolls of APS that I shot are just a pain to archive. Great concept in theory but overall not a good idea in practice. It's amazing how well the Fuji film held up after a decade - normally expired film requires 1-stop over-exposure so that may account for the Fuji scans looking slightly under-cooked but the great Fuji colours were all there. More of these please :)
Had the Canon. Loved it. Still around somewhere.
Yesssss! Someone needs to bring this back. If you like the Contax T3 and can't sell any organs, try the Contax Tix.. such a great performer and has all the settings you need (lots of exposure control).
Yeah, but can you get the range of film in APS that the T3 has available to it in 35mm? A huge joy of shooting the T3 comes from using pro level film like Portra or Pro400H. I'm not sure if you can get that in APS.
Chris, you had forgotten to mention what the APS acronym stands for... I too worked in a photolab in Vancouver BC back in the days... I now live in Alanya Turkey, stopped with photography but thoroughly enjoy watching your vids. Thanx for all your hard work!!!
I had an Elph in addition to several Canon and Minolta 35mm film SLRs. I enjoyed the 16:9 and 3:1 wide formats for shooting groups of people and scenics.
Thanks for that, really enjoyed it. When my Mother was after a camera I aimed her at a little lump of stainless steel made by Minolta that just felt wonderful in the hand. I still have it somewhere (alas she's gone now) and I'm wondering if there's any film with it...
Hadn't heard of the Interchangeable Lens APS cameras (that I can remember), although I still have my little 4MP IXUS digital which used to live in the bag I took to work, for instant photo opportunities pre-cellphones.
(Update) Just found some of her photos, they came in a 310x120x22mm box with a plastic insert that held the film at one end (hence the box thickness) and the rest was a big tray for the photos. Has the APS logo on the front. The date taken was printed on the back of the photos (late 1999- early 2000 in this case, how far we have come in so few years). They also always came with an index photo giving the date range of the images and thumbnails. Oh and the film was a 25 exposure Kodak Advantix 200, so APS standards weren't 24 or 36 (not sure what else you got).
(Further update) Found another one processed by Kodak, box is 292x115x24mm so no standard or anything. Curiously the film was Fuji Nexia 200 x 25 exp.
I had a Canon Elph IXUS APS. Great backup camera. Great pictures!
I work in a photolab that still does film development (in very small quantities) and we still get quite a few people showing up with APS film. About 90% of those come in with film that is already developed. People just didn't get the developed-film-in-the-same-container concept I think 😁. Plus, try getting your hands on non-expired APS film nowadays, I dare you😁
If the hipsters catch on to this, film makers may roll out fresh ones. Think Lomography 110 film. :D
Ivan Rivera for the love of god no! 😂
The portrait of Jordan at 9:25 is handsome and has a pleasant aesthetic. Absolute IG #nofilter magic!
Great vid - I own several APS cameras, bought a bunch of film and I have a shop that develops APS locally!
Dave Oplinger same :) APS is not dead where I am from
I both a Canon IX and an IX Lite. Told them both toward the end the active APS-C era including a couple lenses. The IX SLR was a nice solid camera that served me well. I probably still have some film laying around in one of those book like cases that held 16 or 24 cartridges.
Just found this, back in 1992 I was in the Gretag plant in Regensdorf Switzerland and saw some APS film in a room where I was told they were working on new products. Gretag was working with Kodak on APS processing and a lowly camera store owner such as myself wasn't supposed to see it. The hope was that it would only be processed by central labs, not in store one hour labs.
Oh I love that video - thanks for reminding me at my old Canon Ixus elph (or so). Well I had my experience with it around 2001 ...lol... as a backup camera for a Canon EOS 50E on my USA/Canada trip during that time. Greetings from Germany and keep on doing what you're doing - it's always a pleasure watching your reviews!!!
Did you get that free BIG MAC? that's the only thing on my mind right now
The coupon, much like the film, sadly expired almost twenty years ago...
Chris@DPREVIEW
@@niccollsvideo well, Homer Simpson managed to get himself a nice cruise ship voyage to exotic tourist places knowing how to claim a 2-decades-old offer in an expired magazine because the ad said: "It Never Expires!" :D
@@dadautube sadly he caught covid=19 and that was it... lol
remember the RETRO 25c Big Mac promo , you could buy 4 Big Mac for $1 + tax !!!!!!!!
I loved APS film, and was a godsend when I no longer had to advance my film manually AND the tiny LCD screen on my Kodak Advantix camera told me how many exposures I had left.
fellow Canadian here -- I had an APS camera (I think it was named an Advantix camera). It was my first camera growing up.
One feature of APS film was a magnetic backing on the negative, onto which exposure data could be recorded.
Joe Van Cleave yep APS film was of a similar material to DAT tape
Cool video! Really a forgotten system!
I remember that I loved the Ixus cameras at the end of the 90s and the were quite common, albeit relatively expensive - but it's true - the advent of digital technology quickly replaced them...
Keep up with the occasional videos about that old stuff!
Had no idea about APS film. So cool.
Any luck on a review of the F5?
Really wanting one for shooting in my more modern lenses. But unsure if it would be better then a F100.
Nice history lesson. I never shot APS film when it came out because I didn't like negatives smaller than 35mm (do you remember 110 film?) and I much prefer 2 1/4 (6x6) or larger negatives. Regarding the 16x9 aspect ratio, it is interesting you bring that up because today the bulk of my best digital images I have cropped to 16x9. I like that aspect ratio because it fits perfectly on my large HD monitors and TVs when I display my work. I like to create video slide shows from my images and have them fill the complete screen. I also think it gives the images a more cinematic feel. I just wished the lab printers and paper providers would make that a standard size. When I want lab prints made from my 16x9 images I have to fit them into a 18x12 template and offset them so that there is a larger border along the bottom (where I end up putting my name and the title of the print to balance the void).
This was an awesome look back guys. More like this for sure!
I had a Kodak APS point and shoot back in the late nineties. Loved it. Loved a nice panorama. Although the panoramas were lower resolution due to the crop the prints came back larger than the other sizes (same height different widths). No idea whether they were the same price or if my parents were paying for development and I didn't care.
Still got 2 APS cameras neither have been used in several years however. I might need to grab myself some rolls and take a trip down memory lane 😊
This is why you watch youtube. Excellent guys!!
Loved my little Kodak APS camera from back in 99-2000!
After using only compact 35mm cameras for many years my return to SLR was the Pronea S
mated to a Sigma f/4-5.6 70-300. The native IX 30-60mm
lens was serviceable too.
Loved the mid-roll rewind feature and the ratio options.
Always carried both color and B&W rolls in the plastic 24mm film cans taped to the camera strap.
Had a strong preference for Fuji films, faster options and was way more vibrant.
Local Wolf Camera film processor was always amazed at the shots I coaxed out of it, as was I.
The B&W film was "instant" processing capable (C-41?) but the resulting prints always had a very bluish cast.
This brings back memories of my Minolta Vectis.
Very interesting "history" video, never knew about APS film (writing from Italy, EU). Here it never really became popular, 35mm ruled until digital. But now I know where APS comes from !
I used to shoot APS film side by side with 35mm film. :D APS had cool features like visual indicators on the cartridge, easy mid-roll changes, saved exposure date/time, saved shutter and aperture settings, saved text captions and different aspect ratios. It was quite innovative then.
I nearly got a canon aps, I think it was the Ix7 but stayed with what I knew and got an EOS 300. Loved that, but boy did I go through film. Two or three years later I got my EOS 10D. What a revelation. I took even more shots and made even more mistakes, but learnt so much.
Contax TiX is a very nice one
Dudes, you are in Calgary! :) Awesome video by the way. Thanks!
I had a canon Elph that went everywhere with me. You had the choice when developing to get the pictures on cd rom. My oldest pictures in my digital library are those apps shots. Thanks for the memories.
It's those two crazy Canucks! Subscribed!
Although the films were expired, the photos look quite good! Love it.
A Minolta Vectis was my first SLR camera. Thanks for this!
The last non-digital camera I bought was an APS. I bought it because it was advertised as the 'next advance' in cameras. As I recall, you could choose the size of each photo (panorama, normal) and when I got the prints back, the panorama ones would be quite wide and inconvenient! But the camera was easier to load than 35mm cameras, and the presentation of the printed photos was good (came in a box, with a thumbnail sheet). I bought the camera in 96. Got my first digital camera in 2000.
What a great walk down memory lane!
Great video thanks :-)
Still got a Pronea with two lenses, still shooting it when I can get hold of expired film. Process it myself and put it back into the canister for scanning with an APS adapter for my Canoscan FS4000. Quality of pictures is not that high, but for artistic purposes it's more than enough - it fits perfectly along with my half frame cameras and my sprocket rocket.
Interesting video. I still have an Elph, as well as processed negative rolls! Got to find a scanner to digitize them!
I loved my Advantix camera. Always used Panorama mode.
I had completely forgotten about APS film until watching this! I remember having an APS camera now but I don't remember anything about it other than the format of the film canisters
Nice job on the video guys and an interesting bit of history. I had read about the format back when I used a 35mm but completely ignored it. I heard that comment about being old Chris, watch it, I’m sure I’m a good bit older than you. 🙂
I can't believe I watched this entire video that is COMPLETELY irrelevant to me. Good work making another entertaining video guys! :)
Damn irelevant millenials and their irrelevant comments.
I love it when it came out! I was so cool and easy for the average person to use. Even my mother couldnt screw this stuff up! I recently found my Kodak Advantix camera that uses the APS films and it still had a roll in it with two frames left to shoot!
I shoot 16:9 all the time on the D-Lux Typ 107. Never been a fan of 4:3, but I use 1:1, 3:2, and 16:9. It was really a feature I never thought I’d use on the camera, but the crop really adds to the composition.
We had the original Kodak cam for these. They were expensive but awesome. Loved the options.
Great video guys! Would be keen for more like these
You can still buy APS film in boots here in the UK. they usually have APS from Fuji maybe some 135 c41 and then some 135 B+W from Illford.
Extremely fun for what it's worth :) Great creative focus!
I still have my old Canon Elph and EOS IX stored away.
As much as I thought I’d use the SLR more, the Elph was super tiny & handy to slip into a pocket. Plus the optics were quite alright.
Working at a 1-Hour Photo lab back then, I preferred processing Advantix film vs 35mm. No negs to cut, everything went back in the case easily, and reprints were super easy.
Fun stuff for sure :)
very cool video. A year ago I found an old Nikon FM2 and the whole experience was a blast. Now I would really like to try a medium format analog camera, mby u can make a video about those too? I heard some portrait artists are still using them today.
The Nikon Pronea 600i was my second APS SLR camera. I bought the first one as well. I used the 600i on professional shoots. I thought it was a great little camera. The first autofocus Nikon that I liked. I had been using the Nikon F3 up to that point. I had the Pronea telephoto lens as well.
Would like to know where you bought the Pronea, as I soon will bee coming to Calgary, now that me daughter moved from Copenhagen to Calgary to do a Postdoc on the university. And for sure I will be visiting The Camera Store, hope to see you guys there 🙂
The Pronea was bought at Saneal Cameras Downtown. A few blocks from The Camera Store, so hit them both up!
-Jordan
It’s great that you still got the possibility with dpreview to make videos like this. Maybe you will revive the unsung cameras aswell?
LasstUnsSpielen .... totally agree!
Unsung Cameras will be returning!
I had a little Kodak Advantix F310 or F300 when I was really young. It was one of my first automatic film cameras. Before that I was shooting on a K1000. I loved that camera and film system. It was really cool! But, shortly after that I found Casio and the D40.
ohhhhh I got that gold one too. I like my Elph 2 more though :-) and for SLR the Canon IX or IXE are INSANE. heavy metal compact tanks and takes all my nice EF glass.
So did you guys shoot the film as 200 or 50? I learned after the fact about rules for shooting expired film.
Cool throwback film, thank you! My APS film experience back then was limited to disposable cameras. I liked the switchable aspect ratio and little contact sheet you got back with the negatives, but the results were always disappointing. Knowing what I know now, it's because I was expecting the little plastic lens on a cardboard camera to give me results on a stamp-size piece of film akin to an Ansel Adams print struck from an 8x10 negative, but I digress.
I've found myself going back through 10 rolls of APS-C I shot in the late 1990s thru 2001. Fujifilm ISO200 "all rounder" basically meant it sucked at everything.. hah
Thanks for the video I don't think I had ever heard of this film before as I only shot standard film. I would the colours from the Kodak were very Instagram filterish and made the images more interesting I think. The problem is always the cost and ability to develop the film if you can even find some but I am sure it would be fun to blow some rolls to try it out.