APS film cameras

[yinyangbt]

Great feed back from all of you , thanks !
So , I decided to take a plunge : I am waiting for a Canon EOS IX body + 4 rolls of 25 exp (200 ASA) for 25 $ ! Couldn't resist !
a good news for me is that my local lab wich processes my 35mm can process also the APS film (well , in a crude manner , they have not the hardware dedicated , but manually open the cassette and develop. After all ,I'll scan myself and I'll need the strips )
I'd pair the IX with the Tamron 17-35 (wich gave me good results on EOS XTi) and the MkI 50mm/1.8.

 

[David Hughes]

A little while ago I took some photo's using both the Contax Tix and the Leica C11. Both cameras were carried round and pictures taken within seconds of each other under almost identical conditions and the cameras both set to auto. The Contax has a prime 28mm lens and so the Leica's zoom was used at the 23mm setting.

Here are two samples:

I expect the focal lengths will give the game away but have a look at the difference.

Regards, David

 

[Messsucherkamera]

I could never see any point in the whole APS thing.

I have an Olympus Stylus Epic that I used during the APS era but I could never see why anyone would
want a camera that made such tiny negatives.

JMHO...

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Well, you can make big pictures with it and the truth is that to millions of people a 4" x 6" is normal and 5" x 7" is big. Ask any one -hour lab what paper roll they use most... Then wonder why people waste time with 35mm film but that's being logical.

But I get 5" x 7 1/2" out of mine which is better than the cropped 5 x 7 from 35mm. And an 8" x 12" from the Contax Tix is easy but I've not gone bigger. I guess I could but it would be expensive to check.

The other advantage to the Contax is it's size and facilities. I can easily get the exposure details printed on the back of the prints, even by one hour labs. And a lot of APS cameras are being given away on ebay and so on. Try the Rollei Nano 80 for a decent camera with a zoom lens and compare the price with its 35mm film equivalent. And look at the Minolta Vectis S-1 which is a SLR with some very nice lenses and excellent state of the art facilities.

OK. Rant over, I'll go and lay down quietly. ;-)

Regards, David

 

[dct]

My biggest print from an APS negative was ~12x15" (30x40cm exactly) and I would even go further. Definitly no problem.

 

[JohnTF]

Carried an Elph for a few years, excellent camera, -- loaned one to my friends who said it gave them the best photos they ever took-- then, despite using it only once or twice a year, they bought something digital- to save money?

I have a Pronea kit, shot about 30 rolls on a trip to Mexico, pulled the film out to print it, got some nice 11x14 prints.

Have a second one for parts if anyone wants it.

Film is in the fridge, but way things are going, it will be there -- Kodak promised B&W film, and I found a dozen rolls in Europe.

Sales Timing was terrible, it was slow to come out in decent cameras, and by the time it was marketed, it had too much competition with digital.

I think Freestyle sold a lot of short dated Fuji cheap, the 200 ISO was a very capable film and format.

Regards, John

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I thought a lot of APS were state of the art. I guess the photographers were still in charge of the designing and the computer specialists just did as they were told! And a lot of the APS's that looked like plain P&S's had over-rides that were very useful.

Regards, David

 

[yinyangbt]

Messsuchercamera ,I think that the answer at your quetion would be : just for fun !
Especially these days.
David ,thanks for providing us such great samples . I belive the second one is from your Tix ?Seems to me sharper than the firs one . I've just let go a C11 for 50 E ! sould I be sorry ?

 

[yinyangbt]

I came back , and I can say that I Just received my first APS camera with 5 25 exp rolls.🙂😀 Canon EOS IX in a beautiful shape .Wonderful camera , stainless steel body ,wich allows me to use my EF lenses .I had the surprise that my Tamron 17-35 shows a very large image in the viewfinder at 17mm (compared to the EOS XTi )due to the 1.2 crop . I'll do a shooting these days 😉 on minolta Dimage Scan III I'll get 6.3 MP files .I'll try to use first the 35mm holder , hope it is going to work

 

[RLG]

I'm still using different APS cameras (I have many) and have a lot of film in the freezer. Mostly ISO 200, a few ISO 100, also ISO 400, B&W and ISO 800.
The Leica C11 is nice but it is a Fuji Nexia 3100 in another body. Good zoom range but slow and distortion at wide angle.
Also nice, very small, no zoom, but MRC, is the Fuji Fotonex 1000. The lens is f 3.5.
The lens of the Tix is absolutely very sharp. The Tix handles very well. It is comparable to my Leica CM. The only regret I have is that this lens is not wide enough in some situations. I also regret it does not have MRC. But, this is the best APS compact ever made.
Not bad also is the good looking Minolta Vectis 300 with its steel body and it has passive auto focus which I prefer.

Development is the same price as 135 format, prints slightly more expensive depending on the format. Here in Belgium I have my APS films developed trough Kruidvat: the processing in fact is done by Cewe Color in Germany and they add inclusive a CD with the scanned images. It is not a high resolution scan but usable.

After all these years I still like my APS cameras. In fact, 3 of my 4 short holidays this year, I used APS cameras.

I hope we will have a few more years films can be developed.

Best

 

[Tom hicks]

you can develop yourself with a self modified reel

 

[yinyangbt]

you can develop your self with a self modified reel

I am going to try this

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I hope I'm not stating the obvious but you open APS cartridges by opening the door across the slot. A paper clip tool will turn the door open and then spin the spindle and the film runs out.

Best to practice in daylight with a developed roll. You can get replacement cartridges, just in case you ruin one. It's also worth looking for storage boxes for the cartridges. There are some very nice practical ones out there (and some pretentious rubbish).

Regards, David

 

[David Hughes]

David ,thanks for providing us such great samples . I belive the second one is from your Tix ?Seems to me sharper than the firs one . I've just let go a C11 for 50 E ! sould I be sorry ?

Hi,

The first one was with the Leica C11 and the second was the Contax Tix, I'm afraid there's no prize for being right. :-( I think the Contax lens has a little more bite than the others.

For those who have never seen one the Leica C11 looks like this:

Regards, David

 

[yinyangbt]

but they don't have any bokeh....

I am able now to post results from my first APS films . And I begin with this (about bokeh 😀) :

First one with Tamron 17-35 ,second one with EF 50/1.8 MkI ,on EOS IX . I wanted to see what I can get in APS ,so used best lenses I had .
But I don't know how to post images a bit bigger tan 600 px ? (let's say 760?)

 

[Argenticien]

I never had an APS SLR, but we did get my wife an APS P&S. I thought the film and camera system (with the switchable aspect ratios, auto-loading, and data capture) was pretty elegant. For the consumer, holiday snap, mass-market segment, where rubbish small formats kept arising decade after decade (126, 110, Disc...), I thought it was the best (and in fact a good) one. Yes, the frames are smaller than 135, but considerably larger than the truly awful 110 and disc. I think if history had unfolded such that APS had 10 or 15 solid years before digital came along in earnest, APS could have taken away a lot of consumer market share from 135. But as I've not got any APS film in the freezer, I'd surely not by any APS kit now! I admire you guys who are hanging on with it.
--Dave

 

[68degrees]

you can develop your self with a self modified reel

Do you have any more information on this, how to modify a reel for APS?
Thanks
Gary

 

[kuzano]

Aaah Godfrey... What memories you evoke.....

Aaah Godfrey... What memories you evoke.....

I think you miss the meaning of the word 'bokeh'. It means the 'quality of blur' not the amount of blur. If you've used a small lens opening at a reasonable distance to achieve a good bit of depth of field and image sharpness, you won't see much blur.

But I assure you that if I fit my Pronea S with the Nikkor-H 85mm f1.8 lens or Nikkor 50mm f/1.2, and set the lens opening to f/2, and make a portrait distance photo with it, you'll see not only a good bit of blur but also some lovely bokeh.

Just those words in your post.....

Takes me back to the 60's in a psychadelic VW bus, traveling down Highway 1 south of Big Sur?????? I think that's what I recall.

Bokeh is much like the visions had during those times. Does your bright yellow Kompressor take you back like that.

On another note, I find it hysterical that Leica made an APS camera. I was going to post that question in jest, and two brought it up. Is there anything in the photographic world that someone on this forum has not owned, or seen up close?

 

[jet1944]

do you have FUJI FILM processing here in u.k it is £5.50 for process and C.D and you can adjust on Picasa 3

 

[biomed]

Canon EOS IX, Canon 28-105 zoom, Advantix Black and White + 400 film

I bought the EOS IX after it had been discontinued. I haven't shot any APS since my old Canon FS400US scanner with an APS adapter quit working. I never did pick up an APS adapter for my Nikon scanners, so the camera is still unused. The camera handled quite nicely and allowed the use of all the Canon EOS mount lenses. I must say that the IX looked a little odd with a 75-300 zoom or the 16-35/2.8 L mounted on it . The drawbacks to this camera was the cost of film/develpoment and the batteries. On the plus side: many shooting modes including full manual and the number of lenses available. If you really want to shoot APS film, the EOS IX (not the EOS IX Lite) would be a good choice. The domestic Japanese version was even available with eye controlled focus spot selection (EOS IXE).

Mike