APS format and camera Exposure info

[seany65]

I've always wondered about one of the main selling points (as far as I remember), of the APS format, of the camera's exposure settings being 'recorded' by the film cassette for 'better printing'.

Do the camera's exposure settings come into it when printing a photo?

I know that the settings affect the exposure of the negative and how dense it is etc. but does knowing the actual shutter speed and aperture that a negative was exposed with make any difference when printing it? I presume the APS cassette told the APS printing machines the exposure settings, but I can't see how that would help, unless each print was printed and processed separately.

 

[MrFujicaman]

As I recall it, Kodak mixed magnetic media into the film and the date was recorded on that.

 

[seany65]

Into the film? I see. Thanks for the info, MrFujicaman.

I still don't get the idea that a printing machine knowing the shutter speed and aperture will make a better print.

 

[sevo]

The film had a transparent magnetic coating - but cheaper cameras wrote optical bar codes to the edge.

The idea was not fully developed - they wanted a future proof system to replace 135, so they made provisions for recording all exposure data, including many not needed at the time or never written on the (consumer) cameras that made it to the market. What saw some degree of use was automatic compensation for deliberate underexposure ("virtual pushing"), but usually, only the film type (for printer calibration) and frame size (APS was designed to be a multi-width format, and many cameras offered a panoramic mode) were written and read, and more often from the optical edge mark than from the magnetic track. A few cameras also allowed for recording a caption, but for practical reasons that saw little use - one APS camera I bought used had its caption still set to "Urlaub 1998", but even that user obviously gave up and went with a wrong caption for every following x-mas or holiday. I doubt anybody ever bothered entering individual captions with the cruel text entry methods provided by APS cameras, even more so as the up-market APS cameras that had a magnetic recording option generally failed on the market. Many printer operators disabled the magnetic readout heads as a superfluous scratch risk, or ignored their configuration, so that the chance that you would actually get your caption printed on the back of a photograph was small.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

If you take the Contax Tix, which was an APS camera, then you could set it so that the exposure was recorded and the aperture and shutter speed could be printed on the back of the print. Alas, the ink in the machine was a bit faint on the last set I took, otherwise I'd show it here.

Regards, David

PS And you could record the settings when using the 35mm film Minolta 7000i and play them back until eventually overwritten.

 

[pvdhaar]

Do the camera's exposure settings come into it when printing a photo?

Possibly, yes. Using that info and the density of the film, you have some idea about the absolute light level. That should help the automated printing machines in identifying situations where the light meter has been thrown off, like snow/beach scenes that typically clock in at over 16EV. An 18EV scene that's middle grey on the neg, has to be printed lighter.

 

[seany65]

Thanks to all for the new replies and info.

Hello David Hughes, I'm just wodnering why you went 'aps', and how long did you keep up with it? regards, seany65.

@pvdhaar, Hmmm, I think I see what you mean. Have you got any idea if this actually worked?