VE6AB Technical
Before Digital
I'll bet you haven't heard of the Kodak Advantix system that existed in the late 1990's and got bumped and sent to the obsolete bin by the arrival of digital photography. Still, a lot of the features seen in digital cameras like sensor size were first seen in APS film cameras.
This was a film system that is very interesting in the fact that once you exposed a roll of film, you took it in to your favorite lab that processed the film giving you back the prints and a contact sheet as seen in my photo that included all of the photos on the roll, and the negatives safely stored in the same film cartridge you originally brought in for processing. Each contact sheet includes a number on bottom corner that matches the number on the film cartridge.
The film cartridge has interesting features built in to it as seen in the insert photo. There is a series of unique shaped holes numbered 1-4.
#1 indicates an unexposed roll of film
#2 partially exposed roll
#3 fully exposed roll
#4 processed with negatives within
As you can see this roll is indicating that the film was processed and the negatives reside within.
The opposite end of the film cartridge allows this information to be read by the camera.
This allowed you to remove a partially exposed roll, and insert a different roll, possibly a faster ASA film. Later you could reinsert the partially exposed roll, and the camera picked up where it left off.
Later on if you wished to have reprints made, you used the included order form, and filled in the blanks that included the Picture Number recorded with each picture on the contact sheet, you could also order different sizes at that point that included classic, HDTV, or Panoramic. You then took the order form and the film cartridge in to the lab to have reprints made. With the reprints in hand, you placed the film cartridge back in its storage box.
One of the benefits of this system is that the negatives didn't get lost or damaged, as they resided in the original film cartridge, and then were stored in an Advantix storage box that included all the contact sheets for all the film cartridges as seen in the photo of one of my four Advantix storage boxes filled with film cartridges and contact sheets.
Now those of you that know me are aware that I had been shooting with SLR film cameras since the 1970's, however when the Advantix system appeared on the scene, which was about the same time my daughter Jennifer was about 8 years old, I realized that this system was perfect for shooting family photos.
The Canon camera in the insert photo is one I acquired immediately after Canon introduced it in 1999, although the APS film for the Advantix camera system was introduced in 1996. This was one of the coolest compact cameras that shot APS film at the time, most others at the time were of lesser quality. It had an all metal body with an all glass lens, and when shut off the lens retracted into the body with a cover protecting the lens. The built in flash also disappeared from sight when not being used. An LCD screen built in the top cover displayed the camera settings. Todays small digital cameras have features that first appeared on APS cameras.
Although I continued to shoot with my SLR film cameras during those times, my Canon APS camera as seen in the insert photo, resided on my belt in its leather pouch ready to shoot family snaps. When shooting photos, you could switch between picture sizes in camera if you wished, Classic, HDTV, or Panoramic, the pictures were printed and sized accordingly.
Today the camera is on display with my other obsolete film cameras. The APS film cartridges (I have 48 film cartridges) that I exposed of family with the camera are stored on a book shelf, where from time to time I unspool a roll to digitize photos that bring back memories of a time when film ruled.
Expand the photo for a closer look.....
