APS films

lawrie29

lawrie29

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Lawrie
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Evening,

I used to have an APS camera and as a result have lots of aps films that have been processed. I have some prints, but they are spread over 4 larges boxes of photos.

Is there an easy way for me to scan these films myself - how do I get them out the canister?

Or is it easier to take them to Tesco/asda and have them do it, though noidea how much this would cost.

Ta
 
Well I've learned soemthing, I never knew they wound the film back into the cartridge with APS but I've never had one so that's probably why. To be honest if you've got prints then you'll probably get better results scanning them than a tiny negative.
 
Yeah, if you look at the bottom of the cartridge it has a few different markings, an X being one of them to tell you whether the film has been used or not. They all have a code number on them, which is also printed on the contact sheet printed with your snaps. That way you can match up the cartridge to the prints should you get them mixed up.

I have a box of maybe 20-30 cartridges, and loads of prints, but no way of matching them up. I just don't fancy scanning a couple of hundred prints, and I know that some have been given away or damaged by the kids when they were younger.
 
A lot of scanning companies just simiply scan the whole roll as one continual scan rather than doing it frame by frame as its way easier than having to individually separately scan each negative for which no holder really exists.

When you finally get them out of the canister, thats how I would do it, place them down on a flatbed scanner, scan the whole roll and then extract each frame from the whole roll scan.
Be mindful that with APS, even though you may have taken them in the panoramic APS-P or the narrower classic 3:2 APS-C format, any images will be in the native 16:9 APS-H format as these other ratios are simply crops when printed.
 
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SparkUK said:
Well I've learned soemthing, I never knew they wound the film back into the cartridge with APS but I've never had one so that's probably why.
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erm stupid idea as I've found a cassette of Kodak advantix and I don't know if it's been processed...along one side of the cassette there are four symbols from circle to a square explaining unexposed to processed, with no tick or anything underneath :shrug:
 
The state of the roll is indicated by it being a different colour, not by a tick.
 
excalibur2 said:
erm stupid idea as I've found a cassette of Kodak advantix and I don't know if it's been processed...along one side of the cassette there are four symbols from circle to a square explaining unexposed to processed, with no tick or anything underneath :shrug:
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Stupid is not RTFM mate - put the film in a camera and it will tell you if it's exposed or not.
 
Ambermile said:
Stupid is not RTFM mate - put the film in a camera and it will tell you if it's exposed or not.
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..but I've never had a APS camera and found the cassette in a drawer....I was going to open it up (if processed) and scan it as someone has used a ball pen and marked Ireland.
 
excalibur2 said:
..but I've never had a APS camera and found the cassette in a drawer....I was going to open it up (if processed) and scan it as someone has used a ball pen and marked Ireland.
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Sounds like it is exposed..is the rectangle on the bottom white?
 
lawrie29 said:
Sounds like it is exposed..is the rectangle on the bottom white?
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Well all the symbols are on a white background, but the square (processed) outline looks the same as the others.
 
Grabbed from Wiki.

Film and cartridge
Visual indicators on an APS cartridgeThe film is on a polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) base, and is housed in a single-spool 39 mm long plastic cartridge. The basic diameter is 21 mm, while it measures 30 mm at the slot where the film exits. The slot is protected by a lightproof door. It is available in 40, 25 and 15 exposure lengths. The film surface has a transparent magnetic coating, and the camera uses this information exchange (IX) system for recording information about each exposure. The camera handles winding and rewinding automatically, to the extent that partially exposed films can, in certain cameras, be removed and used later. Numbered symbols (called 'visual indicators') on the cartridge end indicate the status:

Full circle: Unexposed
Half circle: Partly exposed
Cross sign: Fully exposed but not processed
Rectangle: Processed
Additionally, a tab on this end of the cartridge indicates that the cartridge has been processed

220px-IX240_Indicators_1_.jpg
 
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Ah got it finally, looking at the end of the cassette it shows white on "1" which means unexposed...but still a stupid idea IMO for anyone a bit serious in photography for darkroom work or examining negs and for storage.

PS Thanks medway green I was also looking at wiki whilst you posted.
 
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As for scanning them yourself, yes it can be done but i think you would need a dedicated film scanner something like the Nikon CoolscanIV or V plus an adaptor which I think spools the film out of the canister scans then stick it back in.

I have seen the adaptors Nikon IA-20 (S) 1X240 Film Adapter but think they are not common.
 
excalibur2 said:
Ah got it finally, looking at the end of the cassette it shows white on "1" which means unexposed...but still a stupid idea IMO for anyone a bit serious in photography for darkroom work or examining negs and for storage.

PS Thanks medway green I was also looking at wiki whilst you posted.
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The system was never designed for home processing, it was deisgned to make it easier for jo bloggs to use film. In the darkroom you would only take an exposed cartridge, s not that hard.
 
Knikki said:
As for scanning them yourself, yes it can be done but i think you would need a dedicated film scanner something like the Nikon CoolscanIV or V plus an adaptor which I think spools the film out of the canister scans then stick it back in.

I have seen the adaptors Nikon IA-20 (S) 1X240 Film Adapter but think they are not common.
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I was about to post this, I remember seeing an APS adaptor when I was looking at older coolscans on ebay.
 
lawrie29 said:
The system was never designed for home processing, it was deisgned to make it easier for jo bloggs to use film. In the darkroom you would only take an exposed cartridge, s not that hard.
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Well yes, but those P&S cameras using 35mm film became so simple to load and use...but I suppose the next thing was disposable cameras ;)
 
excalibur2 said:
Well yes, but those P&S cameras using 35mm film became so simple to load and use...but I suppose the next thing was disposable cameras ;)
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Yep, that and digital came along......although some of the APS SLR systems developed where then turned into digital systems as the sensor and film sizes are very similar.
 
Well just found out (to reinforce my opinion of the APS system as stupid and an unnecessary invention), that it's not fool proof either as the cassette I found showed the white on "1" circle (unexposed)...anyway before throwing away decided to opening it up and there are images on the film.
Well first thoughts are to lay the film on the scanner glass, if I can get some images it might remind me of being shown the prints many years ago probably taken by my sons.
 
excalibur2 said:
Well just found out (to reinforce my opinion of the APS system as stupid and an unnecessary invention), that it's not fool proof either as the cassette I found showed the white on "1" circle (unexposed)...anyway before throwing away decided to opening it up and there are images on the film.
Well first thoughts are to lay the film on the scanner glass, if I can get some images it might remind me of being shown the prints many years ago probably taken by my sons.
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Should work, let us see if you find anything interesting.
 
For the casual photographer at the time, I thought it was a great idea. I've actually just taken 4 old films to Boots to be scanned, £2 each.
 
Lawrie, since the F&C section seems to run on karma and I have the technology to scan your APS films. If you would be happy to cover the costs and make a donation to charity I'd be happy to scan them for you.
 
fabs said:
For the casual photographer at the time, I thought it was a great idea. I've actually just taken 4 old films to Boots to be scanned, £2 each.
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erm I thought that Kodak disc idea was dumb as well :LOL:
 
RaglanSurf said:
Lawrie, since the F&C section seems to run on karma and I have the technology to scan your APS films. If you would be happy to cover the costs and make a donation to charity I'd be happy to scan them for you.
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Thats very kind, but I really couldn't ask you to scan this many films. I also live miles from you and wouldn't trust sending them to you. I appreciate the offer though.
 
lawrie29 said:
Thats very kind, but I really couldn't ask you to scan this many films. I also live miles from you and wouldn't trust sending them to you. I appreciate the offer though.
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No problem, hope you get them sorted(y)
 
lawrie29 said:
Should work, let us see if you find anything interesting.
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Just scanned a strip placed on the glass...used the 35mm neg holder to hold one end down and did bother with the other end, the spacing after the scanning was out on most but they came out ok (well very dark and not sharp so had to use PShop ).
 
Well the best I can get with this APS film (with the film on the glass surface) ...horrible stuff compared to 35mm.
aPS800px.jpg



Reala 35mm film, what a difference LOL
Photo13-800px.jpg
 
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In the absence of having an APS adapter for the scanner, a *very* laborious option would be to mount selected frames in slide mounts (with clear windows), obviously this will mean that you will need to cut the film, but it may be a more convenient way to store the selected negatives than in the secure safety of the cartridge. When you come to run off some nice pictures for your kids 25th Wedding anniversaries in a few years time, having the negatives in those APS cartridges is going to be worse than useless for finding the best shots! (But better than backing up your digital photo's to a ZIP disc)

I'd have a go at my suggestion, so I could post up an example, but don't have any APS film to hand.
 
offline said:
In the absence of having an APS adapter for the scanner, a *very* laborious option would be to mount selected frames in slide mounts (with clear windows), obviously this will mean that you will need to cut the film, but it may be a more convenient way to store the selected negatives than in the secure safety of the cartridge. When you come to run off some nice pictures for your kids 25th Wedding anniversaries in a few years time, having the negatives in those APS cartridges is going to be worse than useless for finding the best shots! (But better than backing up your digital photo's to a ZIP disc)

I'd have a go at my suggestion, so I could post up an example, but don't have any APS film to hand.
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Well I can forgive the APS film being not reasonably sharp because of the way I scanned, but the colours are sooo crappy that it's going to be very boring to see what's on the other nineteen images left, but if anyone has a great 6X8" colour shot with this film...I can be impressed.
 
excalibur2 said:
Well I can forgive the APS film being not reasonably sharp because of the way I scanned, but the colours are sooo crappy that it's going to be very boring to see what's on the other nineteen images left, but if anyone has a great 6X8" colour shot with this film...I can be impressed.
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I've got loads. It was never designed to be home developed by enthusiasts, it was for holidays/days out with the family type snaps. Bit unfair to jerryrig developing at home and then complain about the quality of the film. :shrug:
 
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Plan C worked if you tuck the film into the 35mm holder scan the strip and select each frame i.e. crop using the mouse and then enlarge (zoom)......and Epson autocolor worked very well on my chosen frame, all I then did in Photoshop was sharpen and clean up the dust spots.
aps17-800px.jpg


Ah is that a Etrs being used by the pro...and at this wedding I took my Etrs so there is no contest between the two film formats ;)
 
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