Everyone enjoyed using the camera,
loaded with Kodak's
Advantix 200 film which overcame problems of dull light and indoor flash,
and objections to its viewfinder were overcome as we learned to centre the
eye precisely and avoid it blacking out.
The Fuji Fotonex 250 Zoom was not much smaller than the average 35mm
compact AF zoom. It wasn't much different in any way, despite having a
clean and easily-handled design which slipped neatly into a pocket.So it sat in the office for a few days, and no-one really paid much attention to it. Then I loaded it up and actually took it around with me for a week. Suddenly, the little switch which changes the viewfinder masking from Classic (35mm shape) to HDTV (16:9 ratio) or Panoramic (3:1 long thin print) came to life. In conjunction with the 25-55mm zoom lens, more or less equal to a 28-65mm on 35mm, the ability to preselect the format and compose shots to suit turned out to be an enjoyable creative function.
I found myself handing the camera to Shirley, then saying 'hey, try a
vertical panoramic on that shot!' only to find that she was already doing
exactly that.
Everyone enjoyed using the camera, loaded with Kodak's
Advantix 200 film which overcame problems of dull light and indoor flash,
and objections to its viewfinder were overcome as we learned to centre the
eye precisely and avoid it blacking out.
Finally, after a few shots taken in the botanical gardens at Dawyck in Scotland, a few at home, and some family snaps at son Richard's house, the 40-exposure roll was finished. Forty exposures may not seem much more than a standard 135/36, but as I normally load 24s for this kind of colour neg snap, it seemed like an endless roll.
Then the downside emerged - our local Boots, which normally takes any non-rollfilm colour neg film and processes it overnight for under fiver with excellent 6 x 4 gloss prints, had no idea what the APS roll was or any instructions on how to process it. They couldn't accept it.
Our local small High Street photo dealer in Kelso, Hector Innes, was completely aware of what to do. Photon readers may recall that it was Hector who put a Casio QV-10 digital camera in stock before any other shop had them, and for the record, he also bought one of the first Photo-CD players and has 'slide showed' his portfolio of wedding pictures ever since, constantly playing next to the counter.
Hector also bought APS film and cameras from Kodak the day they became available, and before I had had a chance to see them, his first cameras had sold out. He was complaining that Minolta's more expensive and fully specified cameras, which he could have sold just as easily and quickly, were not due to arrive for a couple of months.
He took the film from me, and gave me the bad news - it would take a full week to go back to Kodak for processing, no local lab had the facilities, and it would cost an unspecified figure which could be well into the teens if I had used the panoramic mode often. The 10" long pan prints cost more than the standard ones.
So I handed it over and resigned myself to a long wait and expensive bill for a bundle of snaps.
Pictures above taken at Dawyck botanical gardens, Scotland
When the day came, any misgivings disappeared. Instead of some floppy
envelope with a docket stuck to it and negs floating around in bits of
loose sleeving, Alastair Innes produced a hard plastic and card case
resembling a VHS cassette box extended 50% in length. Not only did this
look like the �11.49 (inc VAT) I was going to pay, but it felt good.
Inside this snap-shut case with its colourful Kodak livery and designer
paper engineering, a neat recess held the film, all negatives safely
archived away from fingerprints. In the lid, an index print like a full
colour contact sheet showed our shots with the masking we had selected.The prints themselves were arranged in order of format - on top, the Classic 6 x 4 prints in order of taking; below this, the HDTV 'long' prints, and at the bottom fitting precisely into the compartment the panoramic prints.
The general standard of printing, considering that no special measures had been taken, was excellent. The Advantix 200 film gave high sharpness, and grain comparable to a good 400 speed on 35mm. Kodak might deny this, but some panoramic prints from a Konica disposable panoramic loaded with 400 speed film were pretty much exactly the same.
The only failures, in terms of print density, were images which should
have been richer and darker because no sky was included. These were
exposed or printed too light. Poor flash exposure contributed to some
familiar gritty underdone low-light snaps, which I had hoped that APS
might eliminate.
The overall impression was that this box of prints was well worth the money, and that the compact Fuji Fotonex camera was 'bigger' than 35mm. The Fotonex viewfinder was misleading, and showed a heavily cropped frame which appeared to match the equally heavy crop shown on the index print - yet the actual prints had far more visible on them, especially on wide-angle P shots.
While I do not see the Advanced Photo System having much relevance to our readers with professional or creative interests, it can not fail to catch on with discerning casual photographers. With this quality of presentation delivered by Kodak, professionals will have to upgrade the way they deliver both social and commercial work. A glassine envelope just isn't enough.
A typical set of photographs from an APS camera, as supplied.
The Advanced Photo System is set to be a winner and every film exposed by 'early adopters' will help sell the system to Christmas season buyers. Follow my example and try it, and you'll just light up with a big grin when you get your first results back.
But where will you store that bookcase-full of big presentation cases? And will you have the heart to break up the box and put prints in albums? Products are already on the way to file and present APS work more space-efficiently - watch our news pages monthly for updates.
Two images that show the cropping of the viewfinder: Above, a full frame
image. Below: A full Pan shot of the house from exactly the same place,
showing clearly how the camera viewfinder crops the frame and the
processor merely omits extreanous detail and blows up the
image
The image below right shows the index print crops, which the
processor reads, showing that the camera captures a full frame.
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