Nonpolitical - just need APS availability. Chances?

Guess I've been within a timewarp "just shooting" - but has something happened

to APS film recently? Will Fuji and Kodak continue making it?

 

If not - are there any other suppliers?

 

 

 

 

Use other formats too, but APS fills a unique "dumpster diving" need, and the

cartridges are ridiculously easy to scan with our Nikon. Just ordered a stack

of Fuji Q1s at disposable prices...and had plans to pass them out to all the

kiddies.

 

Forget the technobabble and just go shoot .....

 

 

More dog portraits than you can shake a stick at :)

In the last year or so I have put together a small collection of APS cameras and lenses. I have a Minolta Vectis S100 with the 28-56 zoom and the 50/3.5 macro. The macro is very sharp but you have to read the manual to see how you can shoot at small apertures for needed depth of field. I find manual focusing with either lens difficult. I also have two Nikon Pronea SLR cameras, a Pronea S and a Pronea 6i. The 6i seems to drain its batteries very quickly even when it's turned off so I don' use it as much. I have the 20-60, the 30-60, the 24-70 and the earlier faster 60-180. The lens I use most often is the 20-60. The Pronea S has a small built in flash so if I know I will be using flash I will use 400 or 800 speed film. The only source I know of for the 800 speed film is the megaperls website (www.unicircuits.com). It comes in packs of 5 40 exp. rolls and is remarkably sharp and fine grained for such a fast film. In the 35mm format I think Portra 800 is now the best 800 speed color print film but I don't think we will ever see it in APS size. The IX Nikkors are not very fast so the extra speed can be nice.

 

eBay and the web have lots of APS film for sale. I notice that with the APS format it is possible to get negatives which are sharp corner to corner. It takes some high resolution scanning but you can get very nice 8X12 and even 11X14 enlargements from good APS equipment. I shoot in many formats and I hope to have fun with APS for a while longer. If you don't need the fastest films you can probably freeze a quantity of 200 speed film for longer than processing will still be available.

APS was targeted at the same market that has embraced digital most enthusiastically. So the sales are probably dropping faster than 35mm film. It never sold well enough to justify much choice in film types.

 

A lot of the photography industry bought into APS lock, stock, and barrel. All the print page companies make pages for all the strange APS print sizes, which must sell poorly.

I get mine from Wal-Mart. How about some AGFA for 1.29 a roll 40 EXP?

 

http://store.ultrafineonline.com/agapsadty200.html

 

 

Larry<div></div>

I've been working in Ireland in recent months. I've been surprised that just about every outlet that sells film has APS. Even the little convenience shop at the heritage sites (like national historic parks) will usually have APS film.

Poor APS was what we'll call "stillborn". It was simply a good idea that showed up at the wrong time.

Yes, but the original question remains :)

 

Very specifically: Have the film companies ceased APS film production?

I'm not sure I'd call it still born. The product was launched. The term "infant mortality" often refers to an individual item that fails early in its life cycle. Maybe the best best analogies are "arrested development" owing to early marketing and manufacturing mistakes and "failure to thrive" because its younger sibling (digital) was consistently eating its lunch.

 

I worked on APS (one of 8000+ at Kodak)and was convinced it was a great system for snapshooters. It was about 5 years too late.

Answer to question. Yes Kodak and Fuji still produce it.

Stillborn, in this case means an hour after launch, somebody invented digital.

I went to several drug and discount stores this weekend. I noticed Kodak and Fuji APS film available in all of them. So I think it's still viable, though nobody can predict the future. What I didn't see was Kodak Gold 110 film, which seems to have disappeared in my area. Nor did I see Kodak 400UC, which is the only film I still use.

APS user from the UK here. OK, what is available here is:

 

Fuji 200 (best)

Kodak 200 (OK)

Ferrania 200 (store brands)

 

All are 25 Exp - 40 Exp discontinued.

 

For Fuji 400 I use Megaperls Japan, and they stock the 40 Exp. rolls. They have just stopped listing the Fuji 800 (as of this week).

 

Sadly gone is: Kodak High Definition 100, Kodak 100, Fuji 100, Kodak B&W 400 and Fuji Chrome 100.

 

I use APS film in the wonderful Canon IX SLR and the Contax TIX with the Sonnar lens. The fact that this format is not doing well irritates and slightly angers me. Totally fed up with stores pushing digital at me like some sort of mandatory drug.

 

Ian, UK