Topic: Traditional film vs. APS

I've heard of APS obviously but what's the advantage/disadvantage of using APS vs. 35mm film?

:::krets.net:::

I think APS is digital. And 35mm, of course, is film.

http://www.garryblack.com/ae09.htm

has some basic points about 35mm and aps,

most points that i have found are fairly obvious -

the aps is smaller, hence more compact cameras, less enlargement potential.

this person relly favours 35mm.

this article seems far less subjetive, and quite comprehensive.


my brother and sister in law have a canon elph, and canon eos 500.

the elph is used on short trips, and the like - you can just shove it in you pocket, and then whip it out and point and shoot, and it really takes some nice photos.

then for sightseeing, or anything more purposeful, the SLR does a great job.

...and i really couldn't see any good reasons behind getting any APS camera other than a nice small point n' shoot.





--edit-- and um.... insider: APS is a different film system. not digital.

[This message has been edited by reitsma (edited 04-14-2003).]

ok, i brought this one up in the "what camera do you have thread"

so i'll chuck in my 0.2c here

i have this aps camera click on EOS 1X Link

I do quite a bit of post shooting work,ie colour correction, resizing, touch ups etc. now here are some of the biggest problems when working from negative/dias (postive) films

I use the Minolta Dimage Scan Dual 2 film scanner, one of the best bang for bucks film scanners there are on the market.

with this i can scan:

a.35mm Negatives (colour black and white at any resolution without loss of quality)
b.35mm Dias Positives (slides) as above.
c.APS Films

now the main areas of problems outlined in the links that reitsma posted have some great hints and tips in for the majority of aps cameras, as they are point n shoot stuff. when you reach the level of the EOS 1X or the EEOS 1X7 then you are in a different ball game, the main issue then becomes quality of the end product. (ie picture that you post here, print or use in maazines etc.)

The common myth about APS Cameras is this "Because the film is smaller it doesnt enlarge very well"......utter crap for example the exposure area on the aps system is smaller, but the density of the film is much higher, allowing better image quality on the professional range.

Just because the exposure area is smaller doesnt mean the quality will be lower, take for example digital cameras. the exposure area is even smaller than APS !!!

The main area where the APS kicks ass is in post production time...(important in the pro world.) where prints arent used much. The flim is scanned, images are processed into whatever format needed at a given resolution. Now no matter how careful you are with 35 mm positives or negatives, they get dusty, or pick up dust actually in the developing labs that sticks to the emulsion on the film. so when you work with images you have to not only process the image, colour correction etc, but also have to contend with removeng tiny dirt spots or fingerprints from the images. Because the aps is developed in a whole different way and the fim once developed is still contained within the roll, no dirt reaches it.!!!

now the quality of image just doesnt depend on the film type, it depends on the camera, you can put 35mm in a mid ranged camera, and not get the results from that say taken on a pro camera, the same goes for the aps system, the EOS 1X is a pro end camera, offereing all the benefits of the high end EOS Range, but the benefits of APS that i have outlined. However the EOS APS Cameras are not cheap!

I have 3 cameras now,

The Canon EOS D30 Digital SLR
The Canon EOS 300 Analogue SLR
The Canon EOS 1X APS SLR

Personally i use the APS now if i need high quality images and liitle or no post production work, most of the people i shoot for accept 35mm APS or digital format images for work, and given that i can use any of my flashes lenses etc with each camera body i have the flexibility at anytime.


One downside to the APS system is there arent that many places to get it developed, so quick turnround isnt always an option, i can get mine back in 3-5 days, if i need it quicker i use 35 mm or digital.

anyway hope this helps shed some light on things,if not feel free to grab me in Q or MSN, my msn is my hiotmail email in my profile.

tom