Advanced Photo System

<p>Advanced Photo System (APS) is a <a href="/facts/Film_format/hoH7lLa3">film format</a> for consumer still <a href="/facts/Photography/ezLPT43M">photography</a> first marketed in 1996 and discontinued in 2011. It was sold by various manufacturers under several brand names, including <a href="/facts/Eastman_Kodak/zMnK74Cp">Eastman Kodak</a> (Advantix), <a href="/facts/FujiFilm/jkNJkzet">FujiFilm</a> (Nexia), <a href="/facts/Agfa-Gevaert/TNsfjVuj">Agfa</a> (Futura) and <a href="/facts/Konica/YaNCPpjF">Konica</a> (Centuria). Development was led by Kodak starting in the mid-1980s.
</p><p>Like prior attempts to displace <a href="/facts/135_film/UWGpI8k5">135 film</a> from the amateur photography market, including <a href="/facts/126_film/h8njgwCu">126 film</a> (<a href="/facts/Instamatic/Dyr68cUp">Instamatic</a>), <a href="/facts/110_film/RtIkwo27">110</a>, and <a href="/facts/Disc_film/DdG4HCQa">disc</a>, APS used a film cartridge to reduce loading errors. APS also could reduce camera and lens size and weight by using a smaller image format; unlike the older amateur formats, image quality would be maintained by using newly-developed films, featuring emulsions with finer grain size and a flatter base material. The other major innovation delivered by APS was the "information exchange" process in which the camera recorded data directly on the film; this would simplify cropping prints to a desired aspect ratio and potentially could provide photofinishers with exposure data to optimize print quality. However, by the time APS was released in 1996, the first <a href="/facts/Digital_camera/LSGTserm">digital cameras</a> had appeared, providing many of the same benefits with the additional convenience and economy of eliminating the developing process.
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Advanced Photo System open-in-new

Advanced Photo System