Film Labels

Author of text and photos: Goran Katić

If you were purchasing a film, surely you have noticed many labels on the film packages like ASA, C-41, E-6... To make this short, here are some explanations:

Film Sensitivity:

ASA – American Standards Association. Western system of labeling film’s sensitivity to light.

DIN – Deutsche Industrie Normen. Eastern system of labeling film’s sensitivity to light.

ISO – International Standards Organization. International system for labeling film’s sensitivity to light.

ISO is, none the less, the most popular label for film sensitivity in the world.

Sensitivity table of ASA/DIN systems
ISO(ASA) 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30    
DIN 1,5 3 6 12 24 50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200

 

Film types according to developing process:

C-41 – label for the most known color negative developing process.

CN-16 – label for C-41, but by Fuji standards.

AP-70 – label for C-41, but by Agfa standards.

E-6 – label for developing slides.

Film types according to format size:

110 – Negative size 13x17 mm, very popular format in the eighties, but it’s not produced any more. Films were packaged in plastic cassettes which were had to be torn before developing, a nightmare of every lab technician. This film could not give large prints because of bad lenses and small size negatives. Film was presented in 1972 by Kodak Company, today it’s no longer produced, although, you can still find it in some photo studios.

120 – Negative size 28x28 mm, same width like 135mm film, so this film was able to be developed in the same developing pots. Film was presented in 1963 by Kodak Company, but it never achieved big popularity so it was taken off the market in 1999.

135(35) – Negative size 24x36 mm. Label for the most outspread and most popular film format size in the world. It was presented as today’s format in 1934. With its own popularity it overpowered 120 film format, and not even introduction of new formats like 110 and APS didn’t beat down its popularity.

APS – Film’s width is 24mm, and it has three shooting formats sizes.

  • H - "HDTV" (30.2 x 16.7 mm; aspect ratio 16:9)
  • C - "classic" (25.1 x 16.7 mm; aspect ratio 3:2)
  • P - "panoramic" (30.2 x 9.5 mm; aspect ratio 3:1)

It was presented in 1996 by consortium of Kodak, Fujifilm, Minolta, Nikon, and Canon Companies with intention to overpower the 135mm film format. However, because of the mass exploitation of 135mm films and market presentations of new digital cameras, APS never became popular photographing media. Today, it can still be found, but most of the studios don’t have a development technology for this kind of format.

Film types according to image quantity:

There are films which have 12, 24, 36 images per box, while APS films come in packages of 15, 25, 40 shots.

 

I hope I helped you find your way in all this labels.