135 is photographic film in a film format used for still photography. It is a cartridge
film with a film gauge of 35 mm, typically used for hand-held photography in 35 mm film
cameras. The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934
as a designation for the cassette for 35 mm film, specifically for still photography.
It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most
popular photographic film size. Despite competition from formats such as 828, 126, 110, and APS,
it remains so today. 135 camera film always comes perforated with
Kodak Standard perforations. The size of the 135 film frame has been adopted
by many high-end digital single-lens reflex cameras, referred to as full-frame digital
SLRs.
Characteristics Cassette
Individual rolls of 135 film are enclosed in single-spool, light-tight, metal cassettes
to allow cameras to be loaded in daylight. The film is clipped or taped to a spool and
exits via a slot lined with flocking. The end of the film is cut on one side to form
a leader. It has the same dimensions and perforation pitch as 35 mm movie print film.
Most cameras require the film to be rewound before the camera is opened. Some motorized
cameras unwind the film fully upon loading and then expose the images in reverse order,
returning the film to the cassette; this protects all images except the last one or two, should
the camera back be accidentally opened. Disposable cameras use the same technique so that the
user does not have to rewind. Since the 1980s film cassettes have been marked
with a DX encoding pattern; conforming cameras detect this and set their light meters according
to film speed. Different films are sensitive to light at different degrees; this film speed
is standardised by ISO. Film type and speed
135 film has been made in several emulsion types and sensitivities. Since the introduction
of digital cameras the most usual films have colour emulsions of ISO 100/21° to ISO 800/30°.
Films of lower sensitivity and higher sensitivity are for more specialist purposes. There are
colour and monochrome films, negative and positive. Monochrome film is usually panchromatic;
orthochromatic has fallen out of use. Film designed to be sensitive to infrared radiation
can be obtained, both monochrome and with false-colour rendition. More exotic emulsions
have been available in 135 than other roll-film sizes.
Image format
The term 135 format commonly refers to a 36×24 mm film format, which originated with 135 film,
although other formats have been applied to the film.
The 36×24 mm format is common to digital image sensors, where it is typically referred
to as full frame format. On 135 film, the longer dimension of the 36×24 mm
frame runs parallel to the length of the film. The perforation size and pitch are according
to the standard specification KS-1870. For each frame, the film advances 8 perforations.
This is specified as 1.4960 inches. This allows for 2 mm gaps between frames. Each
camera model has a different location for the sprocket which advances the film. Therefore
each camera model’s frame will vary in position relative to the perforations. The film is
approximately 0.14 mm thick. Other image formats have been applied to 135
film, such as the half-frame format of 18×24 mm which earned some popularity in the 1960s,
and the 24×24 mm of the Robot cameras. The successful range of Olympus Pen cameras utilized
the smaller half-frame size, allowing the design of a very compact SLR camera. Unusual
formats include the 24×32 mm and 24×34 mm on the early Nikon rangefinders, and 24×23 mm
for use with some stereo cameras. In 1967, the Soviet KMZ factory introduced a 24×58 mm
panoramic format with its Horizont camera. In 1998, Hasselblad and Fuji introduced a
24×65 mm panoramic format with the XPan/TX-1 camera. There is also a 21×14 mm format
used by Tessina subminiature camera.
Length The film is available in lengths for varying
numbers of exposures. The standard full-length roll has always been 36 exposures. Through
about 1980, 20 exposure rolls were the only shorter length with widespread availability.
Since then, 20 exposure rolls have been largely discontinued in favour of 24 and 12 exposure
rolls. With most cameras it is possible to get 3 more exposures than the nominal capacity
on the film if the camera is loaded in a darkroom and some cameras allow this with daylight
loading. 27 exposure disposable cameras are loaded in the dark with standard 24 exposure
cassette. Other, mostly shorter lengths have been manufactured.
There have been some 6, 8, 10, and 15 exposure rolls given away as samples, sometimes in
disposable cameras, or used by insurance adjusters to document damage claims. Photographers who
load their own cassettes can use any length of film – with thinner film base up to 45
exposures will fit. Ilford at one time made HP5 black-and-white
film on a thin polyester base, which allowed 72 exposures in a single cassette. They produced
special reels and tanks to allow this to be processed.
History 35 mm still cameras
The 135 film size is derived from earlier still cameras using lengths of 35 mm cine
film, the same size as, but with different perforations than, 135 film. The 35 mm film
standard for motion picture film was established in Thomas Edison's lab by William Kennedy
Laurie Dickson. Dickson took 70 mm film stock supplied by George Eastman's Eastman Kodak
Company. The 70 mm film was cut lengthwise into two equal width strips, spliced together
end to end, and then perforated along both edges. The original picture size was 18×24 mm.
There were four perforations on each side of a motion picture frame.
While the Leica camera popularized the format, several 35 mm still cameras used perforated
movie film before the Leica was introduced in the 1920s. The first patent for one was
issued to Leo, Audobard and Baradat in England in 1908. The first full-scale production camera
was the Homeos, a stereo camera, produced by Jules Richard in 1913, and was sold until
1920. It took 18x24 mm stereo pairs, using two Tessar lenses.
In 1909, the French Étienne Mollier (fr) designed a device small-format photography,
the "Cent-Vues (fr)", which used the 35 mm perforated film to take consecutive hundred
views in 18×24 mm. He manufactured, won the gold medal in the Concours Lépine, and
in 1910 sold at a small scale and without much success.
The first big-selling 35 mm still camera was the American Tourist Multiple, which also
appeared in 1913, at a cost of $175 The first camera to take full-frame 24×36 mm exposures
seems to be the Simplex, introduced in the U.S. in 1914. It took either 800 half-frame
or 400 full-frame shots on 50 ft rolls. The Minigraph, by Levy-Roth of Berlin, another
half-frame small camera was sold in Germany in 1915. The patent for the Debrie Sept camera,
a combination 35 mm still and movie camera was issued in 1918; the camera sold from 1922.
The Furet camera made and sold in France in 1923 took full-frame 24x36 mm negatives, and
was the first cheap small 35 mm camera of similar appearance to more modern models.
Leica
The Leica camera designed by Oskar Barnack used 35 mm film, and proved that a format
as small as 24 mm × 36 mm was suitable for professional photography.
Although Barnack designed his prototype camera around 1913, the first experimental production
run of ur-Leicas did not take place until 1923. Full scale production of the Leica did
not begin until 1925. While by that time there were at least a dozen other 35 mm cameras
available, the Leica was a success, and came to be associated with the format. Mostly because
of this 35 mm popularity, as well as entire company legacy, early Leica cameras considered
as highly collectible items these days. The original Leica prototype holds the record
as being the world's most expensive camera, it was sold for €2.16 million in 2012.
Pre loaded cassettes and Kodak Retina cameras
In the earliest days, the photographer had to load the film into reusable cassettes and,
at least for some cameras, cut the film leader. In 1934, Kodak introduced a 135 daylight-loading
single-use cassette. This cassette was engineered so that it could be used in both Leica and
Zeiss Ikon Contax cameras along with the camera for which it was invented, namely the Kodak
Retina camera. The Retina camera and this daylight loading cassette were the invention
of Dr. August Nagel of the Kodak AG Dr. Nagel Werk in Stuttgart. Kodak bought Dr. August
Nagel's company in December, 1931, and began marketing the Kodak Retina in the summer of
1934. The first Kodak Retina camera was a Typ 117. The 35 mm Kodak Retina camera line
remained in production until 1969. Kodak also introduced a line of American made cameras
that were simpler and more economical than the Retina. Argus, too, made a long-lived
range of 35mm cameras; notably the Argus C3. Kodak launched 135-format Kodachrome color
film in 1936. AGFA followed with the introduction of Agfacolor Neu later in the same year.
The designations 235 and 435 refer to 35 mm film in daylight-loading spools, that could
be loaded into Leica or Contax style reusable cassettes without need of a darkroom. The
335 was a daylight loading spool for the 24 × 23 mm stereo format.
The reflex camera
Reflex viewfinders, both twin-and single-lens, had been used with earlier cameras using plates
and rollfilm. The first 35 mm single-lens reflex was the
Kine Exakta, introduced in 1936. World War II interrupted development of the type. After
the war, Exakta resumed development and the Contax S model with the now familiar pentaprism
viewing feature was introduced in 1949. In the 1950s, the SLR also began to be produced
in Japan by such companies as Asahi and Miranda. Asahi's Pentax introduced the instant-return
mirror, important for the popularity of SLRs; until then the viewfinder on an SLR camera
blanked as the mirror sprang out of the optical path just before taking the picture, returning
when the film was wound on. Nikon's F model, introduced in March 1959, was a system camera
that greatly improved the quality and utility of 35 mm format cameras, encouraging professionals
to switch from larger format cameras to the versatile, rugged, and fast SLR design. Numerous
other film formats waxed and waned in popularity, but by the 1970s, interchangeable-lens SLR
cameras and smaller rangefinders, from expensive Leicas to "point-and-shoot" pocket cameras,
were all using 35 mm film, and manufacturers had proliferated.
Colour films improved, both for print negatives and reversal slides, while black-and-white
films offered smoother grain and faster speeds than previously available. Since 35 mm was
preferred by both amateur and professional photographers, makers of film stock have long
offered the widest range of different film speeds and types in the format. The DX film-speed
encoding system was introduced in the 1980s, as were single-use cameras pre-loaded with
35 mm film and using plastic lenses of reasonable enough quality to produce acceptable snapshots.
Automated all-in-one processing and printing machines made 35 mm developing easier and
less expensive, so that quality colour prints became available not only from photographic
specialty stores, but also from supermarkets, drugstores, and big box retailers, often in
less than an hour. From 1996
In 1996 a smaller format called Advanced Photo System was introduced by a consortium of photographic
companies in an attempt to supersede 135 film. Due in part to its small negative size, APS
was not taken seriously as a professional format, despite the production of APS SLRs.
In the point-and-shoot markets at which the format was primarily aimed, it enjoyed moderate
initial success, but still never rivalled the market penetration of 135. Within five
years of its launch, cheap digital compact cameras started becoming widely available,
and APS sales plummeted.
Such digital compact cameras also eroded the market for 35 mm compact cameras. Digital
SLRs at a price comparable with consumer-level 35 mm SLRs were developed, further reducing
the demand for 135 film. Most of these use so-called "APS-C" sized sensors, approximately
16×24 mm in size. A few digital SLRs use "full frame" sensors, the same size as 135
film. Sales of all film sizes declined to a very large extent; of the remaining sizes,
135 is the most popular. While they have shifted the vast majority
of their product lines to digital, major camera manufacturers such as Canon and Nikon continue
to make expensive professional-grade 35 mm film SLRs. Introductory 35 mm SLRs, compact
film point-and-shoot cameras, and single-use cameras continue to be built and sold by a
number of makers. Leica finally introduced the digital Leica M8 rangefinder in 2007,
but continues to make its M series rangefinder film cameras and lenses. A digital camera
back for the Leica R9 SLR camera was discontinued in 2007. On March 25, 2009, Leica discontinued
the R9 SLR and R-series lenses. See also
List of color film systems References
External links Media related to 135 film at Wikimedia Commons