110 Film – The Film of Our Childhood

If you were a kid in the 1970s or 1980s, you probablyspeed and are set to take low film speeds. When the
owned a 110 film camera at one point, whether it haduser pops a 400 speed cartridge into the camera, the
Barbie or Star Wars on it. These small camerasresulting images are grossly over-exposed, causing
appealed to amateur photographers because of theirgrainy, washed out images.
ease of use. Instead of having to load the film yourself,Finding 110 Film
you simply popped the film cartridge in place andToday, finding 110 film is becoming more and more
started snapping pictures. The resulting images weren'tdifficult. As of 2008, Wal-Mart stores were still selling
the greatest, but you were just a kid after all, right?the Kodak version of the film, but many other
While you may have fond memories of your 110 filmmanufacturers have stopped making it, focusing
camera, you may not understand much about how itinstead on digital cameras and APS cartridge film.
worked and why this film format has been phased out.Those who still photograph 110 film should stock up,
What Is 110 Film?because chances are very high that the film will be
Kodak was the first to create 110 film, and they did sophased out completely soon. It can be frozen and then
in response to the success of their 126 cartridge film.used far past its expiration date.
The 110 film cartridge houses film that captures a 13 byScanning 110 Film
17 mm image. The film is covered by a backing paper,Most photographers today have moved past the
has a small notch in the top that allows the camera toproblematic 110 film. However, they may still have
advance the frames, and is returned to thenegatives stored in the attic that have priceless
photographer without the plastic case.memories recorded on them. The best thing to do with
Drawbacks of 110 Filmthese negatives is to have them scanned and digitized.
While 110 cameras were small and easy to use, theAs the film gets phased out, printing it at a photo lab
images they created often lacked clarity and quality.becomes more and more difficult. Not only that, but the
There are several reasons for this. First, the 110small size of these types of negatives makes it much
negative is much smaller than its competitors, whichmore likely that they will be damaged at some point
means the resulting image has to be enlargedwhile they are being stored. Scratches and fingerprints
significantly, causing it to lose quality.on these tiny negatives make huge blights on future
Another issue with 110 film is the cameras made for it.printed photographs, because the images must be
Most of these are fixed-focus cameras, which meanenlarged so much when printed. A digital image is the
the resulting image is going to be slightly blurry unlesssafest way to preserve the memories contained on
the subject is standing at the exact spot the camera is110 film negatives. Contact a scanning service today to
focused on. Also, most 110 cameras do not read filmstart scanning those 110 negatives.