Fuji Acros film numbering system

[Ron betcher]

Does anybody know how to decode the alphabet numbering system on the edge of the film?

I can only assume that it corresponds to the numbers on the outside of the Quickload in some way, but I can't crack the code. I was surprised not to see the same numbers on the package also inprinted on the film.

[Kirk Keyes]

Hi,

There is no really code as far as I can tell. I once tried to decode it with the assumption that the alpha characters were relpacements for numbers, with with some sort of offset. But that does not work.

But the code on the film does correspond to the code that is printed onto each envelope. For example (and I'm making up the numbers for this example as I don't have any actual film at hand), if your envelope has the code 'BC-1563' then your film will have something like 'BC ACFD'.

Note that the first letters on the envelope match the first two letters on the sheet of film. The numbers are then converted into a psuedo 'alpha' code on the film. It looks like it should be a simple code such as 1=A, 2=B, 3=C, but it is not. But that does not matter as they do follow the normal alphabetic sequence of ABCDEFGHIJ for the code. (There is an offset but it seems to change with time - perhaps this is due to production batches having different starting numbers.)

But your next packet should have 'BC-1564' on it, then the code on the film will be 'BC ACFE', and 'BC-1565' will be 'BC ACFF' and so on...

So you simply need retain the envelopes / sleeves, then lay all your film out in alphabetic order, and then sort your envelopes in numeric order, and the two sets will match up.

Kirk www.keyesphoto.com www.lotus30.com