We despise many things in the digital age, especially the automation of many functions. In the early days of film, everything was completely manual, and even one parameter set incorrectly could ruin an entire reel. In the late 20th century, a standard called DX (D.independenceX) was introduced, and it automated a lot of settings, reduced errors, and made photography more accessible to amateurs and casual users alike. How it works? This neat video takes you behind the scenes of the amazingly complex system.
Coming to you from technology connection, this interesting video will show you how DX movie encoding works. First introduced by Kodak in 1983, the DX system has many parts: the barcode on the edge of the film strip below the sprocket holes, the encoding on the cartridge itself, and the barcode used for development. While the DX system is extremely useful for photo developers, it also makes photography easier by automating a lot of things. Cameras capable of reading DX encoding can automatically set ISO, exposure count, and exposure tolerance when a cartridge is inserted into the camera. This may seem small, but if you forget to set the ISO, you can overexpose or underexpose the entire roll. Also, it’s always helpful to know exactly how much exposure you have left, and having exposure tolerance settings is great for a camera with advanced functionality. Check out the video above for the full recap.
