Another one from when I lived in Berlin in the early 2000s.

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The pictures from that time (which I've been publishing recently: Venezia and McMarx) were all taken with a Nikon SLR camera - I don't remember the model - that was distinctive for using the APS film format. APS stands for "Advanced Photo System" and was developed through a joint-initiative of the big players in the photography industry: Kodak, Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, and Minolta. It was their ultimate attempt to save amateur film photography from the fatal blow of digital photography.

APS was unique in that it was a "closed" system: everything was under control of the industry, from film and camera manufacturing through marketing to photo development. (Amateurs could not process the films at home as with standard 35mm films.) It reminds me of the Nespresso system of nowadays. You can find more information about APS in this 2017 post by The Photographer.

Needless to say, APS did not prevent the surge in digital photography that mostly killed the 35mm film industry. Who's old enough to remember there was a Kodak (or FujiFilm) logo in corner shops almost anywhere in the world,m even n the deep countryside? Buying films was a convenience purchase: one buys what's available (like AA batteries or condoms!), so the big 35mm film industry players made sure to position their products everywhere - from the biggest metropolises to the smallest pueblos. We now don't have this anymore. What's the new convenience purchase that substituted for 35mm films in the digital era?

Trivia: did you know that the first handheld digital camera was invented by Kodak in 1975, but the company dismissed it for fears that it would cannibalize/disrupt its 35mm film market? (This episode is a paradigmatic example of what is called "the innovator's dilemma" in economics and management of innovation.