A few points are missed here......
I have made 16x20 and 20x24 prints from 35mm color negatives. Since the APS film is the same as 35mm but just a bit smaller, then by extrapolation we can make about 11x14 and 16x20 prints from APS with the same quality. The film is not grainier, it is smaller. And on the negative itself, a panoramic image still occupies the same frame size.
As for film formats, I do not deny that Kodak introduced a host of film formats. But, some formats came from other companies and thus the format wars began. So, it was not a matter of Kodak doing it by themselves. Also, as Kodak began to dominate the market, the size wars stabilized on just a few dominant formats.
As for producing some of the formats today, this would take a lot of equipment that just does not exist. In addition, at least 126 required an extra step in preparation in which the entire strip of film was flashed to form frames around the sites where the image was to be placed on exposure. In other words, a 125 film strip was designed to have a constant exposure level (at least as much as possible) to give higher quality and more uniform processing by having the developer remain in better balance.
All of these smaller formats were made possible by the C41 process and the finer grained films. IMHO, I agree with everyone that 110 and Disc films failed in both grain and sharpness, but our children loved those cameras and carried them everywhere. They took a lot of photos, and they told us that their friends loved them. So, acceptance depends on market. I hated them personally.
PE
I have made 16x20 and 20x24 prints from 35mm color negatives. Since the APS film is the same as 35mm but just a bit smaller, then by extrapolation we can make about 11x14 and 16x20 prints from APS with the same quality. The film is not grainier, it is smaller. And on the negative itself, a panoramic image still occupies the same frame size.
As for film formats, I do not deny that Kodak introduced a host of film formats. But, some formats came from other companies and thus the format wars began. So, it was not a matter of Kodak doing it by themselves. Also, as Kodak began to dominate the market, the size wars stabilized on just a few dominant formats.
As for producing some of the formats today, this would take a lot of equipment that just does not exist. In addition, at least 126 required an extra step in preparation in which the entire strip of film was flashed to form frames around the sites where the image was to be placed on exposure. In other words, a 125 film strip was designed to have a constant exposure level (at least as much as possible) to give higher quality and more uniform processing by having the developer remain in better balance.
All of these smaller formats were made possible by the C41 process and the finer grained films. IMHO, I agree with everyone that 110 and Disc films failed in both grain and sharpness, but our children loved those cameras and carried them everywhere. They took a lot of photos, and they told us that their friends loved them. So, acceptance depends on market. I hated them personally.
PE