Abstract: An automatic photographic printer is programmed to determine, from image classification pixel scan data, the existence of panoramic image frames interspersed among full size image frames on a film strip. The printer is initially set to assume all image frames are panoramic images until any one of the following test conditions is found that then indicates the image is not panoramic: (a) an initial pixel value indicates the existence of film density, (b) differences in pixel density values in rows within the non-panoramic areas of the frame indicate the existence of film density or (c) pixel density values on opposite sides of a line separating panoramic from non-panoramic frame areas indicate the absence of a frame edge.

Abstract: A method of operating a photographic printer to provide for automatic setup for a plurality of film types and conditions in which film term data for film types encountered by the printer is automatically created and periodically updated to reflect current experience using accumulated historical density data derived from scanning of film strips and in which exposure of image frames from a current film strip to a photosensitive medium is adjusted either by average density information stored for one or more film types from the historical data or by average density information derived from the current film strip with determination of which average density information to use being made automatically by comparison of either or both of film type or average minimum density information of the film strip with the corresponding stored information. Automatic adjustment of tungsten illumination exposure and automatic updating of slope compensation factors for under- and over-exposed negatives are also described.

Abstract: A multi-field latent image bar code is photographically recorded in every half frame of a strip of photographic film, at least one of the fields of the code representing information pertaining to film type and another one of the fields representing the half-frame number.