The present invention relates to an indicator for a camera that indicates a selected photographic format of multiple possible photographic formats.
Conventionally, a camera having more than one photographic format is provided with shield plates arranged near the film plane to shade a part of the exposure area. For example, a multi-format camera, having a "panoramic" format in addition to a normal format, may use shield plates to provide a narrow "panoramic" exposure area. The shield plates are moved in and out of the optical path depending on the choice of format.
However, a roll of film exposed by a multi-format camera may include frames all exposed in the panoramic format, all in normal format, or in a mixture of both. When a user brings an exposed roll of film to a processing laboratory, the laboratory should be informed of the format of the exposed film. A typical multi-format camera has no means of indicating the format of the frames of the exposed film. When a roll of film rests in the camera for a long time, or when the camera (and the same roll of film) is used by different users, it is difficult to determine the format of the exposed film.