Anybody got a real use for them? Are they the most pointless things ever invented, or what? Now I can see the point of the odd snap with the date on, or date/data imprinting for scientific purposes, but surely this is in general the second worst photographic gimmick of all time (the worst being so-called "panoramic" modes that simply mask part of the neg). I wouldn't include all such backs in this condemnation - others provide potentially useful facilities as well. But the question remains - WHY????
Why indeed Nick, I agree entirely. As they say in Dubai "The Databack is like the broken pencil, totally pointless" BigWill
i suppose that date backs are ok on the run of the mill compact's, but on a decent slr they are totally pointless. if the date was printed on the edge of the film, like the film makers name is, then it might be of some use, but not on the print. but saying all of that guess who has a new eos 30 with a date back? it came in the wrong box, honest!
I agree that Date (Data) backs are a waste of time, those that print on the emulsion side anyway. APS and digital record the information in different ways and is available to the printer to use as he sees fit, which is more useful.
Seems like even those with date functions agree. I have a zoom compact with a dateback (well, it's the wife's, really) - the date function gets used once every 2 years, on average. What made me ask this is that I bought a second-hand EOS 10 which turned out to be the QD version - I hadn't even spotted that while trying it out in the shop! This does at least have the virtue of being unusual - the imprinting mechanism is in the body, rather than the back - but I have never used the facility. Incidentally, I bought this camera for the interval timer - which I haven't used either! Another useless(ish) function.
