Minox 8x11
The Minox 8x11 is a miniature camera for cassette film in the film format 8 × 11 mm. It is considered the "classic" Minox camera and became known as the agent camera . It was produced for almost 75 years with various changes and under different model names until 2012.
Pre-war model
The original Minox with the film format 6.5 × 9 mm was developed in Reval in 1936 by the trained photographer and designer Walter Zapp .
The successor model, the Riga Minox, was a miniature camera with a film format of 8 × 11 mm, which became known worldwide primarily due to its reputation as a "spy camera". Initially, the camera was produced from 1938 by the Riga company VEF (Valsts elektrotehniskā fabrika) , which has no relation to today's Minox GmbH . Up to the end of production in 1943, 17,500 cameras of this type had been manufactured in Riga. The Riga Minox has been patented or patent pending by VEF in various countries around the world.
The first version of the camera differed from the later models in numerous details: the lens , shutter and viewfinder were of simple construction , the housing was made of stainless steel and weighed about twice the current light metal housing . Nevertheless, the Riga Minox is a camera that is now a sought-after collector's item due to its innovative concept, shape, size and reliability.
Post war models
After the Second World War , Walter Zapp founded Minox GmbH in Wetzlar in 1945 with his business partner Richard Jürgens . The Minox has been completely redesigned: The simple lens of the original model was replaced by a then ultra-modern, four-lens lens with a sharpness that cannot be fully exploited to this day with the film material available for the camera. The previous shutter gave way to a much softer and quieter lamellar shutter , the originally simple see-through viewfinder was replaced by a bright frame viewfinder with automatic parallax compensation . As part of the facelift in 1954, it was equipped with a synchronous contact for flashing light . In 1958 the Minox B with the coupled selenium cells - light meter . Because of this new name for the camera, the name Minox A was subsequently established for the previous model .
In 1969, the new top model, the Minox C , was launched, one of the first cameras with electronic automatic exposure . In 1972, the successor of the Minox B, which appeared Minox BL equipped with a CdS - Nachführbelichtungsmesser .
As the successor to the Minox C, the Minox LX was produced from 1978 . In a technically unchanged form, this camera is still available in stores as Minox TLX (with titanium anodized aluminum housing ) or as a special model Minox CLX (with chrome-plated brass housing and guilloche surface) (as of January 2013), but has not been available since April 1, 2012 more produced.
The Minox EC , released in spring 1981, is an even smaller version of the Minox 8 × 11 mm cameras (pushed together / pulled out 80/95 × 15 × 30 mm) compared to the LX. Thanks to its plastic housing, at 58 g it also weighs 30 g less than the LX - it is the same plastic as the Minox 35 , Makrolon . Their lower price was due to simpler technology.
Minox later produced several 8 × 11 models (ECX, CLX and TLX), which are equipped with automatic timing, four-lens Minox or Minar lenses and an electronically controlled central shutter. An even smaller model (Minox MX) was equipped with simpler technology (three-lens lens, fixed exposure time and film transport wheel).
8 × 11 cameras have not been produced since April 1, 2012. In addition to other products, the manufacturer only offers a digital camera under the name “Minox DSC digital spy camera” , which is reminiscent of the 8 × 11 cameras in size and design.
Film format
The MINOX film required for 8 × 11 photography has been available over the decades in a wide variety of versions for color, slide and black and white photography. Up until the early 1970s there were films with 50 recordings, later only with 36, 15 (so-called weekend films) and currently also with 30 recordings (MINOCOLOR 100 pro). Furthermore, since 2001, on a private initiative, various modern black and white films such as microfilms have been offered in conjunction with special developers from SPUR for high-resolution photography with the MINOX.
The MINOX film was delivered in small daylight double cassettes (similar in structure to the 110 pocket film - but without a paper allonge ), after taking photos it was wound from one side to the other and finally removed from the camera. The film did not have to be threaded in or rewound - this made it possible to change the film extremely quickly, as well as a partial exposure and later re-use of the film once it was inserted. For technical reasons, the cassette was made of metal until the middle of 1967, then made of plastic. The color material was primarily supplied by Agfa , later also Fuji, the black and white material initially by Adox , and later by Agfa as well. The handy format of the cassettes made smuggling film cassettes easier for secret services. The cassettes were often broken at the bridge and only the spool with the exposed film was transported. The Stasi developed special transport containers, where unauthorized access led to the destruction of the film for these purposes.
equipment
A range of accessories - from a compact hand-held light meter to a tripod to home laboratory equipment - expanded the possible uses of the MINOX miniature camera right from the start. Examples are a special negative magnifying glass, later the binoculars for telephoto or microphotography on binoculars or microscopes, a repro stand for photographic reproduction and the space-saving archiving of documents, or the viewfinder mirror for unnoticed "taking pictures around the corner". The diverse and constantly changing accessories for photography, processing and archiving over time made MINOX 8 × 11 an interesting system for collectors. Minox also provided a wide range of accessories for processing films in the home laboratory or while traveling (particularly interesting for secret service activities). This includes a special daylight developing box as well as various models of a Minox enlarger specially tailored to the small negative format - still called "large copiers" at the time of MINOX Riga. Minox also had various slide projectors and accessories such as the slide film punch in its range.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Serial numbers, 8x11 mm . Minox. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- ↑ Pēteris Skorovs: Minox Patents ( English ) In: Historical patents . Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- ↑ Destruction container for Minox films. In: German Spy Museum. Retrieved on March 11, 2020 (German).
See also
literature
- Hubert E. Heckmann: MINOX - Variations in 8 × 11. 2nd Edition. Wittig Fachbuchverlag, Hückelhoven 2004, ISBN 3-88984-122-8 .
- Rolf Kasemeier: Small MINOX - Big Pictures. ISBN 3-89506-153-0 .
- Morris Moses: Spycamera - The Minox Story. ISBN 0-906447-43-7 .
- Peter Eberhard: Octahedron: Spy-cam Sketches Minox 8 × 11. Peer cop., Lucerne 2012, ISBN 978-3-905942-07-1 .
Web links
- Serial numbers 8 × 11 cameras. Minox GmbH, accessed on January 23, 2013 .
- www.minox.de - Internet offer of the manufacturer
- Operating instructions, tips and collector's literature
- VEF Minox Riga Fan Website (English)