Minox AX: what is it good for?

tjwspm

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When I was offered a Minox AX in the summer, I simply couldn't resist. The Minox AX is the perfection of mechanical Minox cameras. And it is by no means just for collectors. It also does its job pretty well.

How do you see it? Here are my thoughts:

Golden Eye

The perfection of the legendary Riga Minox The Minox AX is the culmination of a decades-long tradition that began with the legendary Riga Minox. This tiny
moments-of-now.com
 

xkaes

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Since my wallet isn't much bigger than a Minox, I'll stick with my IIIs..
 

ic-racer

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Wow, I have been looking for a black one since 1999 with no luck. In 2001 I ordered one from the scam site "Cambridge World."
Fortunately my credit card company got my money back.

 
Last edited:
OP
OP

tjwspm

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xkaes said:
Since my wallet isn't much bigger than a Minox, I'll stick with my IIIs..
Click to expand...

Then you might like this one:

My most beautiful Minox A: La Belle

While my first Minox A IIIs was traveling, I became impatient and wanted to see for myself what a Minox A IIIs looks like from the inside. At that time, I
moments-of-now.com
 
OP
OP

tjwspm

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Your Minox photos are great. That's why I've been linking to them for some time now:

Gallery

Behind the images shown here is the concept of the present. They reflect the brevity, the fleetingness but also the decisiveness of the moment. They don't want to show the beauty of the world, nor the ugliness.
moments-of-now.com
 

xkaes

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If Sergey's photo don't convince you that there should be a SUBMINI SUB-FORUM, than nothing will. "Submini" and "Lo-Fi" are two different concepts.
 

bernard_L

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The quality --technical but not only-- of your photos on flickr is fantastic!
May I ask --no offense-- is there was any post-processing (other than levels) like smart grain reduction and/or edge enhancement?
 

Sergey Ko

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bernard_L said:
The quality --technical but not only-- of your photos on flickr is fantastic!
May I ask --no offense-- is there was any post-processing (other than levels) like smart grain reduction and/or edge enhancement?
Click to expand...
1. I used ADOX CMSII or SPUR
2. I took photos from negatives using FF Sony A900 + macrolens with bellows
3. I use rather old version of PS, so always Levels, sometimes Curves, Patch tool for dust. After all I minimise the image from 20-24Mpx to 2-3 with standart bicubic reduction engine.
I usually do not use Sharpen, Sharpen edge, Smart sharpen or Unsharp mask if it is not necessary to get some exclusive image. I don't like this instruments because the result is rather rough
 

Sergey Ko

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By the way... I looked through your album page:

ipernity: Bernard Lazareff's albums

The worlds largest non-commercial photo, video and blog sharing community - financed only by membership dues, without any intention of making a profit.
www.ipernity.com
It is excellent! I have no time now, but I'll return to explore it later. Is it all film images?
 

Sergey Ko

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xkaes said:
If Sergey's photo don't convince you that there should be a SUBMINI SUB-FORUM, than nothing will. "Submini" and "Lo-Fi" are two different concepts.
Click to expand...

I played with Minox 8x11 for 2-3 years. First, Minox is very attractive camera technically! Second- it is some form of challenge: extra quality from micro format
The third reason -I am very lazy to carry heavy equipment
If someone will start SUBMINI forum -I'll join with pleasure, I played not only with Minox, but a lot of interesting 16mm cameras.
 

bernard_L

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Thank you for the kind words. I'm especially happy when more people get to see these pictures.
Yes, it is all film. Roughly 2/3 MF and 1/3 35mm.
 

fabulousrice

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What a beautiful camera! This is the reason why I wish this website had a lending club based on geographic location. I have a lot of rare cameras and I would love to lend them and also borrow cameras I would love to try out.
 

fabulousrice

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ic-racer said:
25 years later the exact same Minox AX listing I fell for.

Security Measure

blattworld.com
Click to expand...

There's an ebay link but their ebay page doesn't have this item listed... it would be easier for someone to trust ebay than their windows 98 themed website? Also without any high-resolution photos, just one low-res photo of the item? Such interesting business choices.
 

steved

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xkaes said:
If Sergey's photo don't convince you that there should be a SUBMINI SUB-FORUM, than nothing will. "Submini" and "Lo-Fi" are two different concepts.
Click to expand...

Fully endorse the sentiment. The photos are fantastic. Love the attention to detail allowing for Sharp focus of the foreground object and the fade in the background. Takes a little bit of effort to achieve that given the incredible depth of field of this lens
 

xkaes

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The DOF isn't as deep as it seems. It's really the equivalent of a 50mm f3.5 lens in full-frame 35mm format, so careful focusing really helps. Not exactly your Grandma's P&S.
 

steved

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xkaes said:
The DOF isn't as deep as it seems. It's really the equivalent of a 50mm f3.5 lens in full-frame 35mm format, so careful focusing really helps. Not exactly your Grandma's P&S.
Click to expand...


I guess my only point was the small distance on the knob from 6 ft to the infinity mark. If you want to focus on someone at the 6-ft mark and really blur out the background probably best to place your subject at the 6 ft mark with the zone of sharpness, as it's known, ending on the 6 ft mark. Bottom pic. That way your subject will be clear but the background blurred out. It's just a little fiddly getting the knob set properly with older vision to such short distances between markings
 
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