Minox Carry Options

[xya]

I haven't shot my Minox in ages, but when I did, I just carried it in my pants pocket. It never fell out, but maybe I was just lucky. Maybe it depends on what kind of pants you wear. I can't help you there.

+1. Obviously it depends on the pants. I carry mine in their original leather cases, just stuffed into the poket of my jeans. No way that they can fall out from there...

 

[mtnbkr]

I would be tempted to get a kydex holster maker build me an AIWB holster.

Chris

 

[guangong]

The Minox B came fitted with a chain attached at the bottom of the camera and at the other end is a leather tab with a button hole. Camera fits in case, chain is threaded through case, attach tab to button on pocket or jacket. If your B came without a measuring chain, you should get one. Makes life easier.
Other Minox models use a chain with a round clasp that can be attached to belt loop. I just wrap chain around my wrist.
Cases were made of very good leather. Mine still holds up.

 

[Minox]

There are also Minox cameras where the chain attachment is of screw-in type, such as the Minox LX.

There were wrist chain also, for this type of screw in connector, but I doubt they were made by Minox. I have a couple of these, and they are great for securing the camera to your hand.

Alternatively, you can build your own wrist chain/strap by procuring some such chain (see the camera neck strap chains) and fashion it to your liking. And while you're at it, make a neck strap, excellent while traveling and trekking.

http://juliantanase.com/secure-your-minox/

Minox EC/ECX has a hook-on strap, two types, a neck strap (textile) and a B-like chain (unnotched though). Both are hooking onto the end of the camera, where a metallic loop is affixed.

 

[Minox]

Just a thought: Minox has made cameras and accessories to last (almost) a lifetime. Not unlike the fountain pens of old. I run a vintage fountain pens repair shop (the only one in Romania) and I am also a collector. Many pens I see that were made in the 20's or 30's are still fully usable, which speaks volumes about the craftmanship that went into these objects. Real professionals, building things to last.

You see some of these beautiful pens here, on my pen website: www.stilourideieri.ro (google translate is your friend).

I have written an article regarding the craftmanship of old, if anyone is interested:

http://juliantanase.com/not-unlike-minox/

Hope you'll enjoy these!

 

[FriedLouisStudio]

I carried a Minox IIIS daily for nearly 20 years in a series of cheap black Nylon belt cases designed for pocketknives. I mostly got them at well stocked Army-Navy stores (where I could actually try putting the cameras in and taking them out), but no doubt they can be found online easily.

Oh, I have original leather cases for both my IIIS and B, and a couple of measuring chains... but they'd never stand up to daily use, I really considered them more as collectibles. When I first got the IIIS, I actually broke its chain in the first few days: it got caught on a seatbelt. Thereafter, I never wore the chains... and I repurposed the plug from that broken chain by putting it on a whistle lanyard to carry the camera "at hand".

 

[madsox]

Carrying the Minox around is easy enough, but what do you shoot in it? Self-made/loaded cartridges of film cut down from some more standard stock?

 

[xkaes]

Carrying the Minox around is easy enough, but what do you shoot in it? Self-made/loaded cartridges of film cut down from some more standard stock?

Of course. There's a current discussion going on right now about cutting down 70mm film to 120, and a lot of people cut down 120 -- for SIX Minox rolls, or 35mm -- for TWO Minox rolls.

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...ling-medium-format-film-with-pictures.196700/

 

[FriedLouisStudio]

madsox: Actually, I stopped shooting with a Minox about five years ago. But... yes.

My second time as a Minox shooter began in 1995 (I'd previously had one from 1967 to 1969), and I mostly shot T-Max 100, which I slit and loaded into MInox cassettes myself. A 36-exposure 35mm roll yielded four 36-exp Minox loads. I generally developed in D-76 1:1 and made 4x5 and 5x7 prints on an Omega D-3v.

I also got good results with dearly departed Plus-X 125 and (1990s) Agfapan APX 100. And for color - back when Minox Processing Laboratories on Long Island was still in operation - Fuji Reala 100 and Kodak Supra 100. Some old scans:

 

[Bill Burk]

I used to join the chain to itself, making a necklace, then the camera went in a shirt pocket.

There was the time I tried to sneak into a Ramones concert with film in my shirt pocket and the camera in my front pants pocket.

Bouncer stopped me asked me what was in my pocket “film” I said. “No cameras allowed” he said. I offered to throw out the film, and I did.

Then he asked me where the camera was and I pointed at my pants. He frowned as if to say “I’m not checking that” and just waved me in.

(Cell phone shot of negatives through microscope and inverted)

 

[xkaes]

madsox: Actually, I stopped shooting with a Minox about five years ago. But... yes.

I just nabbed a Asanuma Acmel MD -- which is the same body as the Minox MX, but It adds a CdS meter that provides automatic exposure control of the shutter: 1/500 - 2 seconds. Film speeds from 25 - 400 and focsuing to 12 inches. I'm not sure yet if I'll be trading in my Minox IIIs, but I'm hopeful of the results. The lens looks multi-coated when compared to the Minox MX -- which seems odd.

Unlike the old days, there are a lot of non-Minox cameras to choose from

http://www.subclub.org/shop/minlike.htm

 

[Donald Qualls]

Self-made/loaded cartridges of film cut down from some more standard stock?

I've been shooting Minolta 16 format this way since the cartridges were discontinued in the early 1980s. I can get three strips, each long enough for "barely" two reloads, from a 120 roll, which is what I usually recut. The same will apply to Mamiya 16. I could only get a single strip (albeit three generous reloads long) from a 135-36, however so I've never recut 35 mm.

The other thing with 120 is I can do the actual cutting in room light, on the spool, with a utility knife or snap-blade cutting to marks on the backing, and only need to go into the dark to unroll, store the strips, and load them into cartridges.

And of course in 16 mm I can also load single or, for 10x14 frame, double perf (or double-8) cine film, giving easy, cheap bulk access to emulsions that aren't readily available in 120.

 

[madsox]

There's a lot of dedication in this thread. I just don't see myself with the time/energy to cut my own film, to be honest. I do have the Minox I got from my Grandfather, I used to have developing tank and reel (not sure if those are still around, I should look) and I shot a few rolls with it back when you could still buy film, but now? Nah.

My hat is off to you who do cut and roll and pack your own, though! Kudos all around.

 

[guangong]

I have two slitters made by Jimmy Li. Far better than those sold by Minox. One gives two strips of film for Minox, the other gives one strip for Minox, and one strip for Minolta 16. I don’t know if he is still making slitters.
I carry my Minox in a pants or jacket pocket. Never worry about camera falling out of pocket, but sometimes forget and leave camera in pocket when changing jackets.

 

[rjbuzzclick]

The other thing with 120 is I can do the actual cutting in room light, on the spool, with a utility knife or snap-blade cutting to marks on the backing, and only need to go into the dark to unroll, store the strips, and load them into cartridges.

That's brilliant. Why didn't I think of that...

I've been buying the 16mm Double-X from the Film Photography Store and using a couple of their 3D printed cartridges.

 

[xkaes]

I've been shooting Minolta 16 format this way since the cartridges were discontinued in the early 1980s. I can get three strips, each long enough for "barely" two reloads, from a 120 roll, which is what I usually recut.

Given the price of film, for MOST 16mm cameras -- and some 110 cameras as well -- you can get FOUR usable rolls of film from 120. So that EIGHT rolls of film for many cameras. They are, however, only 15.75mm wide. That's usually not a problem at all, even in processing.

 

[xkaes]

There's a lot of dedication in this thread. I just don't see myself with the time/energy to cut my own film, to be honest. I do have the Minox I got from my Grandfather, I used to have developing tank and reel (not sure if those are still around, I should look) and I shot a few rolls with it back when you could still buy film, but now? Nah.

My hat is off to you who do cut and roll and pack your own, though! Kudos all around.

If you can handle developing and enlarging / scanning, cutting & loading film is a piece of cake.

 

[Donald Qualls]

for MOST 16mm cameras -- and some 110 cameras as well -- you can get FOUR usable rolls of film from 120.

While a quarter millimeter of width isn't enough to cause trouble in any 16 mm camera I know of that doesn't require perforations (Rollei 16, Edixa 16, and others that use the same cassette type and rewind, plus a few others like Steky, depend on single cine perf), I prefer to discard the edges with the edge markings, so they don't wind up in my images. It's not usually a problem with the 10x14 frame (that gives 3 mm on each edge, plenty of room for the edge marks), but the 12x17 and 13x18 frames of the later Minolta, Kiev 16, and all 110 cameras will have the edge markings in frame if you don't load them in the correct position in the cartridge -- and without perforations, keeping track of which edge of which recut strips came from the actual film edge is a challenge.