Minox photography for absolute beginners

[4season]

I purchased a very nice IIIs the other year for about 75 USD. I might have preferred an "A" for it's metric distance scale, but for the price, I was willing to make some compromises. Need to CLA it, but it appears to be a pretty simple job, and I don't think I'll need to touch the optics at all.

Previously 3D printed a 16 mm / Minox film slitter, and also have data files for 3D printing cassettes and developing reels to fit Nikor and Patterson tanks, but I may be lazy and order a few pre-loaded cassettes from Blue Moon Camera.

Scanning: Not sure what I might want to do, but a previous employer was tossing out a microfiche reader, and I salvaged the lens. And more recently, I got a deal on a Yasuhara Nanoha, which if anything, might focus too close.

 

[qqphot]

You're missing an entire photographic universe:

www.subclub.org

For what it's worth, every time i've ever tried to view that site I get "Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site. We can’t connect to the server at www.subclub.org." whether it be at home on my wifi, on my phone over cellular data, or elsewhere. I have seen the url a bunch of times but thought it was just a site whose registration lapsed.

Checking the DNS records for "subclub.org" returns "Server Failed" no matter where I check from - home, cellular, or network datacenter. Is it actually live for other people?

 

[snusmumriken]

Thank you
Yes, my motivation is to get others excited about the tiny camera too. But the pictures on your homepage show that it is also possible to take great pictures in the huge 24x36 negative format.

Why, thank you! But each format has its strengths, and someone at some stage has made wonderful machines for each of them. If I ever happen across a Minox in a thrift store or something, I will be hooked, of course.

 

[qqphot]

Thank you for your thoughts on the joys of the Minox challenge. May I ask how you got into Minox photography?

Your photo shows impressively what quality you can achieve if you have the whole process under control, from cutting the film to digitizing it.

Have you ever used the Minox daylight developing tank for the C41 process?

When I was a little kid at summer school, one of the teachers had a Minox B and let me play with it for a couple of days. I was just smitten with the concept and always had it in the back of my mind that I'd like to have one some day, so more recently I just looked on ebay and picked up a couple, since they're surprisingly inexpensive now.

I haven't tried C41 in the Minox daylight tank. I think it could maybe be done, but it would be a challenge to maintain temperature and timing accurately. Because the volume of chemistry is so small, it would be critical to do the color developer stage with a pre-soak and in a heated water bath, being careful not to let any water get in to dilute the developer. Filling and emptying quickly enough might be challenging too, though if you weren't trying to maintain absolute accuracy you could probably run the process a few degrees colder and extend the deveoping time somehat to make it easier.

Once I figured out how to make the 3D printed paterson reels work, I've mostly only used those. The problem is that if the film is loose in the reel the emulsion will naturally rest against the surface of the plastic film channel, which prevents it from developing sufficiently. I found that while loading the film I could push it all the way inward to the core and then wedge the end in place with a piece of foam rubber, keeping some pressure on it. This way the film is forced outward so only the non-emulsion side touches the reel channel, and the emulsion side now gets uniform development.

 

[xkaes]

I'm sure it's prohibited since I actually refer to Chinese photographic history.

 

[xkaes]

Is it actually live for other people?

YES, there are thousands of viewers every day.

 

[qqphot]

YES, there are thousands of viewers every day.

Ok. Just thought I'd let you know there's an issue with the site's hosting setup.

Specifically, the DNS service (meganameservers.com) authoritative for the domain is returning SERVFAIL for valid queries, except for a few specific forwarders like google's and cloudflare's. This should not happen and probably breaks access for a lot of visitors.

For anyone wishing to visit the site and knows how to edit their computer's hosts file, the current IP address of www.subclub.org is 69.49.101.19, and that'll let you visit it regardless. It's a great site, so I hope more people can check it out!

 

[qqphot]

Oh. Well.

If I'd read the article, I'd have known that the Minox daylight tank might be the most expensive part of that. I will admit, I've been looking at CLA'd Minox IIIs and B models from Blue Moon, rather than mainly on eBay...

Minox 8x11 Film Dev Reel paterson-fit - Etsy

This Photography Accessories item by FilmStuffLab has 109 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Salt Lake City, UT. Listed on Aug 26, 2024

www.etsy.com

I'm using these $20 reels in place of the daylight tank, which appears to have soared to "collector" prices for some reason. I'm also cutting my own film down from 35mm rather than buying pre-made rolls - once you have a couple of cartridges, reloading them with hand-cut film is vastly less expensive, since you can get 4 full minox rolls from a single roll of 35mm with very little waste.

I was able to get my IIIs and B cheap on eBay, but not without buying and returning a few faulty ones before getting good ones. I'm not sure the frustration was worth it - maybe paying the extra from Blue Moon is better. They're a great shop, regardless.

 

[tjwspm]

Need to CLA it, but it appears to be a pretty simple job, and I don't think I'll need to touch the optics at all.

Why do you think your Minox needs a CLA?

 

[perkeleellinen]

I also often have problems accessing Subclub, not always, perhaps around 50% of the time. I haven't noticed a pattern as to why I can't connect.

If you're in the UK Paul at MsHobbies (https://mshobbies.co.uk) is a great resource for all things Minox.

I have a couple of those cut down Paterson reels for developing film which work for me with B&W.

I have a B, LX and EC, each have their merits, the EC is a bit sketchy and misses frames, might need to get another of those.

I mostly project Minox slides using masked 35mm Gepe mounts (an example).

On focusing - I measure the length of my arm, then I have three focus points (arm length, hyperfocal point and infinity) which is good for almost all the photos I take. I use this technique with all scale focus lenses.

 

[tjwspm]

On focusing - I measure the length of my arm, then I have three focus points (arm length, hyperfocal point and infinity) which is good for almost all the photos I take. I use this technique with all scale focus lenses.

That's a good hint. With your permission, I have adopted this tip on my site, see here:

Focusing a Minox

Focusing a camera seems to be easy. Technically speaking, it is. But what distance should I set to get my desired result?

moments-of-now.com

 

[snusmumriken]

That's a good hint. With your permission, I have adopted this tip on my site, see here:

Focusing a Minox

Focusing a camera seems to be easy. Technically speaking, it is. But what distance should I set to get my desired result?

moments-of-now.com

The arm stretched ahead is not quite literally a yardstick, as a yard would be the distance from finger tips to nose with the arm held out to the side. It's worth measuring and remembering exactly how far ahead you can reach with outstretched fingers, because of the shallow DOF at such short distances.

With scale-focus cameras, I use more references. I find it easy to imagine how much space I would need to fall full length in front, and in my case that's 6ft. I have also noted how far away I am if a standing human fits comfortably within the viewfinder framelines in portrait mode.

 

[tjwspm]

The arm stretched ahead is not quite literally a yardstick, as a yard would be the distance from finger tips to nose with the arm held out to the side.

Learned something again. I didn't realize that it was linked to the yard unit of length. In Germany, we only know the meter and have a hard time with the many Anglo-American measures of length.

Should I perhaps use "ruler" in this context: " You can also use your own arm length as a ruler."?

 

[4season]

Why do you think your Minox needs a CLA?

Slow shutter speeds are sluggish, push-pull cocking action feels dry.

 

[tjwspm]

Slow shutter speeds are sluggish, push-pull cocking action feels dry.

How do you correct the slow shutter speeds?

 

[snusmumriken]

Learned something again. I didn't realize that it was linked to the yard unit of length. In Germany, we only know the meter and have a hard time with the many Anglo-American measures of length.

Should I perhaps use "ruler" in this context: " You can also use your own arm length as a ruler."?

That would do it.

One can get lost in the history of these practical measures. The funny thing is that - according to folk legend - some of these practical measures were standardised literally by reference to the physique of the 'ruler', ie monarch, of the time. In the middle ages, commerce throughout European countries was dogged by the fact that people in different nations had different ideas of the same measures. For instance, the 'ell', which was a pan-European measure of cloth (the amount you could measure off the roll by stretching your arms out to both sides) was a lot smaller for Flemish traders than it was for the English, but bigger again in France.

 

[4season]

How do you correct the slow shutter speeds?

I was planning to rinse the speed escapement with solvent, and following up with a light oil diluted in solvent. Visually, it should appear clean and dry, with no obvious signs of oil.

 

[tjwspm]

One can get lost in the history of these practical measures.

Especially when lengths contain fractions I completely lose my orientation. It feels like it takes me a quarter of an hour to convert 1 7/16 inch into 36,5125 mm. Before that, I have no idea what the length is

 

[tjwspm]

I was planning to rinse the speed escapement with solvent, and following up with a light oil diluted in solvent. Visually, it should appear clean and dry, with no obvious signs of oil.

If we are talking about a Minox IIIs, would you open it completely? You could also just loosen the two screws of the head cover and then clean from the head side like here:

The ugliest Minox I've ever seen ...

… belongs to me. At the same time, it is probably the most well-known Minox in the world. At first I was skeptical, now I am enthusiastic.

moments-of-now.com

 

[4season]

If we are talking about a Minox IIIs, would you open it completely? You could also just loosen the two screws of the head cover and then clean from the head side like here:

The ugliest Minox I've ever seen ...

… belongs to me. At the same time, it is probably the most well-known Minox in the world. At first I was skeptical, now I am enthusiastic.

moments-of-now.com

I won't know for sure until I open it, but I'd prefer to disassemble only as much as necessary.

Rick Oleson's camera repair notes collection is available as a free download here, and it includes a good article covering the A/III specifically.

 

[tjwspm]

Rick Oleson's camera repair notes collection is available as a free download here, and it includes a good article covering the A/III specifically.

Yes, Rick's article is groundbreaking. Without it, I would never have understood how the Minox shutter works.

 

[tjwspm]

Here is an addendum on the subject of costs for Minox beginners. Today I received a Minox EC that I bought privately online last week.

Price for the complete set: 10 Euros

Camera and electronic flash look like new and work perfectly (not yet film tested). The three films (36 exposures) are still unopened (1993). The operating instructions for the camera and flash are complete and appear to have never been read.

I admit, that was outrageous luck.

 

[qqphot]

Here is an addendum on the subject of costs for Minox beginners. Today I received a Minox EC that I bought privately online last week.

Price for the complete set: 10 Euros

Camera and electronic flash look like new and work perfectly (not yet film tested). The three films (36 exposures) are still unopened (1993). The operating instructions for the camera and flash are complete and appear to have never been read.

View attachment 378443

I admit, that was outrageous luck.

I've been trying to find just plain cartridges to reload, and I can't find one of those for even twice what you paid for the whole setup. Expired film cartridges seem to universally cost US$20-$30, i suppose thanks to eBay.

 

[perkeleellinen]

I've been trying to find just plain cartridges to reload, and I can't find one of those for even twice what you paid for the whole setup. Expired film cartridges seem to universally cost US$20-$30, i suppose thanks to eBay.

Have a look here:

Shop : Buy Empty Used Minox Film Cassette Assorted Labels: Minoxcassette : Blue Moon Camera and Machine

Blue Moon Camera & Machine: Buy Empty Used Minox Film Cassette Assorted Labels online or in store at Blue Moon Camera & Machine, Portland, Oregon.

bluemooncamera.com

 

[perkeleellinen]

That's a good hint. With your permission, I have adopted this tip on my site, see here:

Focusing a Minox

Focusing a camera seems to be easy. Technically speaking, it is. But what distance should I set to get my desired result?

moments-of-now.com

great!