Yashica Atoron Electro vs. Minox LX

Now that I have my Yashica Atoron Electro working it is time to compare it to the Minox LX.

First off is the Minox LX.

It uses Minox 8x11 film cartridges.

Typical two-blade, lateral moving Minox shutter with electronic release control

Shutter speeds are 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/1000, 1/2000 and "Auto." 15sec to 1/2000.

Lens is fixed aperture, four-element, f3.5 15mm "Minox."

35mm camera rough equivalent: 46mm

Film is advanced by opening the camera (sliding it apart).

No way to reset to counter. One needs to release the shutter as many as 36 times if the counter not at the correct 'start' position.

Built in Neutral density filter.

Battery OK indicator (green light)

Slow speed/tripod indicator (orange light)

Too little light for electronic shutter (red light)

Focus is by estimation. A wheel on the top of the camera can show either "feet" or "meters" depending on the specific camera. Hyperfocal indicator and depth of field marks for f3.5 (the only aperture available).

Focus range: 8 inches to infinity.

Viiewfinder is Albada style with automatic parallax correction

Mass: 88g, 100g with battery and film.

Length: 108mm

Battery: PX27

Yashica Atoron Electro

The Yashica only similarity to the Minox is that is uses the same 8x11 film cartridges. The rest of the camera is a totally unique design.

Shutter is a combination shutter-aperture with blades containing overlapping V shaped openings. The speed of travel and the distance the blades move are both varied to adjust shutter speed and aperture at the same time.

Shutter speeds are "auto" only. No manual speeds. 8 seconds to 1/350

Aperture is set only on "auto."

Lens is a four-element "Yashinon-DX" 18/2.8, slightly longer and slightly faster than the Minox.

35mm camera rough equivalent: 57mm

No built-in filters.

Focus is by a wheel exposed at the bottom of the camera with an indicator on top. Like the Minox, the hyeprfocal distance is a red dot (presumably for f2.8).

Focus range: 2 feet to infinity.

Like the Minox there is an Albada style viewfinder with automatic parallax correction. The Yashica viewfinder is actually bigger, though, due to the longer lens, the viewing frame shows a narrower view as expected.

Shutter release is a round button with a locking collar.

Mass: 140g (Per Manual)

Dimensions: 102x20x38mm

Battery: PX28

Features of the Minox LX not found on the Yashica:

Shutter cocked indicator on the shutter blade
Manual shutter speeds
Build in lens protection
Standard tripod mount thread
Built-in ND filter
ASA goes up to 400 (only 200 on Yashica)
Less mass
Focus to 8 inches


Features of the Yashica Atoron Electro not found on the Yashica:

Automatically resetting frame counter
Aperture f2.8
Battery still in production by major manufacturers
Shorter length
Lower retail price when new

To my understanding the metering of the LX doesn't depend strongly on battery voltage (as long as it's sufficient, of course) so I believe a stack of LR44s works fine, as it does in the 35GT and family.

Though the LX I had briefly would underexpose consistently by 2.5 stops no matter what, so I could be wrong. Worked fine if I set the ASA setting very low compared to actual.

Correct, neither of these require a mercury battery.

The LX can use a stack of LR44 or equivalent. Either in a reusable adapter or pre packaged in an Excel battery.

With the LX, you're stuck with only adjusting the shutter speed for exposure control -- in manual or auto-modes. So you have to pick your film speed carefully for the potential available lighting. Since the Yashica controls both shutter speed and aperture, there is greater flexibility if the lighting changes. So if you generally will use the camera without much variability in light, the LX has more features. But don't forget there are lots of other cameras that use the Minox cassette besides Minox and Yashica.

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

Lately, I find myself liking my Olympus Pen F with Minox cassettes -- that's the one on the left:

Looking at the upper range of both cameras,

Yashica 1/350 f16 is a tad over EV16
Minox 1/2000 f3.5 is a tad under EV15

The Minox has a built-in 4x ND filter that will bring its high end EV to about 17.

The theoretic picture quality for the Minox will be much improved over the Yashica with 1mm aperture (f16/18mm lens).

Those tiny film cameras are fantastic. I wish I had the whole set of them!!

Have you used it much? How are the images?

The Sharan's all use the same 3/3 15mm f5.6 fixed-focus lens. The results are comparable to Minox, with more DOF, but with a fixed speed of 1/250 you have to choose the film carefully according to the expected available light. On a sunny day, you can use really slow film for great results.

When I first got into Minox, In the late 1990s I was all over that SubClub site. Good to see the site still being taken care of. Not a lot of sites from back then still remain.

I think I have some small Wratten ND filters around somewhere that came with some Bolex stuff, but the 8mm Bolex cameras I use don't take the Wratten filters. I don't think it would be hard to make a little slip on Wratten filter holder. Maybe in conjuction with a tiny lens hood.

I also have a set of the Minolta 16 first series close up and infinity lenses I never use (because I like using the later cameras with the larger lens opening).

Interesting to try those to get the Sharan to focus.

ic-racer said:

When I first got into Minox, In the late 1990s I was all over that SubClub site. Good to see the site still being taken care of. Not a lot of sites from back then still remain.

Click to expand...

I'm constantly amazed at, not only how many submini camera users there are -- out there around the world -- but how many NEW submini camera users suddenly appear out of nowhere.

ic-racer said:

I also have a set of the Minolta 16 first series close up and infinity lenses I never use (because I like using the later cameras with the larger lens opening).

Click to expand...

The Minolta 16 II is certainly a winner:

(1960) -- 22mm (f2.8-16); B, 1/30-1/500. This updated version of the Minolta 16 had several improvements. First, the shutter speed range was increased substantially. It now had a B setting for long exposures, and all speeds from 1/30 through 1/500. In addition, the f-stop range was increased at both the high and low ends. With the increased aperture, the lens was changed from a three-element to a four-element optic. Finally, a "distance" lens, actually a slight negative diopter lens, was added to the list of accessory lenses to allow infinity focus at all apertures. This meant sharper pictures of distant scenes at any aperture. Overall, these refinements make the camera more useful in more situations. William White considers the lens on this model to be one of the top ten performers in submini history. The camera was available in six colors -- chrome, black, gold/yellow, blue, red, and green. Filters (18x18mm -- are not interchangeable with the filters for the 16I): 1A, UV, 80A, Y48(Yellow), 81B. Auxilliary lenses: #0 (for focusing at infinity with the lens at wide apertures), Closeup #1, #2. Accessories: bracket to hold electronic flash and tripod socket. Although the lens was fixed-focus at about 9 feet (6 feet closer than the 16 I), it's depth-of-field was adequate and controllable with the aperture and auxilliary lens selection.

Actually two versions of this camera exist. The first says ‘Chiyoda Kogaku Minolta-16 (II)’ and the second ‘Minolta Minolta-16 II.’ This is due to Chiyoko becoming The Minolta Camera Company in 1962.