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Why isn't there a true digital Minox?


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For nearly 50 years I always carried a Minox in my pants pocket; first a IIIS, then a C, and finally an LX, until getting film and decent processing became difficult. Eventually 35mm cameras came down to a size and weight so I switched; first a Minox 35, (unfortunately unreliable), then an Olympus XA. Finally, nearly 20 years ago I went digital with Minolta and now with a choice of SONY (T100 is my current baby/RX100 in its various iterations is too big and heavy for my pockets, and also too obvious to use when I don't want to be noticed).

Although I have a freezer full of Minox 9.5mm films in various speeds, I gotta admit that I'd really like a true digital IIIS or LX. It doesn't even need a digital view screen -- the bright-line finder is just fine for me.

I'd even settle for commercial processing with high quality reasonable cost scans.

Guess it's all wishful thinking -- BUT if I should hit the lottery....!

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There are digitals with tiny sensors like the Pentax Q. Those are kind of equivalent to the subminiature format. For full frame tiny cameras, the closest we have is something like the Sony RX100s (and its competitors) which you have. I guess film is just a bit more compact. Maybe you just need slightly bigger pockets (a change in wardrobe?).;) And there is always your phone. I haven't tried them, but there are clip on lenses for phones, I just think they are still somewhat awkward to use.
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I guess the answer is easy: "(No) money"?

  • The original (pre EC) small Minoxes weren't cheap at all.
  • Customers were way(!) less feature spoiled by bigger cameras of that era.
  • R&D etc were split over 3 shoulders: Minox made camera, somebody else film and paper and a 3rd party had to do the darkroom magic.

With digital you need a decent image processing unit inside the camera to sell. The regular Minox "mass"-market (happy snapping upper class people unwilling to be bothered with a bigger camera) got already catered by others and became harder to compete with. - I assume digital point and wait cameras had automatically retracting lenses and AF because it is cheaper to put tiny motors and plastic gears together than to machine something that would withstand a human operator's surplus strength.

So who would have been left, to buy digital Minox?

The average shutterbug: "sorry poor people like me can't afford overspending on crap".

The average camera afficinado faced the challenge to save up for significantly greater later models rapidly.

Minox' own move into the digital world wasn't entirely stupid. - Their classic camera miniatures looked at least cute. That way they attracted their heritage customer group of wealthy happy snappers.

The rest is sad history. - Maybe I would have bought a miniature M3 if it had been a wee bit closer to the real thing with interchangeable lenses and at least zone focusing.

 

The only "camera" offering zone focusing I encountered came in my Nokia N80 but seemed too crappy to shoot. With most people carrying smart phones nowadays the digital real Minox time window is gone. Who could afford to enjoy it and carry no phone?

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Yep, not enough market to sell a lot of them so the price will be affordable for us ordinary folks. And, seems like most folks get along fine with the cameras in their phone, something most of them always have on their person.

Interesting idea though, and Minox even tried it out in 2008 with the Minox DCS 5Mp camera with a form factor similar to the classic 9.2mm 8X11 film cameras. There was also a flash attachment that had a screen to preview shots. That camera is all but forgotten today, a decade later.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 1 year later...
Blame Leica. Sony approached then in 1998 asking to license the Minox technology for a new digital camera. Leica being Leica said no, then sold off the Minox brand once the digital ship had sailed and the analogue ship had foundered. The true 8x11mm 'digital Minox' was the Contax i4. Not for nothing was it so small.
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  • 8 months later...

The Minox DSC silver has a internal rechargeble battery, which inot sold separately

 

Recharge by using a 110v charger which came with the camera package

 

When charging a LED AT the charging end of the camera lits up , if the internal battery charge is low

the led is in red, when fully charged, the led turns green

 

When using the Minox DSC silver to take picture, first insert a micro SD card, view thru the view finder to frame picture

 

then press the left top buttun the turn on the camera, press the button at right to take picture

 

Press the left bottom button the turn of the camera

 

My Minox DSC silver photos at flickr

DSC Silver

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