Minox 8x11 film cassettes

Minox cassettes, metal cassette, plastic cassette, why different size spools.

Minox cassette of the 50s was made of brass, the cap of supply side is flat. The take up spool has only one size, slightly less then 10 mm.

Metal cassettes were used in Minox cameras with up counters such as Minox A and B.

Metal cassettes has higher capacity then today's plastic cassette. Minox A or Minox B count from 0 to 50.

In 1967, about the time of honeycomb Minox B production, Minox introduced

plastic cassette.

I am not sure whether the early plastic Minox cassette was a replica of earlier metal cassette, ie, with flat cap at the

supply side.

Metal cassette cannot be used in Minox LX/TLX/CLX; usesable on Minox A/B/C/EX

Minox plastic cassette had miNox mouse logo on the bridge connecting two chambers.

Later, the logo was changed to MINOX till now. Acmel also makes 8x11 cassettes

With the introduction of Minox C with down counter, Minox introduced

another take up spool for 15 exp film. The 15 exp film take up spool

is has a thicker wall vs the 35 exp spool.

The recessed cap at supply side was designed in anticipation of the cassette pop up spring of Minox LX.

The design of Minox caseette, (metal or plastic ) allows direct contact of pressure plate on film,

this is one of the key elememt in great sucess of Minox 8x11 cameras,

as precision film plane allows the high resolution of Minox lenses to be realized.

The Kodak 126 format cassette and 110 format cassette do not allow direct contact of camera presure plate on film, hence picture quality is compromised.

Top end 110 format camera such as Minox 110 has oversized pressure plate, corrected the problem to so degrees.

The Minox cassette (with MINOX on the bridge ) in Minox film is made

by Balda, a company in Black Forest region, used to make Balda 35mm rangefiner cameras.

There is also ACMEL cassette in circulation. ACMEL cassette is made by

ACMEL (Asanuma Camera and Mechanical Laboratory ) in Japan.

ACMEL cassette has slighter stronge bridge, measuring 24 mil, Minox cassette

bridge is 19 mil. Both cassettes are good quality, can be reuse over and over.

When Riga Minox entered the market in 1938, it was the only camera with drop in cassette--- a revolutionary invention by itself.

It was much easier to load film than 35mm camera or roll film camera of same period. Because we are so used to 110 cartrige, we take Minox cassette for granted.

Even to day, sixty years after its invention, Minox cassette still rivals APS in ease of use and versatility (mid roll change ) s as easy to load as APS, easier and more versatile then 35mm camera cartridge and 120 roll film.

Every Minox camera allow mid roll change film, not every APS has this function.

The more we think about it, the more we amazed at the far sightness of its inventor Walter Zapp.

<h1> DIAMETER OF MINOX TAKE UP SPOOLS </H1>

<P> Spool for regular 36 exposure : 10.16 mm diamater

<P> Spool for regular 15 expousre : 11.43 mm diameter

<p> Brass spool for 50 exposure : 9.93 mm diameter

Mark 15 exp spool (450 mil diamater ) with a white paint spot to differentiate it from 36 exp spool.<p>

The 15 exposure thick spool is not only useful for loading 15 exposure of regular film,

but also useful for loading 36 exp or more of 2.5 mil film, to prevent narrow frame spacing.

I purchased my first minox IIIs used in 1968 and used it for about 3-4

years. I still have most of the cassettes which I now reload. Several

were brass (Agfa document film--50 ex, and a pair with Plus X--36 ex).

The brass ones had a flat supply side cover. Most of the plastic ones

had the miNox logo though a few had the MINOX logo. They all taped shut

and had a depression in the supply side cover. The ones with the miNox

logo have a dull finish with sharp edges. the MINOX ones look better

finished and have slightly rounded edges. The boxes were all the same

with the miNox logo twice on the cover and once on the bottom along

with "made in Germany" on the other end panel. I would guess that the

MINOX ones appeared on film with an expiration date of about 1971 or

72.

An interesting question is when did the plastic cassette with supply side

indented cap first appeared ?<p> I believe the indent was designed with

for the pop up spring of MINOX LX.<P> But if the indented cap appeared much earlier then LX, then

it was there for mechanical strength reason.

Appaarently the Minox Processing Lab has suddenly decided to stop

selling used cassettes. Their pricelist dated April 1999 lists them at

$10 per 10; I telephoned today and wanted to order 20 and was told that

they no longer have them available. Is this an attempt at selling more

film? $8 per roll of B&W film is a bit high but is it becomming the

only way to get empty cassettes?

MPL has being selling empty used Minox cassette for several years.

<P> At $10 for ten it is a bargain, considering used 16mm cassette

is selling at $10 a piece<p>

But as long as Minox is still packing new film, there is always new

supply of MINOX cassettes.<P> It is possible that there are more

customers who send in film for processing request the cassette be

returned.

<p> I think there are always some customers do not want cassette

returned, so there are still a lot of empty cassettes to get rid of,

<p> IMO, there are several ways

<ul>

<li> Sell at $20 for 10 pieces, which I think still a fair price

<li> Sell to customers at $10 per 10 when that customer also bought

other goods

</ul>

In any case, if empty casette is not available, buy a dozen

MINOX package film is the way to go, it is still cheaper then 16mm

empty cassette !

Apparently MINOX GmbH is not aware that Minox Processing Labs in New

York has stopped selling empty cassettes, since they referred MPL to

me on 6/29/99. MPL suggested I just buy Minox film from them and ask

for the empty cassettes to be returned to me after processing. I hope

to find another source.

Seems I spoke too soon. Submini.com is now offering Minox type

cassettes (they're made in Japan). Info is still forthcoming but

pricing is $5.00 each or $3.00 when purchased with film, or $2.75 when

quanties are six or more with film purchase. Check them out at

www.submini.com.

There are only two companies making Minox 9.4 mm cassettes: Minox GmbH

Wetzlar and ACMEL JAPAN.

<P> The new Minox cassette offered by submini.com must be ACMEL

cassette.

<p> Subclub swap meet has ACMEL cassette for sale, but you have to

buy 100 piece lot at $300-- these cassettes are left over from

Microtec.<p> The price for new ACMEL cassetee offered by submini.com

is fare price

I recently bought some Minopan 25 from MPL to build up my supply of

cassettes. Help! How do I open these new ones without breaking them--

all my old ones are taped shut. No tape on the new ones.

Ken, good question, often overlooked

<p> The newer casssette does not use tape, isntead, it has two snap locks on each chamber.

<p> To open, hold one chamber with middle and index finger hold closed and insert between the two chambers, and the thumb holding the side of one chamber

in *O:-O fashin, * is the thumb, : are the middle and index fingers.

<p> Now use the thumb nail to to push on the body of the chamber, just below the snap line (do not press the cap), you will find that the chamber gives way a little, and you can slide the cap off easily with the same thumb.

<p> Repeat the same with the other cap.

<h3>Yashica Atoron Non reuseable 8x11 cassette </h3>

Once upon a time, Yashica Atoron had its own 8x11 Minox style double chamber casette.

Those Yashica 8x11 Tri-X B&W film casette were not reusable, as the caps were glued one, and cannot be open without breaking

the cassette.

<p> These non open-able Yashica cassette can be loaded into Minox 8x11mm cameras and Minox daylight development tank.

<p> But if the film leader was pull completely into the take up side without leaving any lead outside, the cassette must be broken up to retrieve the film.

<p> Looked like once upon a time, almost every 8x11 camera maker had made their own cassette, Minox casette for Minox, ACMEL cassette for ACMEL MD, and Yashica casette for Yashica Atoron.

I tried asking MPL to return the empty cassettes on Minocolor I sent

in to have processed.No dice-they didn`t even acknowledge my request

to say they couldn`t return them.

An idea to save cassette: take the film from Minox 9.4mm cassette in a darkroom, wrap the film

in black paper and aluminium foil, mark the type of film on the package then send it for processing.

I have recently just started splitting film and have used some brass cassettes for the Minox LX. I replaced the lid where the film is spooled with a plastic lid from a broken plastic cassette. I used it for slide film and everything came out fine. I only play around with 36 exposure cassettes so I have no problem with thickness difference.