Two small ports on front of 35ML

[bobby mahaffey]

On the front of the Minox 35ML, there are two small ports by the viewfinder. One is the self-timer LED. What is the other one for?

[waspandy]

Funny, I asked more or less the exact same question. Both the ML and

MB have this extra "port", and it seems to be the only two cameras

that have it. I have a plan to take my MB apart again, find out what

exactly it is, then follow the wires to see what it does. I will let

you know when I do. My guess is that it has something to do with the

flash, and it might help to have a look at the flash used for the

ML/MB. Sadly there are very little information available about these

two cameras.

[waspandy]

I found the solution. Is has nothing to do with the flash. The ML and

MB both have LED's instead of a needle in the viewfinder. This extra

photocell is used to control the glare (is that the right phrase?) of

these LED's. Just like an electronic alarmclock that lowers the glare

of the numbers at night. It can easily be verified, point the camera

at something while pressing the shutter lightly, then cover and

oncover the photocell and watch the glare of the LED change. When

Minox design, they think about everything!

[bobby mahaffey]

Thanks Anders. I tried what you suggested, and sure enough, the

brightness of the LED changed as I covered and uncovered the cell.

Did you take your camera apart to learn this, or did learn it thru

experimenting?

[waspandy]

I took the camera apart, found out what kind of cell it was, and tried

to figure out what it did. I did not succeed, but it was clear that it

had nothing to do with the flash. I then contacted a Minox specialist,

that in turn contacted a Minox repair specialist. I do think that it

is strange how little information there is available about older

Minox 35's.

[MTC Photography]

Minox 35ML designer <a href="http://www.hfg-

offenbach.de/html/prof_rf.html">Prof Richard Fischer of HfG

Offenbach</a>