george__2

1.How did you discover Minox camera?

I was 13 and friends with an old collector, my eyes lit up when I was

rummaging through one of his boxes. I have been hooked ever since!

2.How many Minox camera you have?

I have 2, a B (my every-day camera) and an EC

3.What is your favourite Minox?

IIIs, becuase its the smallest, and since I have been using the meter

on the B for so long, I don't think that I need it anymore, I just

haven't found the "right" IIIs yet.

4.How do you use your Minox ?

I keep it in a leather pocket knife holder on my belt, I carry it

every day.

At travel

For the last few trips I have taken, I don'y carry my 35mm setup

unless it something really tricky and impressive to shoot, I decided

that my philosophy should be reversed, instead of travelling to

photograph, I should photograph when I travel, the minox is the only

way to do this!

Leisure

All the time, I just take pictures for fun, the best part is that the

minox is so unobtrusive that half the subjects don't know they are

getting there picture taken! Its a nice way to shoot, becuase most

people get uptight or try and pose whenever there is a camera around,

if they don't see it, they don't know.

work

Well, lets just say that I use the camera alot at work *-)

5.Where and how do you process your film ?

Submini.com

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6.etc

I really like fine grain films for outdoor, the best color film I have

found is Konica impressa 50. I shoot it at 25, the stuff is just

outrageously good. It reminds me alot of techpan in B+W

I also love this film for night shots, I set it up on a tripod and go

eat something and come back, but the negs always come out gorgeous

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I also like ilford XP2 super, its great stuff. It can be shot

anywhere from 25-800 asa on the SAME roll! Its process c-41 though,

but the grain at the lower speeds is fantastic, and when you NEED to

get a shot off indoors with no flash, go ahead and shoot at 800, the

pic is still pretty good

Graininess tends to be reduced by overexposure. There are also other

benefits, such as a mild washing away of skin defects and perhaps a

better color balance. If you are shooting color film try to get one

with the lowest Kodak PGI rating for grain. Currently Royal Gold 100

and PJN-100 or even the tungsten balanced PJT-100 have the best

scores. In the black and white arena look for the lowest RMS value.

Techpan 25 has the lowest with a 5, and the tmx, tmz have 8 and 10

respectively. The only real answer is to experiment to find out what

you like!

In addition to those listed by Martin, I have come across the

following:

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1. Minox Fan Flash, uses AG-1 bulbs, will probably work on all the

older models up to the B and possibly the C

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3. I have also heard of a Maji-cube adapter for the Minox EC, not the

regular flash cubes, but Maji-cubes, I would appreciate any

information on such a device

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Thanks

Setting the correct distance is slightly more complicated, the Vivitar

251 flash, like many other flashes has an automatic setting, However

this simply means that you must keep your camera at a certain f-stop,

which corresponds to the speed of film you have. This is a little

complicated for a beginner but once understood is easy to use in a

camera with variable f-stops. You simply set the flash to automatic,

dial in the correct ISA, ASA or DIN and leave the camera on the same

f-stop for all of your flash pictures. The problem with the minox is

that you can not set the f-stop. For instance the 251 model, for any

distance out to 13ft (4m) you set the f-stop to 2.8 for 25 ASA film,

5.6 for 100 ASA film, 16 for 800 ASA film etc. etc. Unfortunately you

can not do this with a minox. The solution is to do what Martin said,

1 use the ND filter and green filter if you are using black and white,

and 2 use a piece of paper taped to the flash (this has an added

benefit of softening the light, making shadows less sharp and more

pleasant). The camera is normally at 3.5, Green filter would be

around 5.6, the ND filter around 8. Combine this with some

experimentation with different papers to cover the flash and you have

opened up a range of distance/f-stop/film speed combinations with

which the flash can be used. HOWEVER, putting a piece of paper over

the flash on automatic mode does nothing, the flash will simply give

more power to the flash until the sensor reads that it is the correct

exposure or no more power can be given, you can only use that trick

when you are using the flash in manual mode. Just remember that

overexposing is MUCH better than underexposing, especially with flash

pictures, and especially with ugly subjects who have terrible

complexion *-)!!!!!!

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By the way the 251 Model is an excellent flash to use with the B, its

cheap, small (only twice the of the minox b, the same length but

double the width, it easily fits in one's pocket) I glued a piece of

rubber on to the top of mine so that I can squeeze the camera and

flash together and hold both of them at the same time, with the B on

top of the flash, red-eye is a problem with this set up, but the

flash is easily moved away from the camera if you are shooting color.

Also, since the flash naturally overexposes just a little bit if it is

left on automatic with 25 ASA film, this is what I use almost

exclusively, good grain and overexposure at the correct f-stop,

nothing could be more perfect, usually I use tech-pan 25 or pull a

role of slide film down to 25.

Tony,

If you are worried about film thickness in a Minox camera, the trouble

is not from focal length but from mechanical ware caused by thick film

(over 6 or even 5.5 mils). In all cameras, when film is introduced to

the pressure plate and pressed into position, it is the emulsion which

faces the lens. The emulsion thickness on all films can only be

measured on an atomic scale (fairly large, maybe 30 atoms thick, but

that's just a guess would appreciate comment) The area that actually

is chemically changed by the light cannot be more than a few atoms

thick, whatever the thickness of the film behind it is utterly

inconsequential as no image is formed there and it thus, not part of

the focal plane. The only exception to this rule are cameras such as

the tessina which place the emulsion side away from the lens, but NO

Minox is designed in this fashion. Also the depth of field is

extraordinarily large in Minox subminis, any measurement difference of

one or two ml would be small (though not that small, on the order of a

foot)

Good Luck!

George Maltezos