16mm film for Minolta 16

[Edward C. Zimmermann]

I picked up a Yashica Atoron Electro a couple of years ago- has a zone focus lens on it.

Its, unfortunately, not in the league with MINOX. Once upon a time when Minox cameras were incredibly expensive they were a real option but today where its all just "junk" I'd not bother with them save for "show and tell"--- needless to say I don't own one.

But when I do pull out the sub-mini for shooting, it will be the Tessina.

The Tessina is a quirky beast. its got a spring motor and a number of interesting and wild features. Some good.. some.. well.. Its ground glass, for example, is really too small to focus even with good healthy young eyes--- I've been wearing glasses since the age of 5--- but its got enough DOF to zone focus nicely. The camera also uses a mirror to save space so all images are reversed--- literally mirror-reversed--- which means that one can't print them using standard enlargers--- or one needs to print them emulsion side down.
Printed emulsion side down its results are, in my opinion, not up to the standards of a Minox. Since its format is 14x21mm its negative area is around 3.3x MInox's 8x11 (294mm^2/88mm^2) so its grain is much smaller but the images are just not as sharp.

Uses standard 35mm film, loaded into special cassettes.

Not really. The max. length of film for a Tessina is less than a 12 exposure roll--- roughly the 24x36 equivalent of 8-10 exp. depending upon film thickness. Film also needs to be specially wound into these cassettes--- its not like loading a Robot T or TR cassette where one can just pop in the spool and film from a Nagel (Kodak) cassette. There is, fortunately, a daylight loader that makes this easier.
That all said.. they do have a lot of 1960s "cool" factor... and I think they are, like MINOX, still being made..

 

[alfredian]

Yankee Clipper II

Yankee Clipper II

I found a good lead as to "how to develop at home" materials - the Yankeel Clipper II plastic tank w/plastic reels (adjustable) is listed as accomodating various standard-width films from 110 up to 620. Google around and places like B&H or Adorama, among others, are listed as carrying the YCII. Prices were under $20, so my backup plan of stapling 16mm strips to 35mm strips for loading into standard reels is just that.

 

[Murray Kelly]

My favorite for these is Kodak Imagelink HQ microfilm. Its slow and trickier to develop as one needs to tame the contrast--- microfilm is designed for 1:1000 contrast--- but its resolution is high and better suited to the higher enlargement ratios one tends to use.

Edward, I am trying to tame Imagelink-HQ myself and not having all that much success. What is your process for this film, please?
Murray