Minox 8x11 - Flying with gear

[Godfrey]

I flew to Chicago yesterday morning. Took a Minox B as my real camera for the trip.

So of course I get stopped at security. They’re looking and looking at my bag, open the top, can’t find it... “what’re you looking for?” I ask. “There’s something long, thin, metal...?” “Oh, I know what you’re looking for...” unzip the right side long hidden pocket and pull out the Minox tripod. “What the heck is that?” Pull the Minox B out of its hidden pocket, assemble the tripod, fit it... four security guards standing there shaking their heads. “We ain’t never seen nuthin’ like that before! And that bag is tricky as heck!!!” I smiled, almost took their picture with that confused look on their faces, but three of them ran off just then.

Hysterically funny.

The Minox *is* pretty trick ... and certainly unusual to see in the modern, smartphone dominated world. Here it is set up on its tripod to do a selfie:

Minox B and Minox Tripod​

And then the camera and tripod folded for carrying ...

Minox B and Minox Tripod, folded​

Through the late '80s and '90s, I almost always had a Minox camera in my pocket wherever I went: It's a great travel camera. One can sometimes forget just what a beautiful piece of kit it is. I've been away from it for too long.

The adventure continues.

G

 

[madNbad]

Where do you find fim for it?

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Great little kit. Although i don't have a Minox I have that same mini tripod with the cable release hidden in the leg. I've used it with Leicas & Rolleflexes with great success. Thanks for sharing the story. Film cameras sometimes prove interesting for security. I once had my bag opened at Dallas/FW looking for the 'metal brick' = Rolleiflex. We both got a laugh out of that.

 

[shawn]

Where do you find fim for it?

You can slice your own and reload the cassettes.

Shawn

 

[zuiko85]

Getting into a public venue a few years ago has a similar experience with a rent-a-cop working security. He just couldn’t understand what my IIIs was, even when I told him.

 

[Godfrey]

Where do you find fim for it?

You can slice your own and reload the cassettes.

I still have about thirty rolls of Minox (Agfa) 25 and 100 speed B&W in stock, and a couple of different slitters (along with a big collection of cassettes... I never throw one away).

Blue Moon Camera (Portland, Oregon, https://bluemooncamera.com) also sells fresh film and processing for Minox Submini. There are some others as well.

I have always shot just B&W with these cameras, but I see the Blue Moon has both color neg and slide films available. Might be fun to try a roll of color.

G

 

[Godfrey]

Great little kit. Although i don't have a Minox I have that same mini tripod with the cable release hidden in the leg. I've used it with Leicas & Rolleflexes with great success. Thanks for sharing the story. Film cameras sometimes prove interesting for security. I once had my bag opened at Dallas/FW looking for the 'metal brick' = Rolleiflex. We both got a laugh out of that.

Getting into a public venue a few years ago has a similar experience with a rent-a-cop working security. He just couldn’t understand what my IIIs was, even when I told him.

I get similar odd looks when I pull the Polaroid SX-70 out of my bag at the airport ... many of the youngsters can't figure out what it is until I open it up. Of course, they're *all* getting to be youngsters to me now. 🙄

G

 

[zuiko85]

Where do you find fim for it?

If in North America the only distributor is Blue Moon Camera in Portland Oregon. For my IIIs I just bought NOS but very outdated film on ebay, dumped the old film and reloaded the cassettes with B&W slit down from 35mm. My slitter is a home made pull through device using double edge razor blades.
Unless you have a lot of disposable income using a Minox 8x11 camera is almost always a DIY experience.

 

[Godfrey]

If in North America the only distributor is Blue Moon Camera in Portland Oregon. For my IIIs I just bought NOS but very outdated film on ebay, dumped the old film and reloaded the cassettes with B&W slit down from 35mm. My slitter is a home made pull through device using double edge razor blades.
Unless you have a lot of disposable income using a Minox 8x11 camera is almost always a DIY experience.

Hmm? Film photography is always a fairly expensive undertaking. You can buy slitters as well as packaged film and processing for Minox cameras. While it's not "cheap", it's not that much more than, say, 120 format and certainly not as expensive as shooting Polaroids.

But yes: Most subminiature camera photography (not only Minox) is a DIY adventure nowadays. Why focus on the cost? Once you have the right stuff to do it, it's pretty cheap to keep going. This is a hobby and a luxury... We spend what's necessary, and what we can afford, to enjoy our hobby. No one is making their living as a photographer using Minoxes these days (if anyone ever did!!). 😀

G

 

[zuiko85]

"Once you have the right stuff to do it, it's pretty cheap to keep going."

You got that right. In 8X11 and 10X14 on 16mm my cost for B&W is about $1 per roll and super cheap to develop at home in HC110. Even my 35mm half frame cannot touch that. Of course half frame 35mm is easier to print in the darkroom. For 8x11 and 10x14 submini I have a Mamiya enla-head and can make small prints up to 5X7.

 

[Godfrey]

"Once you have the right stuff to do it, it's pretty cheap to keep going."

You got that right. In 8X11 and 10X14 on 16mm my cost for B&W is about $1 per roll and super cheap to develop at home in HC110. Even my 35mm half frame cannot touch that. Of course half frame 35mm is easier to print in the darkroom. For 8x11 and 10x14 submini I have a Mamiya enla-head and can make small prints up to 5X7.

I just scan everything and print via inkjet. With the Leica CL, a 50mm lens and bellows, I get 21-23 Mpixel per frame, and I can make beautiful exhibition prints up to 11x14 inch if the negative is good enough. Few are, but some make it. This one made a very nice 11x14 but not based on its sharpness.

Muni Ride - San Francisco 1999
Minox IIIS, film unknown​

My buddy Don is the master! I have one of his Minox photos hung in my hallway. It's a texture shot of a cast iron cannon and the detailing and tones look as if it were made with a 4x5 camera! His workflow was to print a perfect negative to an exceptional, master 6x8 inch print, then scan that and print finished, exhibition grade prints from those digital scans after final image processing. Absolutely stunning results when he did this process!

G

 

[zuiko85]

That reminds me of the type of shots I took on the 'El' in Chicago in the early 70's. A couple of years after I had gotten into this hobby (late, at 20 years of age) happened on a cute little used camera at Altman's. Didn't know anything about Olympus but that Pen VF type camera was compact and silent. Loaded it up with Tri-X loaded from bulk and just snapped everything, everywhere. It was a different world back then, and people with cameras were not viewed as a threat or creeps. Developed everything in Diafine and had a makeshift darkroom with a Omega B22. A buddy shooting half frame soon acquired a 38mm f2.8 Olympus enlarging lens (still have it in fact) so we didn't have to raise the head as high to get a 8X10 or to heaven forbid, crop a 18x24mm neg.
Funny, at the time didn't mind the grain at all, just part of that style of photography.

 

[David Murphy]

I flew to Chicago yesterday morning. Took a Minox B as my real camera for the trip.

So of course I get stopped at security. They’re looking and looking at my bag, open the top, can’t find it... “what’re you looking for?” I ask. “There’s something long, thin, metal...?” “Oh, I know what you’re looking for...” unzip the right side long hidden pocket and pull out the Minox tripod. “What the heck is that?” Pull the Minox B out of its hidden pocket, assemble the tripod, fit it... four security guards standing there shaking their heads. “We ain’t never seen nuthin’ like that before! And that bag is tricky as heck!!!” I smiled, almost took their picture with that confused look on their faces, but three of them ran off just then.

Hysterically funny.

The Minox *is* pretty trick ... and certainly unusual to see in the modern, smartphone dominated world. Here it is set up on its tripod to do a selfie:

Minox B and Minox Tripod​

And then the camera and tripod folded for carrying ...

Minox B and Minox Tripod, folded​

Through the late '80s and '90s, I almost always had a Minox camera in my pocket wherever I went: It's a great travel camera. One can sometimes forget just what a beautiful piece of kit it is. I've been away from it for too long.

The adventure continues.

G

Godfrey. Amusing story. Now tell us, who do you work for and who sent you here?

 

[charjohncarter]

I assume you were not solicitous enough to tell them that it was a 'spy' camera. Or you might have been occasioned with grave uneasiness.

 

[Godfrey]

"You are number 6.
Who is number 1?
You are number 6.
I am not a number, I am a free man!
Ya hah hah hah hah .... "

While the Minox was used by covert services over the years, I suspect it had a relatively short period of usefulness compared to, oh, any cheap SLR or even cheap one-shot cameras did once lens analysis/modeling was achieved. The Minox is a pricey thing and government services are notioriously cheap...

But no, I didn't say anything about spy or whatever. It's just a tiny, high quality camera, the way Walter Zapp envisioned it. Walter Zapp wanted something that he didn't have to lug around in order to make nice little pocket sized prints of friends, family, and places you travel to. 😀

G

 

[zuiko85]

Back in the day (boredom warning, old coot reminiscing)..early 70’s again.

The Minox sales rep would set up a demo of the then current IIIs or B at a camera store.
Using an ASA 6 (if I remember right) line copy film and a copy stand he would photograph 8.5X11 documents, inviting customers to return later that afternoon or the next day. Using a portable darkroom he would make life size prints. You could easily read every word on that page. That lens has just incredible resolution.
I believe the film was Adox something, and the developer was H&W Control. Not sure after all these years. I do remember being mighty impressed by that demonstration.

 

[Montag006]

Information, we want information! What a show!

Thank you for reminding me of Number 6 and Number 2

"You are number 6.
Who is number 1?
You are number 6.
I am not a number, I am a free man!
Ya hah hah hah hah .... "

G

 

[Godfrey]

Back in the day (boredom warning, old coot reminiscing)..early 70’s again.

The Minox sales rep would set up a demo of the then current IIIs or B at a camera store.
Using an ASA 6 (if I remember right) line copy film and a copy stand he would photograph 8.5X11 documents, inviting customers to return later that afternoon or the next day. Using a portable darkroom he would make life size prints. You could easily read every word on that page. That lens has just incredible resolution.
I believe the film was Adox something, and the developer was H&W Control. Not sure after all these years. I do remember being mighty impressed by that demonstration.

Oh yes: the lens on these eensy cameras is remarkable! I believe it's one of the only production lenses that can achieve higher than 200 lpmm performance with the right film.

I've done that kind of copy work with one of these cameras, now in the distant past. There's not much point to it any more, given the capabilities of a modern digital camera ... like even the iPhone! ... but it sure was an amazing feat in its day. 😀

G

 

[Godfrey]

Information, we want information! What a show!

Thank you for reminding me of Number 6 and Number 2

😀

I have "The Prisoner" on DVD, along with its predecessor "Secret Agent Man" aka "Danger Man" in some markets. I think I'll have to pull them out for a little binge watching festival, eh?

G

 

[HHPhoto]

I flew to Chicago yesterday morning. Took a Minox B as my real camera for the trip.

So of course I get stopped at security. They’re looking and looking at my bag, open the top, can’t find it... “what’re you looking for?” I ask. “There’s something long, thin, metal...?” “Oh, I know what you’re looking for...” unzip the right side long hidden pocket and pull out the Minox tripod. “What the heck is that?” Pull the Minox B out of its hidden pocket, assemble the tripod, fit it... four security guards standing there shaking their heads. “We ain’t never seen nuthin’ like that before! And that bag is tricky as heck!!!” I smiled, almost took their picture with that confused look on their faces, but three of them ran off just then.

Hysterically funny.

The Minox *is* pretty trick ... and certainly unusual to see in the modern, smartphone dominated world. Here it is set up on its tripod to do a selfie:

Minox B and Minox Tripod​

And then the camera and tripod folded for carrying ...

Minox B and Minox Tripod, folded​

Through the late '80s and '90s, I almost always had a Minox camera in my pocket wherever I went: It's a great travel camera. One can sometimes forget just what a beautiful piece of kit it is. I've been away from it for too long.

The adventure continues.

G

Wonderful story, thanks for sharing!


Cheers, Jan