Adventures with MINOX

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In the field

On location developing in Hotel Sink. Premeasured developer; concentrated fixer,hypo clear.

Commonly called a "Spy Camera" the MINOX is a tiny gem of mechanical and optical engineering.

Scroll to see how a reload is done.

Minox B

Focus to 8" with continuous parallax correction, Built in light meter, 1/1000 sec. shutter speed
The negatives are only 9x11 mm. Six fit into the area of an ordinary 35mm frame. Film comes in ASA 25, 100, 400 from Agfa in B&W. Color takes advantage of the HiRes Advantix emulsions. A 36 exposure roll with processing can set you back $18, so reloading the cartridges with B&W and developing the negatives is both a cost saver and gives you more variety in film types. Here's how I have adapted 16mm Ilford movie film to the MINOX format.
Cutting in the dark can be a skill-building exercise! 22 inches of film equates to 36 exposures.
 I built a cutting jig from a solid piece of lumber and a self healing cutting board and rotary cutter used in sewing and quilting. An aluminum yard stick is the straight edge to guide the cut that removes the perforations from the 16mm movie stock.
Alignment of the 16mm movie film is done with the sprocket holes in the film. The pin is a piece of a staple used in securing a corrugated cardboard box.
It took a bit of work to get the exact 9mm film height, but with rigid holding of the yard stick with alignment pins (ordinary finishing nails!) the job was accomplished. These pins are the key to success.
 The cartridge is loaded and capped. The take-up spool can be attached in daylight, placed in the take up cylinder of the cartridge and capped. The film is now ready to be loaded into the camera. When the film is exposed, holes must be made in its tail to mate with the mounting screw of the daylight developing tank. A leather punch can accomplish this in daylight.
Again in the dark, the strip of film that has had its perforations removed must be coiled up to fit into the cartridge. This is the last step in the dark.

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