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Thorsten Pöllath

A vintage Minox LX Subminiature spy camera with flash, both in originals leather cases and two books about Minox A B C BL LX

You are bidding on a vintage Minox LX Subminiature spy camera with a flash, both in originals leather cases and two books about the Minox Subminiature spy camera model A B C BL and LX.

The camera, flash and both cases are overall in excellent condition and full working order. See the pictures. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them.

Concerning the books; the first is the ninth edition from 1978 concerning the minox models  A B C and BL. The second is the tenth edition from 1979 for the models A B C BL and LX.

A lot of information for the dedicated Minox Camera System perfect for the pro / hobby photographer. You find at the pictures the content of each book.

The Minox LX Subminiature; a nice example of a tiny pocket spy camera. This Minox LX Subminiature camera is great for collecting and or using, also great for display and converation piece. What a wonderful little collector items. 

Condition

Cosmetically condition:		The camera : 			Excellent condition 	(minor signs of use)
The flash:			Excellent condition 	(as new)
The camera case:		Very good condition 	(minor signs of use)
The flash case: 			Excellent condition 	(as new)


The Minox camera history

The original Minox subminiature camera was invented by Walter Zapp in 1936. Zapp, a Baltic German, was born in 1905 in Riga, then part of the Russian Empire. The family moved to Reval (now called Tallinn, Estonia) where he first took a job as an engraver before finding a position with a photographer. 

He became friends with Nikolai 'Nixi' Nylander and Richard Jürgens, and it was through discussions with these friends that the idea of a camera that could always be carried came to him. 
Nixi Nylander also coined the name "Minox" and drew up the Minox mouse logo. Jürgens funded the original project but was not able to get support in Estonia for production. 

Jürgens contacted an English representative of the VEF (Valsts Elektrotehniskā Fabrika) electrotechnical manufacturing business in Riga (by then independent Latvia) who then arranged a meeting where Zapp demonstrated the Minox prototype (UrMinox), with a set of enlargements made from Ur-Minox negatives. Production began in Riga at VEF, running from 1937 until 1943. In the same time, VEF had received patent protection on Zapp's inventions in at least 18 countries worldwide.

Shortly after its introduction, the Minox was widely advertised in The European and American markets. It did not surmount the popularity of 35 mm cameras (which were then referred to as "Miniature Cameras"), but did achieve a niche market. It also attracted the attention of intelligence agencies in America, Britain and Germany, due to its small size and macro focusing ability.

Ironically during World War II production of the Minox was put in jeopardy several times as Latvia fell victim to invasion by the Soviet Union, then Germany, and then by the Soviets again. Cameras were produced under both Russian and German occupation nevertheless, and the camera became both a luxury gift item for Nazi leaders as well as a tool for their spies. In the meantime, Zapp and his associates protected their interest in the product by searching for alternative production facilities in Germany.


After World War II, production of the Minox II began in 1948 at a new company, Minox GmbH, in Giessen/Heuchelheim near Wetzlar, West Germany. The new camera very much resembled the original, but was made with a plastic chassis covered by an aluminum shell. This greatly reduced its weight and, to an extent, cost. The camera continued to appeal to a luxury "gadget" market which broadened during the 1950s and early 1960s. It also continued to see use as an espionage camera by both sides during the Cold War. 

During this time, the Minox company continued to develop the camera, working to develop a companion miniature exposure meter, as well as improved models such as the Minox B, which incorporated an even smaller Gossen-designed meter into the camera itself. The Minox B became the most popular and widely produced model of the line. 

Further developments included autoexposure, and the company developed an extensive line of accessories. These included flash guns, viewfinder attachments, tripod mounts, and copying stands, all increasing the camera utility in a variety of applications. One accessory even allowed the camera to use a pair of binoculars as a telephoto lens (see illustration). 

Limited editions of the camera were also produced in a variety of luxury finishes, such as gold plating. Standard cameras were also available in an optional black anodized finish.
The Riga Minox camera, along with the luxury finish postwar cameras, are now collector's items. All-mechanical models A and B remain in use by hobbyists. 

In 1969 the model C became the first camera of its kind to incorporate electronic exposure control. With the introduction of the LX came significant redesign of the camera's basic controls. It was followed by the last production model, the TLX. There was also a fully electronic entry-level model, the EC, which had a very different internal design and a fixed-focus lens. The production rate for these cameras was considerably slower than in former years, however, as high production costs and increasing competition from Japan sharply reduced sales and revenues.

Beginning in 1981, MINOX experienced increasing difficulties. A quarter of the original 750 employees had to be made redundant. A settlement request was filed with the District Court in Giessen on November 21, 1988. Under the direction of the receivership administration, the workforce was reduced to just under 300, and the business was extensively reorganized.

Minox was acquired by Leica in 1996, but a management buyout on 25 August 2001 left Minox an independent company again.


Spy camera

The Minox subminiature camera attracted the attention of intelligence agencies in America, Britain and Germany, and most of the Eastern Bloc (East Germany, Romania) due to its small size and macro focusing ability. There is at least one document in the public record of 25 Minox cameras purchased by the US Office of Strategic Services intelligence organisation in 1942.
The close-focusing lens and small size of the camera made it perfect for covert uses such as surveillance or document copying. The Minox was used by both Axis and Allied intelligence agents during World War II. Later versions were used well into the 1980s. The Soviet spy John A. Walker Jr., whose actions against the US Navy cryptography programs represent some of the most compromising intelligence actions against the United States during the Cold War era, used a Minox C to photograph documents and ciphers.
An 460 mm measuring chain was provided with most Minox subminiature cameras, which enabled easy copying of letter-sized documents. The espionage use of the Minox has been portrayed in Hollywood movies and TV shows, and some 1980s Minox advertising has played up the "spy camera" story.

Other special uses

A Minox B, operated by remote trigger and protected in a special housing, was used to inspect the interior of the United States Army's SL-1 experimental nuclear reactor after it experienced an internal steam explosion in 1961. This camera and housing were shown in the film report released following the accident investigation.

Technical details of Minox 8×11 cameras

The original Riga-made Minox had a brass chassis covered in a stainless steel shell, which telescopes to reveal or cover the lens and viewfinder windows, as well as to advance the film. It was equipped with a parallax correcting viewfinder, which was coupled to a Cooke triplet type Minostigmat 15 mm f/3.5 lens. The lens was capable of focusing as close as 20 cm, and, due to its small image size, provided such depth of field at full aperture that a diaphragm was deemed unnecessary. The maximum focus zone was about one meter to infinity. In front of the lens was a metal foil curtain shutter, which was itself protected by a window. These were advanced features at the time for any camera, regardless of size.The dimensions of the Minox subminiature camera are: 80 mm × 27 mm x 16 mm; weight: 130 gr.

The Minox cameras project an image of 8×11 mm onto the negative. The film is in strips 9.2 mm wide, or less than one-quarter the size of 35 mm film, and unlike 35 mm film, it has no sprocket holes. This film strip is rolled up in the supply side chamber of a small twin chamber cartridge, with the film leader taped to a take-up spool in the take up chamber. The film strips can be up to 50 frames in length for Riga Minox and Minox II, III, IIIs and B cameras. From Minox BL and C cameras onward the Minox film cartridge holds 15, 30, or 36 exposures.

The VEF Riga has a three-element flat film plane lens. Performance could be improved, so the short-lived Minox II (1948–1951) had a new 5 element lens (called complan) whose final element would rest against the film itself when the pressure plate pushed the film onto the lens. Customers complained of film scratches with this new design, so most of these lenses were replaced by MINOX with the later curved-field compensating lens. Consequently, original 'film lens' Minox II are exceptional. Early Minox cameras from Minox A/III to Minox B were equipped with a four-element, three-group Complan (lens) designed by ex-Leica lens designer Arthur Seibert. The Complan lens has a curved film plane, hence in these cameras the negative must be held in an arc to improve the edge-to-edge sharpness of the image. The Minox enlarger also holds the negative in this same curve. Later models, beginning with late model Minox B, to the current model TLX, using the 15 mm f/3.5 four-element, three-group flat-field Minox lens, holds the negative flat. The advance was attributed by Rolf Kasemeier (Small MINOX Big Pictures 1971 edition) to new rare-earth element, high-index, low-dispersion, optical glasses becoming available (probably from Schott Glass, of Jena). Note that lens performance between old and new complan/minox lenses was rated by MINOX themselves as identical.

At this time to differentiate between negatives taken with the older complan lens and negatives taken with the later minox lens, MINOX introduced an edge code in the negative. Since the MINOX C (the first camera released with the new minox lens) every 8x11mm camera had a distinct edge code to identify the camera. The reason was that commercial processors used MINOX enlargers. As the minox lens replaced the complan, so the enlargers had to change lenses: MINOX II enlargers were curved negative track and complan lenses, MINOX III enlargers were straight negative track and minox lenses. Ironically, owners of Rigas and model II cameras would get better results from a MINOX III enlarger than a MINOX II enlarger.

The early Minox cameras from Riga to Minox B, BL and AX, were equipped with a mechanical shutter, while later model Minox ( C, LX, EC, TLX ) cameras have an electromagnetic shutter. When closed, the viewfinder and lens windows are protected. Complan lens and Minox lens are unit focusing lens, focusing from 8 inches (20 cm) to infinity through precision gear linked to a focusing dial on top of the camera. All Minox cameras, except the EC and MX, have a parallax correction viewfinder: when the focusing dial moves, the viewfinder moves in tandem to correct for parallax.

From the Riga to Minox B, the film counter counts up to 50, while from Minox BL, C, to TLX, the film counter counts down from 36/30/15. For mechanical Minox 8x11 cameras, a separate shutter speed dial sets the shutter speed from 1/2 to 1/1000 second, plus B and T (the BL model has no documented T). For electromagnetic shutter cameras, the shutter dial starts with 1/15 sec, and ends with 1/1000 (Minox C), or starts with 1/30 and ends with 1/2000 (Minox LX/TLX/CLX); the electromagnetic Minox camera also has an 'A' setting for automatic exposure, controlled by the built-in CdS (Minox C) or Spd (Minox LX/TLX) exposure meter.

Above the viewfinder is a filter bar used to slide a yellow, green or an orange filter in front of the lens; starting with the BL, there is only a Neutral Density filter.

For Riga Minox to Minox B, the film advances each time the camera is closed, regardless of whether a picture is taken or not. Opening the camera causes the pressure plate to press the film into a concave or flat (depending on the model) surface to stiffen thin emulsions for better clarity. When the camera is closed, the pressure plate moves back from the film plane, thus allowing the film strip to move freely to advance to the next frame. From Minox BL onward, the camera is equipped with a "freewheeling" mechanism, such that the film advances one frame only when a picture is taken, otherwise, closing the camera does not advance a frame.

Minox Models

Riga – 1938/39 to 1942/43 (retrospectively labeled Model I; usually named after the city Riga)

I – 3 element Minostigmat lens, stainless steel

A – 1948 to 1969 (retrospectively labeled Model II with the launch of Minox III)

II – (1948) 5 element Complan lens, ultralight aluminium shell, new shutter
III – (1950) 4 element Complan lens,
IIIs – (1954) + flash synch

B – 1958 to 1972 ultralight aluminium shell, selenium meter

B – (1958) Complan lens
B – (1970) Minox lens

C – 1969 to 1978 introduced in 1969, electronic

C – (1969) Complan lens
C – (1970) Minox lens

BL – 1972 to 1973 

with cadmium sulphide meter (requiring a battery), 
no longer wound film with each open/close cycle

LX – 1978 to now

LX – (1978) electronic, in anodized aluminium, black aluminium, gold and platinum finish


Minox 8×11 accessories

Minox tripod, ver 1 and 2
Minox tripod adapter (3 Variations: Riga, (A/II/III/B,BL,C) and (LX/TLX/CLX)
Minox copy stand (2 Variations (LX and non-LX Cameras)
Minox waist level finder ((2 Variations (A,B)
Minox 90 degree mirror (3 Variations (A,B and 'universal')
Minox film slitter (Minox and non-Minox produced)
Minox enlargers (Colour and Black and White)
Minosix selenium exposure meter (For A Cameras)
Minox flashgun (Bulb and Cubeflash)
Minox electronic flash (3 types, ME1/ME2 and 8x11)
Minox binocular adapter (2 types LX and non-LX Cameras)
Minox microfilm reader (At least 2 types)
Minox daylight development tank with thermometer (2 types: Riga and Minox)
Minox negative viewer and cutter
Minox film wallets (for 50 or 36 exposure films)
Minox battery adapter, for replacement of discontinued PX27 5.6v mercury battery used in electromagn electromagnetic Minox cameras.


See pictures for cosmetic. All the pictures are from the object itself. What you see is what you will receive
Please can you use the refnr “CAM094” in all our communications.

For your information, I will be selling about a hundred subminiature cameras from my collection in the coming months. So if you are a collector follow my account so you can follow my other items for sale the coming months. Thank you for bidding.



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Minox LX + acc. | Fotocamera subminiatura

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Minox LX + acc. | Fotocamera subminiatura

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