Minox photography for absolute beginners

[xkaes]

So we sold the Minox and my next personal camera was a Petri Color 35 that served me well for nearly 15 years.

That Petri certainly was a great selection.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I actually had a Minox when I was a kid... in 1967, when EVERYONE wanted to be a spy!

Since I was growing up working in my parents' little commercial studio doing b/w photography daily, I developed skills like estimating focus distance to convince my folks that I could handle a Minox. So I had a Minox B for over two years, when I was 12 to 14, and I shot 90+ rolls of Tri-X (factory loads of Kodak emulsions were what was available in that time/place.)

But you know, 60s Tri-X developed in straight D-76 was awfully grainy even in 4x5 prints - not to mention the endless issues with scratches and dust (our studio/darkrooms were always a mess, quite the opposite of what "photo lab" conjures) and I eventually became frustrated with my results. I wanted a compact 35mm... So we sold the Minox and my next personal camera was a Petri Color 35 that served me well for nearly 15 years.

Some examples of my 60s 4x5 Minox shots on Tri-X. Note that I got MUCH better results in my second round of Minoxery, 1995-2016, using 100-speed films and more mature, careful darkroom practice. And make no mistake, I still think the Minox is the COOLEST camera ever, I still have a IIIs and B...

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You reminded me of when I was a young teenager, I got an 8mm movie camera. It has single-frame shutter release option. I would go around town shooting hundreds of little single-frame still photos 8mm big. Then I would show them singly on my projector being careful not to burn up the film there which would happen often.

 

[tjwspm]

The cassettes are taped, mostly old ones from the '80s and '90s. This has given me a thought, I wonder if the spring to assist unloading the cassette in the LX may be applying just enough pressure on the cassette so that when the take up spool is not perfectly aligned the film jams.

I would follow xkaes' advice and measure the width of the film rolls that caused problems in the LX. Then I would measure rolls that have not caused any problems. You might find a difference.

Afterwards you could consider whether the width in conjunction with the spring might be causing the problems. But first I would measure. You could still do this now if you can still identify the films with which you had problems.

 

[Minox]

Minox IIIs, Ilford FP4 (517 type)

 

[xkaes]

Looks as good as a Kodak Ektar H35 or Pentax 17 to me!

 

[Donald Qualls]

Looks as good as a Kodak Ektar H35 or Pentax 17 to me!

That's the beauty of Minox -- except for grain, it is as good as a significantly larger format.

 

[tjwspm]

I hadn't expected so much interest in the Minox topic. I have therefore completely revised my instructions, restructured them and added new chapters.

You can now also view the pages in other languages besides English (find the selection menu at the top left of the page):

Minox for beginners

Shooting with a Minox requires sporting ambition, because there is probably no more difficult way to take photos. And none cooler.

moments-of-now.com

 

[perkeleellinen]

Friends - a question about film advance:

When I load a roll of film into a cassette I always place a small Sharpie mark on the film, load the cassette, take two shots then take out the cassette to see if it has wound on. About one in every five films will not move in my LX or EC, but those ones will always wind on in my B.

Has the B got a stronger wind mechanism?
What is the cause of film not winding on in these cassettes?

I have solved this problem. It was the camera, the LX's film spring drive needed replacing. All fine now.

My Dad always says a bad mechanic blames his tools, I blamed myself here and was focused so much on aligning film in the cassette, but to no avail. I should have blamed my tool a little earlier.

 

[tjwspm]

Thank you for clarifying and explaining the problem. This has clarified many a question.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Here you can find the right Minox for the beginner

Minox LX Selection 8x11 Gold in ungeöffneter Schatulle, hier die Nr. 400 von 999 | eBay

Minox LX Selection 8x11 Gold in ungeöffneter Schatulle, hier die Nr. 400 von 999 | Antiquitäten & Kunst, Technik & Photographica, Photographica | eBay!

www.ebay.at

 

[perkeleellinen]

Friends - do you say:

Mee-nox (as in 'meet')
My-nox (as in 'my')
Min-ox (as in 'minute')

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Friends - do you say:

Mee-nox (as in 'meet')
My-nox (as in 'my')
Min-ox (as in 'minute')

Third option.

 

[MattKing]

Friends - do you say:

Mee-nox (as in 'meet')
My-nox (as in 'my')
Min-ox (as in 'minute')

Third option.

Is that "minute" as in 60 seconds, or "minute" as in extremely small?

For me, it is Min-ox (as in mint or mini)

 

[tjwspm]

In Germany, the word Minox is pronounced like this:

https://moments-of-now.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Minox.mp3

Here in an official video authorized by Walter Zapp the origin of the name Minox (in German).
This is the officially correct pronunciation from my point of view:

 

[Andreas Thaler]

In Germany, the word Minox is pronounced like this:

https://moments-of-now.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Minox.mp3

Here in an official video authorized by Walter Zapp the origin of the name Minox (in German).
This is the officially correct pronunciation from my point of view:

The German spoken in Austria differs from the German spoken in Germany. Less in the grammar than in the emphasis on the syllables.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Is that "minute" as in 60 seconds, or "minute" as in extremely small?

For me, it is Min-ox (as in mint or mini)

Exactly 5 milliseconds

 

[perkeleellinen]

I've always said min-ox as in mini. Other Brits I've heard say the word pronounce it the same.

I heard a North American pronounce it my-nox in a video, hence my question here. I wondered if there was a regional difference in pronounciation.

For me, the 'Mi' in Minox has the same hard 'I' as 'Ni' in Nikon (Ni-kon, not Nye-kon)