When I recently started looking for cameras again I found a Minox 35 EL (that’s the first model of the series) for sale in a place nearby. I already have a copycat of the Minox, the Voigtländer Vito C, which I really like, but unfortunately there’s a white spot from some light reflection in the corner on every image, so I was really keen on finding a similar, possibly leakless camera. The Minox looked really nice. I got it from a retired man who had inherited from his aunt, who, apparently, had never used it. In 45 years! I was instantly in love with the build quality of this one, it really feels very solid. Much more than the Voigtländer version which I also like but it’s a lot more plasticky. So I was quite happy with the Minox, thinking this might be the last camera I’d buy for a while. However, shooting the first roll of film, after opening the front cover maybe 15 or 20 times, closing it became really hard and it suddenly wouldn’t shut tight anymore. After removing the roll there was a thin metal blade from the folding mechanism that was pushed back and folded in front of the lens. The blade was impossible to move to its original position and there was really no other way to fix this than to remove the blade entirely. After that I shot another roll with it, still hoping the camera might be alright after all. However, there now are massive light spots on the left side of all images, which are actually worse than the ones in the Voigtländer. I think the pictures still look interesting (maybe even more interesting than they would without the leaks), but the quest to find a small, working 35mm camera continues.

Photographer:
earthcube
Uploaded:
2022-03-16
Tags:
brokencamera lightleaks
Camera:
Minox 35 EL
Film:
Agfa APX 100
Lens:
Color-Minotar 1:2,8 f=35mm
City:
Mainz
Country/region:
Germany
Albums:
Minox 35
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