The Minox, the archetypal sub-miniature camera, was invented by Estonian engineer Walter Zapp of Riga, Latvia, in 1936. Production in Riga at VEF ran from 1937/1938 until 1943. After WWII, production was re-started in Germany from 1948. Subminiature photography is the practice of using unusually small cameras to make photographs. ... Valters Caps, „Minox 8 x 11” fotokameras izgudrotājs ir dzimis RÄ«gā, Latvijā 1905. ... Location Map of Latvia Coordinates , Government Founded 1201 Mayor Aivars Aksenoks Geographical characteristics Area     City 307. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... VEF is an acronym for Valsts Elektrotehniskā Fabrika (State Electrotechnical Plant) is a manufacturer of electrical and electronic products in Latvia. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Combatants Allies: Poland, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, France/Free France, United States, China, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, Norway, Honduras, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ...

Although primarily marketed as a luxury item, the Minox was also used as an espionage camera. Its close-focusing lens and small size 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. The espionage use of the Minox has been memorialized by Hollywood movies, and some Minox marketing efforts have played up the "spy camera" story. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, France/Free France, United States, China, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, Norway, Honduras, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military... John Anthony Walker Junior, born July 28, 1937, was a Chief Warrant Officer and communications specialist for the U.S. Navy, who sold his services as a spy to the Soviet Union from 1968 to 1985, the height of the Cold War era. ... The German Lorenz cipher machine, used in World War II for encryption of high-level messages. ... The Cold War (Russian: Холодная война Kholodnaya Voina) was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States, supported by their military alliance partners. ...

The Minox cameras use 8x11mm film in a small cartridge containing a strip of film 9.2mm wide, one-quarter the size of 35mm, capable of holding up to 50 frames. The fact that the camera holds the small negative in a "curved film plane" makes the sharpness of the tiny negative uniform to the very edge of the frame, resulting in more useable image area. The Minox enlarger holds the negative in this same curve. 135 Film Size, Kodak Tri-X 400 speed 135 (ISO 1007) is a film format for still photography. ...

Minox B subminiature "spy" camera

Minox subminiature spy camera. ... Minox subminiature spy camera. ...

Minox 8x11 camera models

• Riga (attempts to call this model I failed)
• A (Europe there was no distinction made between the three A models)
• II
• III
• IIIs - flash synch
• B - ultralight aluminium shell, selenium meter, produced from 1958 to 1972
• C - introduced in 1969, electronic, used by spy John A. Walker, Jr.
• BL - 1972 with cadmium sulphide meter (requiring a battery), no longer winds film with each open/close cycle

Minox BL

• LX - electronic
• EC
• ECX, replacing EC

• TLX, titanium titanal eloxat coated

Minox TLX

• CLX, chrome plated

and special editions A solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts photons from the sun (solar light) into electricity. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... LDR A photoresistor is an electronic component whose resistance decreases with increasing incident light intensity. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (809x373, 25 KB) Summary Minox BL photograph by Gisling Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Minox ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (809x373, 25 KB) Summary Minox BL photograph by Gisling Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Minox ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (784x663, 87 KB) Summary Minox TLX with case photograph by Gisling Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Minox ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (784x663, 87 KB) Summary Minox TLX with case photograph by Gisling Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Minox ...

• LX Sterling - 925 sterling silver hallmarked
• LX Selection - gold with black dials
• LX Gold II - anniversary edition, all gold, with Walter Zapp's signature
• CLX - with Walter Zapp's signature
• LX 2000 - brass black anodized with gold trim
• Aviator - black anodized with luminous dials, logo and script limited edition of 300
• EC - with Minox Histortical Society logo limited edition of 100
• EC - 1st German Minox club in blue with club logo limited edition of 111.

The earlier mechanical cameras are collector's items. Newer electronic versions, such as the Minox TLX, remain in production yet today, essentially unchanged in general features since the 1970s.

Other products

Minox has also produced a very compact plastic bodied 35 mm camera series. These well made cameras feature a drawbridge style lens cover that can be lowered to reveal a high quality 35mm F 2.8 Minotar lens with glass elements. The camera offers aperture priority exposure, with the option of manual settings. Plastic covers a range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymerization products. ...

• Minox EL, 1974
• MINOX GL, 1979/81
• MINOX GT 1981/91
• MINOX GT-Golf 1984
• MINOX GT-E 1988/1993
• MINOX GSE 1991/1994
• MINOX PL 1982/83
• MINOX ML 1985/1995
• MINOX AL 1987/88
• MINOX AF 1988/90
• MINOX MB 1986/99
• MINOX MB Touring 1900
• MINOX Goldknopf 1991/93
• MINOX MDC 1992/95
• MINOX MDC Collection 1993/1994
• MINOX GT-X 1998/1999
• MINOX GT-E(II) 1998/2001
• MINOX GT-S 1998/2004

Also sold were 110 film cameras and Minox binoculars. Recently, Minox introduced a line of compact binoculars and a range of digital cameras and Classic cameras Minox Leica IIIf, Minox Leica M3, Minox Leica 1F, Minox Hasselblad SWC, Minox Contax I. 110 is a film format used for still photography. ... Binoculars Binocular telescopes, or binoculars, are two identical or mirror-symmetrical telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point accurately in the same direction, one to be viewed through each of the users eyes to present the viewer with a greater sense of depth and distance than a... The Canon EOS 350D The Canon PowerShot A95 Digital photography, as opposed to film photography, uses an electronic sensor to record the image as binary data. ...

Sharan Megahouse of Japan extended the Minox range with 8x11 miniatures of the Rolleiflex TLR 2.8, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus Pen and Robot I.

Company

After a management buyout in August 2001 and a reduction of Leica-held shares down to 49%, and finally completed in 2004, Minox is no longer a division of the Leica company. A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition where a companys existing managers buy or acquire a large part of the company. ... Leica is a camera produced by a German company of the same name. ...

See also

• Subminiature photography
• List of digital camera brands

Subminiature photography is the practice of using unusually small cameras with unusually small film formats to make photographs. ... List of digital camera brands past and present, updated to 2005, but may miss some. ...

Books on Minox

• Hubert E. Heckmann: MINOX Variations IN 8X11, Wittig Books, ISBN 3-88984-153-8
• Morris Moses & John Wade: Spycamera THE MINOX Story, 2nd edition ISBN 1-874707-28-6
• Gunther Kadlubek, Classic Camera Collection Verlag Rudole Hillebrand

External links

• Company web site
• Minox 35mm Cameras (in German and English)
• Information on various sub-miniature cameras, including Minox's