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Starting with a piece of wood of the maximum allowed size, inventor
Walter Zapp
developed his first subminiature camera in 1936. This resulted in the
so-called Minox Riga, that was introduced in 1937.
More about this in the history below.
Over the years, Minox produced a wide range of 8 x 11 mm subminiature
cameras that were ideally suited for the expionage trade. The Riga was
renamed to A I and was followed by the
A II and the
A III.
The Minox-B
and C,
introduced at the height of the Cold War,
became extremely popular with
intelligence agencies
world-wide.
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From 1974 onwards, Minox also developed a series of small 35 mm cameras.
As they were about the size of a pack of cigarettes, they were also
very suitable for the espionage trade.
The first model, the Minox 35 EL,
was so popular that the Russians copied it as the
Kiev 35 A.
Some of the Minox cameras are described here.
Click any of the images below for further information.
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Minox cameras on this website
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Over the years, Minox developed a wide range of accessories and add-ons
for their subminiature cameras. Some of these were developed for a specific
model, but others were suitable for more than one model, or even
the entire range. Click any of the images below for a full
description.
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All analog Minox subminiature cameras use tiny little 8 x 11 mm negatives.
Using high-grade black & white film in combination with the high-quality
COMPLAN or MINOX lens, offers sufficient resolution for document photography.
Aided by the complementary measuring chain and the built-in parallax
correction, the camera can be used as close to a document as 20 cm.
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In later years, colour film was added to the Minox product range, but it was
less useful for document duplication due to the larger grain and, hence,
the lower resolution of the print.
Even today, offering Minox films for processing at the local photo store,
often raises eyebrows.
Minox films are still available today – directly from Minox –
whilst development and print is handled by a third party (2019).
Furthermore, equipment and consumables are available to develop and print
your own Minox films (see the links at the bottom of this page).
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The first Minox subminiature camera was developed in 1937 in Riga (Latvia)
by Walter Zapp [1] (Latvian: Valters Caps, 4 September 1905
- 17 July 2003).
His aim was to design a camera that was small enough to fit
in the palm of a hand and yet was capable of taking high-quality spontaneous
photographs.
He started with a small piece of wood that was used as a reference.
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During the 1930s, Zapp managed to conceive a camera that met
these requirements and in 1938 the first Minox camera was produced.
Although the camera was intended for regular photography, it soon became
the world's most popular spy camera.
During WWII, it was so popular that it was difficult for the various
intelligence agencies to obtain enough Minox cameras for their tasks.
Ironically, they were first built in Latvia under Russian control,
then under German occupation and then under Russian control again.
After WWII, production was moved to Germany, where the first
Minox-B
cameras were built [2].
The image on the right shows the inventor, Walter Zapp, holding one of his
Minox cameras.
He designed his first camera when he was in his early 30s.
Zapp died in 2003 in Binningen (near Basel, Switzerland)
at the age of 98. A few years earlier he starred in
a televison documentary,
telling the story of his successes.
This video clip is available
on the Minox website.
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Minox subminiature cameras were available for a long time from Minox
and their selected dealer network. In 2005, two years after Zapp's death, Minox
released a special edition of the Minox LX to celebrate the 100th birthday of the inventor. Minox currently focusses on rebranded products.
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Below an overview of the various miniature cameras produced by Minox.
Click any model name for further information. Items shown
in red are not featured on this website.
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*) Minox DSC - spy camera or not?
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In the past, Minox has produced two small digital cameras: the Minox DSC
and the Minox DSC Silver, both known as Digital Spy Cam and suitable for
inconspicuous photography.
Although the DSC has an excellent lens and a resolution of
3.2 MP (Megapixels), it is unsuitable for document photography, as it has
a minium focus distance of 1 metre.
The later DSC Silver however, is most suitable for document
photography, as it has a minimum focussing distance of 50 cm
and an improved resolution of 5.1 MP, whilst it is only slightly bigger
than the old analogue Minox-B.
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- H. Keith Melton, Ultimate spy
ISBN: 0-7513-4791-4, 1996-2002.
- Wikipedia, Minox
Description of the various Minox models and their history.
- Wikipedia, Walter Zapp
The inventor of the Minox subminiature camera.
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Information on Minox website
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Any links shown in red are currently unavailable.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Thursday 01 April 2010. Last changed: Friday, 14 April 2023 - 13:48 CET.
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