New Minox User

Minox B is a good start. To develop B&W, you need a Minox daylight development tank, to enlarge you need a Minox enlarger or a scanner.

IMO the meter on the B is only slightly useful at the expense of making the camera larger. The IIIS is significantly smaller and nicer and would be my choice. A C can be good for the automation AND being able to open and close without wasting a frame... but they are really getting big for Minox.

While not being as flexible or as classic-cool as the Riga/IIIS etc. models, the EC is a great user for casual personal shooting (what Minox is best for anyway).

I have IIIS, B, C, EC and Minox M3 Classic (film)... the EC and IIIs are my favorite users.

I second Martin's suggestion.B is the choice,if you wish to get into Minox,as you put it:-).EC is entirely electronic,so basically you'll be left with nothing to play with,in terms of "thinking " your shot.B is not much larger than IIIs,it has the same controls,it doesn't run out of battery(which can be and often is a problem with electronic Minox EC camera.Also,EC has a speed limit of 1/500,whereas B has a 1/1000 setting,AND complimented by two filters(usually yellow and green,sometimes ND and green).Mechanical Minox saves you lots of problems,i.e. a dead battery rendering your EC completely useless.C is good,but as Mark mentioned it already,kinda large.Although it presents no difficulty in handling it.LX cameras are sort of pricey these days.

Mark is correct.While EC is not a "real Minox",it can and often is a good casual camera,however lacking the options of "playing" with the film.

Minox tank,some regular developer and fixer,a visit to http://www.digitaltruth.com ,a film scanner/anything equal or higher than 2400 dpi,a good perusal of this forum for older posts,all these should sort you out in this new adventure of yours.Good luck and do not hesitate to share your work with us here.

All the best,

JT

Getting a good B can be more problematic than dealing with batteries. I finally gave up, bought a mint B and sent it in to DAG (3 times!) in an attempt for meter repair... never came back to my satisfation... I am not alone, aging selenium meters are a nightmare... but maybe you'll get lucky.

I'll be selling my mint in box B with its less than perfect DAG fixed meter... a sour topic for me. I think I bought 5 B's in all and never got a really good one. IIIs are perfect, very little to go wrong... at first blush, I though the B's were the way to go... but they weren't (at least for me). My C needed work too (DAG says they all will), but the fix was straightforward and perfect.

Regarding the EC, the fixed focus is the main problem IMO, I could live with f5.6 and 1/500th, but with a useful range of ~4.5-18 ft it can be limiting... but the images are as good as from anything else. The EC does have ISO setting so you can play with EV correction and it drops to fixed 1/30th in flash mode so you can load 3200 film and shoot candid indoors... sometimes limitations are fun and lead to more creative thought.

cheers!

mark

I have 4 Bs, all in good shape. It is much harder to get a good BL. I have two BL, one with corroded meter, sent to DAG, returned without repair due to lack of parts.

Hi all, I have a Minox B, black, ( year 1967 ) very nice, without any defect. It's very fun to play with, Complan, honeycomb lightmeter, a beautiful toy...

The best starter camera for those new to Minox is the Minox C. A serviced Minox C gives decades of untroubled use. On Automatic you have one less thing to think about and can grab a shot that would be missed with most cameras. This is also why the EC is also a good choice.

When you want to have more control you can manually adjust the C.

With the A and B every time you open the camera to use the view finder closing it will wind the film on, loosing the frame. For this reason alone I am not keen on the A or B cameras.

The meters on the B are a problem, but you may get used to reading slightly off the scale for a particular meter. None of my my Bs give the same reading,

The BL is not only one of the most expensive Minox cameras to get but has a poorer build quality than the C. I had three new cameras whilst they where in production from the factory and all spent most the warranty period in for repairs.

I have had BL repaired. DAG supplied me with a meter mounted on the sliding film chamber cover to swap out with a meter that was corroded. On paper the BL ought to be the best Minox with a CdS meter and full manual control but built quality seems to let it down and when I view my negatives all the best photographs are from the Minox Cs and that remains so even with having used various LX cameras for 18 years.

LX cameras are becoming cheaper and being newer and parts still around less of a problem to get serviced.