Minox 35... I still have my Minox 35GT-E, which I purchased new in 1998. It is a lovely camera and has made many great photos for me. I've currently got it loaded with some Tri-X and may take it on my two-week excursion to the Right Coast tomorrow.
Regards terminology, cameras like this, the Rollei 35, the Voigtländer Perkeo II, etc, are "scale focus" cameras ... they have no rangefinder or TTL viewing system, you focus by setting a distance on the focusing scale. A true "zone focusing camera" is even simpler than this: the focusing scale has no distance markings, just symbols to indicate far, intermediate distances, and close up. Zone focusing is a technique that can be used with any camera that has a distance scale on the focusing mechanism. A DoF scale on the lens provides a lot of convenience but isn't strictly necessary since you can use a table of aperture-distance to focus zone with just a distance setting and known aperture on the camera. With the Minox 35 and Rollei 35, for quick shooting, I leave the aperture at f/11 and just have to remember two distance settings to be able to cover the normal shooting range from around 1.5m to infinity (close: 1.5m to 3.5m, far: 2.5m to infinity, approximately). It's very easy to be very very fast making this setting and makes most AF systems look lethargic by comparison once you have it down. And obviously, when you want to use a large lens opening and are working in close, you have to measure or become much more accurate at estimating distance. Accurate estimation comes with lots of practice... and once you get it, it is instantaneous and unambiguous. :) It seems to me that most people today just want the camera to do all this for them, and then they fuss over focusing mode and targeting the precise subject, complain when it doesn't do exactly what they thought, etc etc. The speed and control that scale focus and zone focusing techniques lend to the picture making process is why I will likely always remain a retro-grouch and love using my antiquated cameras. :D onwards, G > On Mar 4, 2024, at 7:06 AM, Stanley Halpin <s...@stans-photography.info> > wrote: > > I had 2-3 different Minox 35 GT 35mm cameras many years ago. Many. I don’t > know if it was the proper technical term, but I always thought it had a zone > focus system. > Depending on amount of light available, I set f/ to /5.6, 8/, or 1/11, > usually used an ISO64 film, sometimes ISO200. Auto exposure. > > One handed, I could pull the camera from my pocket or handlebar bag or from > the carabiner on my gear sling (rock climbing), open the flap-down lens > cover, adjust the focus zone to some approximate point on the dial > (2…3…5…10m...Infinity), look through the uncoupled viewfinder to compose, > shoot a frame or two, close the cover, return the camera to pocket… > Wonderfully simple to use, produced good results. Then I got more serious > about SLRs and longer lenses, etc. Today I do have a Ricoh GRiii which has > many of the same characteristics as that Minox, and I usually have it with me > even when I am primarily working with one of my real cameras. I can see the > appeal of a new film camera of this type. > > Stan > >> On Mar 4, 2024, at 5:16 AM, Ralf R Radermacher <p...@uebra.de> wrote: >> >>> Am 04.03.24 um 10:53 schrieb Bob W PDML: >>> Making the camera square would do away with that. In fact using a square >>> negative 24x24 would give you 54 frames per roll. >> >> But it wouldn't look like what those youngsters expect a film camera to look >> like. >> >>> In the video he talks about using zone focusing on the camera. >> >> The only times I ever see this term is when people describe the way the >> Horizon panoramic camera is focussed or rather isn't. It has no focussing >> control. Instead it's fix-focussed somehere mid-distance between here and >> infinity and you have to stop down to get whatever you want to be sharp into >> focus. >> -- %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-le...@pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
