Minox tripods

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Minox Tripods



-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 21, 1998

Answers

Response to On tripods and their usage

Other mini tripod can be used with Minox cameras too, among them Vivitar goose neck mini tripod, Giotto Q-pod, and Canon mini tripod

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 22, 1998.

Response to On tripods and their usage

There is no reason you cannot use your full size heavy weight tripod on Minox cameras ! In fact many Minoxers do use heavy tripod with tiny Minox IIIs. When they set up their tripod and bend down to look to look through the viewfinder of Minox, it sometimes aroused the curiosity of bystanders :)

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 22, 1998.

Response to On tripods and their usage

Hidden Difference between tripod 1 and tripod 2

tripod I

One distinction between tripod 1 and tripod 2, which is not immediately evident unless you take off the large leg from the ball head. Minox tripod I has a bronze braking pad, 9.5 mm diameter, 5mm thick; a heavy duty brake pad. Tripod II

Minox tripod II does not have a separate brake pad; the big leg was extended about 5 mm, and the tube acts like a brake pad. There is also a piece of resin pad in it. Both tripods are adequate of Minox ultraminature , 35mm and APS cameras. Personally I prefer tripod I a little bit more, it seems has a tighter grip.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 25, 1998.

Response to On tripods and their usage

Optex pocket tripod is the same size as Giotto Q-Pod, but better, as it has a ball head. Optex tripod has two heights: 11 cm (4.5") and 16 cm (6 1/4"). For light use, Optex tripod is quite good. The ball head, however is made of plastic, the metal ball head will outlast many Optex pocket tripods.

-- martin (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 26, 1998.

Response to On tripods and their usage

Canon mini tripod is exactly the same as Optex tripod, except it costs 30% more.

-- martin (martin.tai@capcanada.com), December 31, 1998.

Response to On tripods and their usage

For Minox A/B/C/BL, to attach the camera to tripod, a tripod adapter is needed. There are many variations of Minox tripod head,(detailed in Hechmann's book). Some early Riga tripod head is rare collector item. Minox tripod adapter shows up from time to time at eBay. You need to make sure that the tripod head has a 1/4" thread instead of 3/8 thread. All the tripod heads ahave a holder for cable release. Minox LX/TLX/CLX has its own 1/4" tripod thread, hence the tripod head is not needed. But you still need an cable release bracket.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), January 23, 1999.

Response to On tripods and their usage

EFFECT OF CAMERA SHAKE ON SHARPNESS

Camera shake is one of the causes of image blur. Conventional wisdom says that small format camera is more intolerant of camera shakes. Is this true ?

There are three types of camera shakes 1) rotational, where camera rotates back and forth a small angle around an axis. 2) Camera shifts left and right 3) camera rocks to front and back.

Case 1: camera rotates 1 degree. focal plane blur spot on Minox 8x11 camera is 0.26mm, on 35mm camera with 50mm lens is 0.87. Although the blur spot on 35mm camera is bigger, but when enlarged to same 8x10" size, 35mm camera enlarged less, resulting in all in 6mm blur spots on prints for both cameras.

Case 2: Object at 2 meter distance, camera shift sideway 3 cm. Blur size: on Minox film 0.23mm, on 35mm negative =0.77 mm; blur spot on 8x10" enlargement: all 5.2 mm Case 3: object at 2 meter, cameras moved back 5 cm; blur spot on Minox 8x11 camera= 0.032mm on 35mm negative = 0.11 mm; on 8x10" enlargements: 0.72 mm vs 0.79mm

Conclusion: All shakes creates bigger blur on 35mm negatives vs 8x11 negative, when enlarged to 8x10", the effects are about equal, when camera of same view angles are compared. I use 50mm lens in calculation because 50mm lens on 35mm format has about the same view angle. As Minox 35mm camera has a 35mm lens, the blur spot size in all three cases are smaller on Minox 35mm enlargements.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), January 24, 1999.

Response to On tripods and their usage

Rule of thumb for freezing camera shake in 35mm photography is 1/f rule, ie use shutter speed of 1/focal-length. Some Minox 8x11 cmaera user thought that the same rule applies , hence he thought the lower hand held limit = 1/15. But according to my calculation set forth in the previous posting, a minox 15mm lens has the same effect as 50mm lens on 35mm camera, in regard to camera shakes. Hence, the hand held limit should still be 1/50 sec. With practice, however on can achieve 1/4 sec hand held, as many Leica rangerfinder camera users do.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), January 24, 1999.

Response to On tripods and their usage

The blur size on 35mm camera is proportional to the focal length of lens for rotational shake and sideway shake. The blur size due to camera rocking front and back is basically the same, regardless of focal length, if the object distance is more than 2 meters away.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), January 24, 1999.
I was reading what Martin had written about the Minox tripods. I took a look at mine which was purchased new in 1968 (I don't know how it could be so long ago but it was). The leg has the two coin slots and the ball head can move in all directions (there is a slot extending between the two screw in legs allowing the head to be tiped more than 90 degrees). When I removed the large leg I find that it matches the description of the style two tripod. Is this a model 1 1/2?

-- Ken Trettin (Hogman@netins.net), June 13, 1999.
I think the bronze ball brake pad was replaced by tube brake near the end of tripod I production, probably as a means to simplify production. Then afterward the slotted ball head replaced the bevelled ball head and became tripod II. It seems that the MINOX tripod with tube brake is more common.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), June 15, 1999.
New pictures of tripod I and tripod II added to show their difference

This message expires in 7 days

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), August 23, 1999.

Yesterday I went to Kinderman/Leica to repair my Minox C, I saw a cute little Giotto tripod, only 2" long , half of the original Giotto Q- Pod. This micro tripod has a ball head.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), September 16, 1999.

Smallest Pocket Tripod

I bought a small tripod mentioned in the previous post.

It is the smallest tripod I have, it is actually 4" long and 1 3/16". Weight 3 oz It has five sections, when fully extended, it becomes a 7" table top tripod. This mini tripod is great for Minox TLX and GT-E

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), November 18, 2000.

I also have a Minox Tripod 1 1/2 - Would you like me to post a picture of it to show in this article? What name should it go by a 1 or a 2?

Lee

-- Lee Jones (leejones6@home.com), January 14, 2001.

Re: Model I.5 tripod.

Since the large leg of model I and II is interchangeable, it is quite possible some Minox tripod was equipped with the ball head of I but with the leg of II.

The brass tube of model II

Brass tube of Model I tripod



-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), January 14, 2001.

Minox tripod ball heads

Model I tripod head: highly polished. Three layer swivel head: 16mm, then 20mm then 12mm.

Model I tripod head: muted. Three layers in differnt order; top 20mm, then 16mm then 12mm

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), January 14, 2001.

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