This evening I got to the last exposure on my Minox EC, and was taking out Minox tank, developer etc, ready to develop the film but when I pull open the camera,, oops, there was no film in it ! I did quite a number of tests on that "roll of film" which I thought was in the camera. What is your method of indicating the camera is empty ? I did the opposite a month ago with my TLX, I push-pull and excercised the shutter, believing the camera was empty; but suddenly I remembered I put a roll of factory Agfapan APX in it some times back ! Unlike Minox GT-E or other 35mm camera, if you are in doubt you can always turn the rewind button or peep at the cartridge window. But there is no provision of that sort. The new ECX corrected this by providing a "film in camera" indicator. What is your method of marking a Minox 8x11 camera as empty or loaded ?

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), January 29, 1999

Answers

My method is only one film in one Minox 8x11 at a time. I'm waiting for the processing of this film to put an other one in a 8x11.

Daniel

-- Daniel Leygnat (daniel.leygnat@fns.asso.fr), February 01, 1999.

Daniel, your method does work. I am now experimenting with tapping empty Minox vs Minox with cassette in it, to see whether it is possible to differentiate by sound an empty Minox vs a loaded Minox. Empty Minox has a hollow sound, loaded Minox has a solid sound. But I still need some more practice to tell whether this tapping method is reliable.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), February 02, 1999.

I haven't tried this since I resuscitated my Minox B, but if you have a WeightWatcher's scale or equivalent, a loaded camera weighs slightly more than an empty camera. That doesn't help when you need to answer the question away from the kitchen, but at least there's a way to find out. I also write "LOADED" on the side of the camera using a medium (HB) pencil. The letters stay legible for a long time against the brushed metal, and are easy to remove when you empty the camera (rub lightly with your thumb). Of course, that doesn't work with the black models.

-- Peter Tattersall (ptatters@home.com), February 15, 1999.

Try getting under a blanket, in a darkened bedroom, and open the camera and "feel" the film, or the lack of it. In emergencies, just open the camera as if to load it and see if it is loaded. I think the light will fog only one or two frames.

-- VICKEN O. BERJIKIAN (BERJIKIAN@AOL.COM), February 25, 1999.

Using "film window" on camera back to indicate film has being used from box camera to SLR and P&S. IMO, the same film window method is also applicable to Minoxes. When pull open a Minox, turn it over, a small square or round hole can be punched on the thin part of the cover, such that it sits right on top of the film advance spindle. When there is no film in the camera, the bright chrome of the spindle can be seen through the window, when there is film inside, the cassette is black. Of course the film window must be covered up with a small piece of transparent material, and flush with the surface. like the small square or round exposure meter on Minox C/LX/TLX/EC.

-- mt (cg081@torfree.net), February 27, 1999.

It's easy to know if I'm in my lab. My empty Minox B wrights 98 g, a cassete with 36 exp. B&W film ca. 5 g.

-- Wolfgang Fischer (wolfischer@hotmail.com), March 31, 1999.

I put my empty cameras away in a storage area. My active cameras always have film. Whenever I remove film I insert a new roll, usually in the field. My most-used camera is a Minox EC. Also use Acmel MD and a few other "strange" 8x11 cameras: Chadt Cam Watch M1 (very tiny) and a Minimax-lite lighter camera (lighter no longer works, anyone know where I can get a replacement?).

-- John Derrickson (JGD@freeVEDA.org), December 31, 1999.

I use small Avery round stickers. They come in a package of 4 colors. I use one color for each film that I use, and put that sticker on the film cassette, the cassette box, and the end of the camera when I load it. This identifies what film is where at all times. If I don't reload the camera imediately after removing a film, then I remove the sticker from the end. A camera with no sticker is empty. When I use a different film, then I change the sticker on the camera to match the film.

-- Charlie Mallia (cmallia@ibm.net), February 24, 2000.