[Leica] Re: Birthday presents

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

On Nov 30, 2006, at 4:39 AM, Bob wrote:

> So it seems I had a birthday this weekend and decided to get myself a
> frivolous yet practical & affordable present; to this end I'm having
> Don Goldberg send me a rebuilt Minox IIIs.  (This simultaneously tags
> me as a sucker for cool machines and also as an unreconstructed film
> addict.)
>
> Elsewhere in the news someone in the family gave me a really nice
> Case pocketknife which she sez was her grandfather's (she's my age so
> this is a somewhat vintage piece.)  It has three blades, two of which
> are almost identical.  My father-in-law sez that this is because
> everyone he knew who had a pocketknife back in the day used to break
> off part of one of the blades and grind the stump into a
> screwdriver.  Anyone know if this was indeed a common practice in the
> early-middle parts of the 20th century??


Last things first. I have had Case knifes ever since I was a tiny tad  
and I never heard of anyone purposely breaking off a portion of the  
blade to grind into a screwdriver. On the other hand, a lot of blades  
were accidently broken playing Mumbly Peg or attempting to pry off  
bottle tops. The knives were a favorite of whittlers and the big  
blade was used to shape the wood while the little blade was kept very  
sharp to do the details.

The Minox camera is VERY addictive. The IIIs is the best of the  
series and is the closest to the original Riga Minox conceived by  
Walter Zapp as the smallest camera one could carry in a watch pocket.  
(Remember those?) You will end up buying a Minox enlarger, film  
slitters to slice roll film down to the 9.2 mm, a developing tank,  
and a zillion accessories. Minox film is expensive and hard to get.  
Certainly CVS doesn't carry it. Most Minox fans keep their old  
cassettes and slit and load their own film.

The image quality is surprisingly good for an 8 x 11 mm frame size.  
The Complan lens is optimized for f3.5, its only aperture. The  
pressure plate curves the film to enhance acuity. Using a good  
enlarger, you can make a 5 x 7" print which stand reasonably close  
examination. We are not talking about Leica quality here but they are  
a good deal better than you could get from a disposable camera. My  
Minox prints compare favorably fo those obtained from a 1.3 mb Leica  
Digilux Zoom (a rebadged Fuji 1700 Zoom).

If you really get involved with tiny cameras, check out this site:    
<www.SUBMINI-L@yahoogroups.com>

Larry Z