Minox 35 EL User manual

rUlINOXss EL
From Serial No.3635000





Owner'sManual
                    www.orphancameras.com

Congratulations!





  You now own the world's smallest     For the  right start, please take
automatic full-frame 35 mm camera   the time to get acquainted with your
-  so  featherlight, it can be your   35 EL by  reading this  instruction
constant companion everywhere.      booklet thoroughly.
  Made by Minox - famous for fine     And, before making any important
ultra-miniaturecameras - your 35 EL    pictures, of a trip or some special
is ready to give you all the pleasure   event, shoot a cartridge of film out-
of fine picture-taking.And, with the   doors and with flash indoors. This
great variety of 35 mm films at your    will  give you  practice  in camera
command, you can  not  only  get   operation and provide a check on
sparkling prints for your album or   your outfit.
as a gift to family and friends, but    We wish you lots of picture-taking
big enlargements to decorate your   enjoyment with your Minox 35 EL.
home, and beautiful color-slides for
brilliant large-screenprojection.
2                    www.orphancameras.com

Contents





                         Page                            Page
lllustrations                     4     Changing exposure time       1T
Battery                         6     Slow speed warning          18
Installingbattery                 6     Over-exposurewarning        18
Battery test                      7   Distancescale,
Openingand closing             9    Range of sharpness          20
Viewfinder                                            I    Film loading                 22
S-t-e-a-d-y                      1 0   Unloading                   24
Taking the picture               1 1   Ffashpictures                 25
Film advance                           't2   Using a tripod                 26
Exposurecounter               1 3   Making the most
Setting film speed               1 3      of exposure automation       28
Exposureautomation            1 4   Care of the Minox 35 EL         30
  Lens aperture (f-stop)          1 5   Technical lnformation          30
  Electronictiming automation   1 6
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1  Film advance lever
 2  Exposure counter
 3  Shutter release with
    cable release socket
 4  Battery test button
 5  Flash shoe
 6  Viewfinder
 7  Film rewind crank
  I   Battery
    compartment
  I   F-stop scale
1 0  Distance scale
1 1 35 mm f/2.8 lens
1 2 CdS cells
1 3  Front cover

14  Film chamber
1 5  Viewfindereyepieces
1 6  Film advance lever
1 7  Film take-up spool
1 8  Film rewind release
1 9  Tripod socket
20 ASA/DIN film speed scale
21  Back cover lock
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Battery
  The  battery supplied with your
35 EL  (Eveready EPX 27,  Mallory
PX27, Ucar EPX 27, or Varta 7150)
powers the shutter and the exposure
indicator in the viewfinder.To insure
continuous functioning of  the ca-
mera, make it a practice to test and
clean the battery from time to time.
lnstalling battery
  Open the  front cover  of the ca-
mera and unscrew the cap from the
battery compartment. A coin may be
helpful for this.
  Clean  both ends  of  the  battery
with a rough cloth (or with your coat
sleeve). Insert the battery, with mi-
nus (-) end  first so that the  *  end     Replace the cap on the compart-
faces out. As a reminder, the inside   ment and screw it in firmly.
of the screw cap  is marked with a    Make the  following battery test
 *  sign.                                 after installing the battery.
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Batterytest
  Keep front cover of camera fully
open. Turn  lilm advance lever  all
the way with two strokes (page 12).
Look into viewfinder while you press
down  the  battery  test  button  near
the flash shoe. The indicator needle
at the  right side  of the viewlinder
image must now  stand  at 125 or
above.
    It the needle does not move, the
battery may  have  been  installed
with the  *  and - poles reversed. lf
the needle remains below 125, the
battery  is exhausted and musl be
replaced.
  Note: Make sure to press the test
button  all  the way down.   lf  the
needle was standing above 30 be-
fore you started the test, it will go   button all the way down, the needle
down momentarily when you  first    will  rise again and give you the
press the button; as you press the   actual test reading.
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Use  live batteries!


  The battery test (page 7) cannot
tell you how long  the battery will
remain  serviceable. With  normal
use, a  fresh  battery  will  last  for
about a year. Make it a habit to re-
place the battery annually, even if  it
still tests "OK".
    lf a battery fails shortly after in-
stallation, remove it and clean both
ends with a dry rough cloth or paper
towel, and  re-install. Replace with
fresh battery if cleaned battery does
not pass test.
  An exhausted or normally aged
battery must be removed from the
camera  promptly. Always  remove
the battery - even a fresh one - be-
fore you store your Minox 35 EL for
an extended period.
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Opening and closing

  To  get  ready  for  picture-taking,
open the  front cover  all  the way
down. To close the camera, simply
flip up the front cover flush wilh the
camera body.
  With  closed  cover, the  shutter
release is blocked and electronic
circuits are switched off.
  The film advance lever (page 12)
or  film rewind (page 24) can be
operated  while  the  camera   is
closed.

Viewfinder
  The luminous frame in the finder
shows you the Picture area.
  At the right side of the finder area
you see the scale and needle of the
exposure indicator (Page 17).
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S-t-e-a-d-y!
              The  illustration at the  left shows
              a good camera hold for horizontal
                pictures; at  the  right, a  hold  for
                vertical pictures.





               Hold your 35 EL f irmly,yet relaxed,
             keeping fingers at  front close  to
             camera, away from CdS cells around
              the lens.
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Taking the picture
  When you have framed Your Pic-
ture  in the luminous  f rame of the
viewfinder, hold the camera steadY
and  squeeze the  shutter  release
button down gently all the way to
take the picture.
   After release, the red button  re-
             'down'mains in the                     Position; it re-                'ready'turns to the                      Position when
you advance the  f ilm  for the next
 picture.





  Thus, the position of the release
 button tells you whether or not You
 have already advanced the f ilm.
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Film advance
  Slide the film advance lever around
and forward with two strokes all the
way.
    lf you  didn't advance the  lever
fully both times, you can "catch up"
with a third stroke.
  You can operate the film transport
while the camera front cover is open
or closed.
  With correctly loaded film in the
camera, the round disk with the re-
wind crank (at the  left top of the
camera) will rotate when you oper-
ate the film advance. Therefore, do
not hold this disk during film ad-
vance.
  When the  entire film has been
exposed, the film advance lever can
no longer be turned  all the way.
Do not try to force  it! See page 24
for unloading instructions.
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Exposurecounter
  The exposure counter  indicates
how many pictures you have taken
on the film.                                      \
  The  counter  returns to  starting
position if the shutter is tripped and
the back cover  is removed for film
loading (page 22).

Setting film speed
  Turn the film speed scale on the
underside of the camera to the ASA
(or DIN) number of the film you are
using.
    lf the specific number of the film
is not shown on the scale, set the
dial to the nearest number (e. g. to
ASA 100 for ASA 80  film). Do  nor
set  intermediate values since  this
would result in incorrect exposure.
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Exposure automation
              Your Minox 35 EL has an electroni'
                cally controlled, automatically timed
                shutter, manually  pre-set  aperture
                 (f-stop) selection, and an exposure
               indicator needle in the viewf inder'
              actuated by an auxiliary CdS exPo-
              sure meter. This modern combina-
                 tion of features enables you to take
             whole  series  of  Pictures without
               shutter adjustments but  it still permits
             you   by changing the f'stoP    to
               adiust the depth of field or the ex'
             posure time (by observing the indi'
               cator needle in the viewfinder).
              Use this simple setting for "Fair
             weather  photography":  Turn  the
                f-stop setting ring (the ribbed wide
                ring on the lens tube) to 5.6 on the
              adiacent scale and iust leave every'
                thing else - except distance setting
              (page 20) -  to the camera's electro-
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nic automation! This method is fast
and  convenient, even though  the
camera offers you still greater lech-
nical scope whenever you want to
employ it.




Lens aperture (f-stop)
  The ribbed lens opening control
ring on the lens tube can be set to
any f-stop from 2.8 to 16.
  A high f-stop number (e.9. 11 or
16) indicates a small lens opening,
a low f-stop number (e. g. 2.8 or 4)
a large lens opening. The higher the
f-stop number, the  greater  is the
range of sharpness (depth of field)
but the longer is the required expo-
sure time.
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Electronic timing automation          your Minox 35 EL shows you what
  With film speed and f-stop preset,   the exposure will be with the pre-set
the electronic shutter of your 35 EL      f ilm speed and  f-stop under the
automaticallytimes itself during the   existing light conditions. The indi-
actual exposure, according to the   cator is visible in the luminous fra-
brightnessof the scene.           me on the right side of the view-
  The automatic exposure range ex-   finder image.
tends from 1/500 second to longer    The indicator needle is actuated
times,  with  an  increasing  long-   by an auxiliary CdS exposure meter
exposure range for slower films:       which is switched on
                                    o when the camera front cover  isASA      Exposure range
                                 open800       1/500 to approx.  1 sec.                                                             r dnd the film has been advanced.400       1/500 to approx.  2 sec.                                     Thus, the indicator operates only200        1/500 to approx.  4 sec.                              when the camera is ready for pic-100       1/500 to approx.  8 sec.
                                         ture-taking. To save battery life, the 50       1/500 to approx. 16 sec.
 25       1/500 to approx. 30 sec.   meter is automatically switched off
                                          after the shutter has been released.
                                 The indicator needle shows within
Exposure time indicator               a range from 1/500 to 1/30 seconds
  An  indicator needle and shutter   what the exposure will be. (You can
speed scale  in  the viewfinder of   estimate intermediate speeds bet-
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ween the marked 500-125-30.)
  The indicator will be helpful to
you in different ways.




Changing exposure time
  For fast moving subjects (sports
pictures, for instance) you will wantautomatic  shutter  speeds  above   lt
1/125 sec. The indicator needle will                                               Lett: The exposure will beffiabouttell you what the exposure will be                                    1/300 second.with the pre-set f-stop. To obtain a                                        Middle: S/ow exposure warningfaster shutter speed (shorter expo-                                     (Needle in shaded area belowsure time) turn the f-stop ring on the                                     1/30 second).lens barrel while you observe the                                        Right : Over-exposure warningneedle in the viewfinder. A  larger                                    (Needle in shaded area abovelens opening (smaller f-stop number)                                     1/500 second).will  automatically result  in  faster
shutter speed.
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S/ow speed warning                To  correct the exposure, turn the
    lf the indicator needle stands in    f-stop ring on the lens barrel to a
the shaded area below 1/30, it is a   smaller lens opening (higher f-stop
warning that the exposure with the   number)  while  you  observe  the
pre-set f-stop will be longer than   needle in  the viewfinder  until   it
1/30 second, requiring a triPod or   comes down to 1/500 or slower.
flash. However, if the f-stop ring on
the lens barrel can be turned to a
larger lens opening (smaller f-stop
number), the indicator needle maY
rise above 1/30 and give You the
"go ahead" for a hand-held exPo-
sure. Observe the  needle  in  the
viewfinder while you turn the f-stop
ring.

Over-exposure warning
    lf the indicator needle stands in
the hatched area above 1/500, it  is
a warning that the picture would be
over-exposed with the pre-set f-stop.
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Distance scale,
Range of sharpness
  By turning the  lront  ring  of the
lens you can set the Minox 35 EL for
any distance from 3 feet to  infinity
(oo).
  With any distance setting, the pic-
ture will be sharp not only at that
specific distance but the sharpness
will include objects which are some-
what closer aswell as objectswhich
are beyond the set distance. This                                  Snapshof setting: t/8; 20 tt.
range of sharpness (depth of field)                               Range of sharpness lrom 10 ftvaries with the distance setting and                                               to  lntinity  (a).with the lens opening (f-stop) used.
The 35mm lens of your Minox 35 EL
has a convenient scale to indicate
the depth of field for every distance
at the various f-stop settings. This
scale  is adjacent to  the distance
scale;  it shows f-stop numbers on
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both sides of the distance setting   depth of field extends from approxi-
    index mark.                        mqtely 10 feet to infinity (oo).
     The depth  of  field extends from    Such a setting - with the oo mark
    the left position of a specific t-stop   set  at the  f-stop position on  the
   .  number to the right position of the    right -  is known as a snapshot set-
i  I  same number. (The position of  f/8    ting.  lt is very useful when much of                                       your picture-taking is of subjects in     is indicated by a dot between f/11
 o  and f/5.6; similarly l/4  is at the dot   the middle distance,but should also
    between f/5.6 and the index mark.)   show the distant background with
                                      acceptable sharpness.
                                         For landscape pictures where the
     As you set the lens for various   principal  interest  lies  in  the  tar
    distances, you can readily see that   distance, simply set oo at the  tri- '    the depth of  field  increases with   angular index mark.
    the use of smaller lens openings
      (:  higher f-stop numbers). you can
    also see that, for any specific f-stop,
    the depth of  field gets smaller as
   you  set  the  lens  tor  closer  dis-
    tances.
     Example: lf you use f/8 and set
    the distance scale at 20 feet. the
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Film loading





  Load - or unload Your Minox 35 EL
in subdued light;  if there is no other
shade, turn your back toward  the
sun. Turn the back cover  lock  to
the left so that the red dot becomes    the take-up spool  is accessible. (ll
 visible; slide the back cover off the   necessary, press release button to
camera.  Insert  the  film  cartridge    free film advance.)
 into the film chamber with the Pro-     Press rewind release button on
truding film end pointing to the right.    the  right side on camera bottom.
  Open the front cover  ol the ca'    This locks uP the take'uP sPool lor
 mera so that You can oPerate the    easier insertion of  the  film.  Slide
 shutter release button. Turn the film    film under liP of the take'uP sPool
 advance lever until the wide slot of    untit three or four pertoration holes                    www.orphancameras.com t,