Doug Handel's Minox Stuff
You can read this stuff while waiting for the images to load,
or you can skip all this "history" and it won't hurt my feelings.
(Blue or Purple "words" are links... like you didn't know.)
Since 1969, I have completed over 5800 assignments as an Advertising Photographer in Dallas, but recently "rediscovered" the fun of photography when I "returned" to the Minox format.
Why Minox?
In the summer of 1966, as a college student, I bought a Minox B while on a trip through Europe. I was young and "dumb" so I sold the Minox shortly after my return the the States.
Then last year, (a short 32 years later), I noticed another Minox B that, I promise, was staring at me, in a local camera shop display case. I was immediately "bitten" by the Minox bug all over again.
Since that time I also discovered Ebay, and The Sub Club and Minox Labs and many helpful real Minox experts that communicated freely with me. Well, by now I own an example of each model Minox 8x11 from a Riga through the EX and LX. They don't just sit in a display case, I got them to use, and I use every one. What a joy, after so many years of using "big" cameras.
Click on a "mini" contact sheet to ENLARGE the Images.
(Each enlarged page will contain at least one image not shown here, just for fun)
Technical Stuff
Unless otherwise noted all these images were created by mounting the film in Minox slide mounts, including the negatives, and they were then directly scanned at 2700 DPI on a Polaroid SprintScan35 scanner.
The very best possible "resolution" (apparent sharpness) for me still comes from making an 8x10 "paper print" and then scanning that print on a flatbed scanner at 300 or more DPI, but at web "resolution" any differences are lost. I realize that this doesn't make me a "purest", since I didn't print all the images on "paper" before scanning, but I just don't have the time right now to spend in my studio darkroom, even though I do have a great little Minox enlarger.
So for me, the fun is in the taking the seeing and hopefully the sharing..
I used PhotoShop to clean the dust, and scratches, and in the case of my 33-year-old Europe color slides "remove" the "fungus?" that was growing on them. I adjust the contrast and density, as I would if I printed them on paper, and used slight "sharpening", 'cause you "gotta" after they’ve been scanned. Then I "size" them down and JPG them for the web.
Film and Processing
My color processing goes to Minox Labs, but for my current B&W shots, I split 35mm B&W T-Max 100 (Kodak) roll film myself using a great film splitter , and process it in the Minox Daylight Developing Tank, using Kodak Microdol-X (1 to 3) for the recommended times, but I use almost constant agitation, and I completely replace the developer half-way through the required development time. I know there are many more, and probably better, ways to produce a great Minox negative, but this is what I am doing at this time, and it is completely predictable, and most importantly, it matches the way I meter and shoot
"Image Quality" of the different Minox Models
There are differences in the "image quality" (resolution, contrast, flare) of the images produced by my early Riga and the later models of Minox, and I'll try to point out those differences with examples.
Questions or Comments : dhandel@doughandel.com
