Minox 35 GT

This has to be one of my absolute favourite cameras.  It is extremely small and light and yet produces a full-sized 35mm negative.  It is fitted with an excellent Color-Minotar 1:2.8, 35mm lens which is both contrasty and sharp and doesn't exhibit too much in the way of barrel distortion either. The shutter is an electronic aperture priority automatic system where the camera determines the shutter speed appropriate to the aperture setting.  The photographer sets the aperture using a ring around the lens which is perhaps a little fiddly because the camera is so small but it works OK.  When not in use the lens is stowed away within the camera body behind a drop-down front door which also covers the battery compartment and the front of the viewfinder.  Although this looks a little awkward it is actually quite practical because it means that the camera has a wide and stable platform when the trapdoor is open.  This is really useful for night-time shots requiring long exposures with the camera placed on a table or some piece of street furniture. It means that you can still take good quality photographs in low lighting conditions without having to carry a tripod with you. The essence of this camera is its lightweight and portability and it does this supremely well.

On the top plate of the camera there are two small slider switches, the one in front of the hot shoe controls the ten second self timer and the one to the right of the hot shoe is a 2x exposure backlight compensation facility to give one stop more exposure than the light meter would otherwise set.  Just in front of this is a small push button for the battery test facility.  (Push the button and the meter needle in the viewfinder drops to the bottom and then jumps up again to above the 125 Mark if the battery is okay.) the film speed is set on the basis of the camera using a rotating thumb wheel which clicks at third of a stop intervals.  Surrounding this is a painted metal plate which has the film speeds marked on it although quite often the paint has lifted from the plate and the numbers are lost.  If you remove the fully demountable camera back you can see an index mark moulded into the mounting of three films the setting wheel and this denotes the 100 ISO film speed position.  Rotate clockwise to increase the film speed.  On my example the top film speed is 800 and the lowest is 25 ISO.

Maintenance and repairs

Only a general external clean although the plastic window covering the exposure counter has come adrift.  I did try to reglue it without removing the top plate of the camera but I was unsuccessful in doing this and the plastic is still lose although it hasn't fallen out or interfered with anything yet so I think that I will probably just leave it as it is.

Batteries – these cameras use a PX 27 mercury cell as standard but these are now unobtainable so I use four silver oxide 357 cells set within a plastic tube.

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