Lens quality is superb. Pocket-sized versatiliy Shutter release is super quiet.(Great for candid people shots) Great design/looks Fun!!!

Luckily I have not experienced the usual shutter problems others have with this camera. I can only tell you that I will keep treating my cameras with the care and respect they deserve. The Minox GT E/S is a little delicate, but this negative is far outweighed by the positives. To those who don't like the focus guess-work: Relax... part of the fun of this little gem are the beautiful, happy accidents that occur. A little challenge is fun. Actually, I consider the focus-guessing a strength.

After admiring both the camera and it's results through a friend(minox devotee)almost 10 years ago, I finally got one of my own. I was shopping for a camera gift for my wife(beginner) and thought of that funny little minox my friend had shown me years ago. I resisted the temptation to buy it for her, as it does demand a little more knowledge/experience of photography. And I would have hogged it all the time. For her, I settled on the minox CD-155(fantastic buy for her needs). As for me, the little present to myself has proved most fruitful. I can't emphasize enough how wonderful the lens quality is. Amazing clarity and contrast. Wonderful optics. I am a visual artist, so I take my casual snapshots a little more seriously at times. This camera has yielded some fantasticly creative results. Some have said they find the guess work of the focusing a drawback, but that is something easily overcome within shooting a roll or two. It definitely helps if the user has a little understanding of some basic photographic principles. It is not for absolute beginners, but perfect for an advancad novice looking for less bulk(much less!) than an SLR. The size of this camera is a huge plus; you will be hard-pressed to find quality like this in any other similarly sized camera. Truly pocket-sized, it is a terrific travel/candid/surprise/street camera. It is easy to carry on your person at all times; I no longer miss those great spontaneity opportunities that would arise as my SLR sat on a shelf at home!

Customer Service

None needed

Similar Products Used:

Pentax K-1000 Minox CD-155 Pentax 70s Kodak DC215, digital

Lens!!! Control over exposure and DOF Manual override by ASA setting

Quality!!!!!!!!!!!

The idea of this camera is great! But... First the good things: The camera is very small and light so one can carry it everywhere. The lens is great, sharpness and contrast are absolutely first rate. The photographer has a good amount of control to be creativ. But... the quality is crappy! I bought mine new, but after 6 weeks (!) the shutter stopped working. The ML of my father failed too... And you can forget about the flash, it won't work either (Mine didn't) If you are looking for a controllable compact camera which takes great pictures and is strong built go for a Rollei 35SE

Customer Service

forget it! they returned my flash twice without repair, then i gave up and sold the whole crap...

Similar Products Used:

Rollei 35SE (great), stylus epic (great), several Nikons

A true shirt-pocket camera capable of producing outstanding photographs. Light, easy controls - a classic - of sorts.

Useful life. My several broke-down at about the end of the warranty period. Various causus. One failed altogether - a freeze up of all auto exp. and metering functions. A freeze up of film advance. My current example's film counter recently failed. None of these problems seemed correctable. Quality control may be the issue. One hopes it improves

The best and only MF truly compact zone focus camera - except the wonderful Rollei 35. I've carried the Minox for years both as prime and backup. Great results. I've had several over the years: see the S/W below. I love the camera when it functions. Probably I will buy another despite the weaknesses.

Customer Service

No comment.

Similar Products Used:

The only remotely similar camera is the Rollei 35. I used several. None of the current auto everything P&S are remotely similar. Both the Contax T and the Oly MX have rangefinders, thus not similar. N

I liked being able to control the shutter speed by setting the aperature, yet be able to shoot off a fast picture without looking at either, if I wanted. Because it displays the shutter speed, I could see what kind of shutter speed I was going to get in marginal lighting, such as in forests. Not having a zoom lens is a bit limiting at times. The manual film advance and no flash means the camera has much lower power requirements than the point and shoot.

Reliability: Almost all of these cameras eventually have the electronics fail, and cannot be repaired. The models in the 70's had lots of problems getting the non-standard batteries. They also had a mechanical shutter speed needle, which ultimately failed. The second one I've used recently was an improved 1989 model. One improvement was to replace the mechanical shutter speed needle with with LEDs. More reliable, although often difficult to see in bright sunlight. The most recent one I've had was bought new in 1989 with a "lifetime" warranty. It was repaired twice with the warranty, and then in 2002 the shutter stopped working again, and could not be fixed.

I've had 2 of these cameras, and know 4 or 5 other people who have had them as well. The camera is still the smallest available, takes excellent pictures, gives you the right amount of control, and works in cold and wet weather. The F2.8 fixed focal length lens is much faster than any zoom camera, allowing use in low light conditions, such as in a forest.

Customer Service

would love to get it fixed. Needs new circuit board.

Similar Products Used:

Contax T, Olympus Stylus Epic

· Sharp lens (except AL version, fixed focus) · Aperture priority, full creative control. · shutter speed in viewfinder (1/30 to 1/500) · Small · Hot-shoe on top · very quiet shutter release · Tripod thread · skylight 1A and ND4 grey filter with lens hood available

· NO AE-lock · NO rangefinder (guess the focus not always accurate) · Shutter prone to problems (easy fixed) · fiddly film loading · Plastic feel, cheap looks · Viewfinder not very crisp. · Light meter is easily fooled in contrasty situations (severe underexposure) · two-stroke film advance

Minox 35 cameras are nice looking and fun cameras to use. Except for the AL version have sharp and contrasty 2.8/35 mm minotar lenses, if stopped down from f 5.6 and up. The lens is on par with Rollei 35 Tessars, Olympus XA and Petri Color 35 lenses. These cameras are not intended for beginners, you’ll need to know about photography to get good results. There is a Russian copy, the Kiev 35A but the lens and camera itself do not even come close to its original (35EL) The Korsar lens on this camera is really terrible compared to the minotar of its original. I really have NO idea why people sometimes pay high prices for these awful clones and seem to like its optical qualities. I like the layout and ‘door’ on these cameras. You’ll have full creative control with these aperture priority (sadly no AE-lock) manual focus (sadly no rangefinder) cameras with accessories such as leather case, skylight and ND4 clip-on filters with attached lens-hood. The lens hood shields the bottom part of the viewfinder, this really annoys me at times. A hot-shoe on top is a nice feature, downside is the camera switches itself to 1/125 when an accessory is attached (like a clip-on rangefinder for example). The lack of a rangefinder makes sure you’ll always have some out of focus shots in your roll of film because you guess the distance wrong (mostly when focussing closer than 2 meters) or forget to focus at all because you are not reminded by the double-image patch of a rangefinder. The Olympus XA and the far better Contax T have such rangefinders. The flashes available for these cameras are better than the Olympus A11/A16 flash for the XA but not nearly as good as the T14 flash from the Contax T (my favourite pocket camera). Before buying take of the back and look through the lens while firing the shutter numerous times, just hearing the shutter click won’t do because if the shutter doesn’t open you’ll still here the ‘click’.

Customer Service

not needed, I service them myself (shutter problems and switches.

Similar Products Used:

Contax T, Kiev 35A, Rollei 35 (German and Singapore version), 35 LED, 35B, 35S, Olympus XA/XA2/RC/SP, Petri Color 35, Petri 7S, Canonet 28, Canonet QL17GIII, Leica CL, Leica IIIC, several Zorki’s and

Sharp lens. The colours are bright and contrasty. Small size. People don''t notice it. Comparatively cheap. A good full frame 35-mm camera offering manual control will cost a lot more.

In sunlight, the camera tends to overexpose. Setting the 2x switch seems to solve this problem. Although the photographs are very good, I think that side-by-side against a good SLR, you might be able to tell occasionally which shots were taken with the Minox... but only occasionally.

For over ten years, I owned a Pentax Super-A. It finally died this year in the Himalayas. I immediately bought a Minox GT-E. For travel photography, I thought that I could not find a better camera. Minox was smaller than an SLR and cheaper than the Contax and Leica P&S cameras. It promised sharp pictures. Where could I go wrong?

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon Digital IXUS, Canon APS Elph

Small, unobtusive (people think no harm with such a ridiculous camera), great capacity in low light conditions or for slow films.

Ah, the shutter!! It fails, keep the camera in a case and protect it, it will last longer. In a pocket, yes but away from dust and bangs.

A nice product, I used to have a ML then a GTE (failed) and now another GT-E (new this time) The Minox is good for street photography or when you want to travel light with a camera with you. Lens becomes really sharp at 5.6 and much better used between 5 and 10m but that''s picky. I''m biased since a good third of my pix are with a Minox and they blend with the SLR easily. Now, using a Minox is not that difficult, you guesstimate the distance and in doubt you decrease the incertude by increasing the DOF (a quick read on the barrel). Of course, you need to know what photography is all about but it''s fun. A good camera for those capturing the mood of the place, slowly (but it can be fast to operate with experience).

Customer Service

The Minox is easy to get repaired. But retailers are reluctant to take one in a part exchange since they expect the shtter to fail. This is why prices are low in second hand.

Similar Products Used:

Rollei 35, fun too but light meter not as good while lens abit sharper (in my view). A Nikon 35TI but Autofocus is not my taste.

Super compact, lots of manual control, extremely sharp lens. The finish is very durable -- after years of being bounced around in so many pockets, it still looks mint!

Guessing the focus is not very accurate. The shutter can be unreliable (I sent my first model back for warranty service) and using a flash is a bit of a hassle.

I''m a stickler for manual control, and this is a good camera for that. You set the focus and the aperture, and with the manual film speed dial, you can "fool" the camera into setting whatever shutter speed you think it should be using. The lens is great! I''ve taken landscapes with excellent results. For people and close-ups, this camera isn''t quite so ideal. Guessing the focus takes time, and all too often your best guess won''t be quite right. Adding on a flash becomes cumbersome. The Minox flash very often fails to fire; other standard hot-shoe flashes work better.}

Customer Service

My first one was away for a LONG time getting warranty service!?

Similar Products Used:

Nikon SLRs, Medium Format TLRs, 4x5 Press Camera

Sharp lens
Compactness
Lot's of features usually not found on a compact camera (tripod tread, aperture setting, manual focus, exposure compensation via the ASA setting dial...)

Some reliability problems

My prefered camera.

Similar Products Used:

None

Excellent lens, small compact size, easy to sneak pictures, aperature priority, with (guess the distance) manual lens focusing , not at bad as you might think.
Compared to my Yashica T4 lens, the Minox has maybe a little less contrast, but it still ultra-sharp and colourful.

will the dropdown flap last ? Film loading can be difficult

Find a cheap secondhand one, and buy it, you wont regret it,

Customer Service

Never tried it.

Similar Products Used:

Yashica T4, Olympus mju 2(stylus epic in USA), Lomo Smena, Minolta 500si, Praktica SLR