Minox GL
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| Style, film format | Folding 35mm zone focus, aperture-priority meter |
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| Lens, shutter | Coated 35mm f/2.8 Color-Minotar, leaf shutter |
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| Photo quality | Very good |
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| Ergonomics | Might be too light or tiny for some users |
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Minox -- the German maker of the spy camera -- also continues to produce a line of small folding cameras, certainly the last of their kind.
They're sort of a throwback to the 1970s with their fixed lens, zone focus and aperture-priority autoexposure systems.
I'll confess that it felt a little cheap when I first picked it up. But a funny thing happens when you load it with film. It turns from a toy into a serious camera.
This is a great little camera that easily slips into a suit pocket or briefcase. You can pull it out, take a photo and slide it back into your pocket in seconds.
And the 35mm f/2.8 Color-Minotar lens is wonderfully sharp. The shutter is whisper quiet, and setting the aperture is easily accomplished if you use the tips of your index fingers at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions on the aperture ring.
I've found the autoexposure system to hit the mark most of the time. It does have a bit of a quirky shutter that occasionally stays open. But from what I've read, this isn't all that unusual.