"The Minox is my life."

-- Walter Zapp

THE MODEL "A" (II, III, IIIs)

After World War II production of the Minox was resumed but with a new design based on many refinements developed by Walter Zapp both during the war and after. The result was the Model A. In many ways the Model A is the
quintessential Minox, the last to be fully designed by Herr Zapp. As the A
developed over its life there were three main varieties, each a refinement of
the previous.

THE MODEL II

[Editor's note: For more detailed information about the model II and its
historical significance, you will also want to read "Historical Significance
and Anomalies of the Model II."]

Initially, what is now known as the Model II was released. It ran in the serial number range of approximately 20379- 31500 (1948-1949). These are different from the Riga variety in several ways. First the heft is very different. At 2.5 oz (70 g) it is nearly half the weight of the Riga, due to the change to aluminum from stainless steel for the case. The aluminum also changes the appearance from the mildly orange-peel textured gray metal of the steel, to the anodized matte finish of the white aluminum.

Differences in the shell are also much more apparent. Rivets are more prominent and the two halves seem slightly different tones. This can partially be explained by the fact that much of the aluminum was reclaimed from downed aircraft and other salvaged military equipment from the war. This had the effect of emphasizing joints due to the varying contaminants in the metal.

A few other significant features of the Model II are:

• The lack of a flash nipple
• The introduction of the chain attachment (in chrome)
• The loss of the red dot in the film counter window
• "Riga" and "VEF" omitted from the logo
• Marked "Made in Germany" and the city of manufacture "Wetzlar"
• Lens is marked "Complan" in black script with the other lens information
• A small increase in size to 3 1/4 x 1 1/8 x 5/8" (82 x 28 x 16 mm)
• Lens port (used for calibrating the shutter by technicians)

The most significant change in the Model II, besides the use of aluminum, is the lens. Designed by Arthur Seibert, the "Pentar" lens' unique fifth element actually contacts the film. This is the direct predecessor to the Complan (COMpensating PLANe) lens which still curves with the film gate, but has no
lens contacting the film. Interestingly, though the original lens was called the Pentar, the cameras were marked from the beginning of post war production as Complan lenses.

While improving the quality of the image recorded, this lens proved impractical due to dirt scratching the emulsion. As a result many Model II's were quietly upgraded by the factory to Model III and IIIs specifications. These can be distinguished because the lens contacting the film plane is no longer there.

An additional filter in green was added, with early models using spare Riga yellow filters and later models using an orange/red filter. Many of the parts in the original Model II were recycled from the limited supplies of original Riga spares, though it is speculated these actually are limited to fasteners and other generic parts due to the significant differences in the mechanisms.

Finding a II with the original lens is a real treat, but finding one with the original black shutter blades is to hold a treasure. As cameras aged and were repaired, later silver shutter blades were used. The black blades are a distinct variant of the II series, which also changed the meaning of the indicator dot to "ready" (from "fired") which has carried on to this day.

THE MODEL III

Somewhere around serial number 31275 in 1950 (there seems to be an overlap of around 250 cameras), a shift to the Model III was made. This new design corrected many of the problems that plagued the II.

The lens was officially changed to the "Complan" design, doing away with the
lens that contacted the film and going to the four element, three group design. Edge-to-edge sharpness was achieved by curving the film plane to correct for the edge distortion.

Otherwise, the only visual difference between the III and the II are:

• A change from the chrome chain plug to aluminum
• Less contrast in between the rivets and shell
• The addition of "III" to the engraving
• Generally, a better feel of quality and uniformity in the build
• No interior lens port

A converted Model II is usually considered a Model III (IIIs with flash nipple) by collectors, regardless of serial number. The production of the Model III ended in 1953 at serial number 58499 with the introduction of the improved Model IIIs.

THE MODEL IIIS

With the development of portable, affordable flash units, a slight redesign was in order for the Minox camera. For the first time a PC flash nipple was added and synchronized with the shutter. The Model IIIs began production at about serial number 58500 in 1954.

Due to the large numbers produced, some unique variants began to show up. The IIIs was the first Minox to experiment with colored finishes. The black "private eye" and gold "luxury" cameras were produced for retail channels,
while the more rare pink, purple, blue and other colors were produced experimentally. There is also a silver and black variant known as the "panda"
which shows up occasionally. These are (for the most part) cameras manufactured as the final test for a new employees training. Due to their sentimental significance, they are rarely on the open market.

Interestingly, some of the gold Minox A series cameras are actually reclaimed
shells removed from trophies awarded for photography contests run in the 50's and 60's. Minox Labs in New York had these trophies created with the custom camera shell screwed into a ring by both ends, and mounted at the top of a base. These shells can be distinguished by holes on either end where the screws penetrated the skin.

As the Model B was introduced, color films were sweeping the market. To keep with the changes, late model IIIs cameras gave up the orange filter in favor of a gray 10x neutral density filter. This allowed faster films to be used in
daylight conditions, greatly increasing the range of usefulness of the camera. Production of the A series concluded in 1969 with serial number 147494. It is estimated that 127494 cameras were produced over the 21 year production life.