Site Navigation

Home

Minox Historical Society

Minox Encyclopedia

- A- B- C- D- E- F- G- H- I- J- K- L- M- N- O- P- Q- R- S- T- U- V- W- X- Y- Z- #-

Books
Product Profiles

MHS Publications

Translate This Site!

Heinz Waaske and Minox, GmbH - Part I

The following is a translated excerpt from the book, “Cameras for Millions - Heinz Waaske, Inventor”, by Joerg Eikmann and Ulrich Vogt - Wittig Fachbuch – 1997, originally published in the German language. This excellent translation was very generously done by Hugo Tomyska, and final editing was performed by D. Scott Young.

The book is a fantastic look at one of Germany’s most talented inventors, Heinz Waaske, and should be required reading for anyone with an interest in fine cameras. In the Minox Historical Society’s on-going efforts to document and preserve the history of Minox, this excerpt is provided to offer the reader a fascinating look at Heinz Waaske’s brief contract with Minox, GmbH and the surprising results of it.

******************************************************************************

1978: The Project 645 - the 4,5 x 6 Viewfinder camera “MINOX 645 GL”

It is actually quite natural that immediately after Heinz Waaske had opened (in 1978, in Braunschweig) his Construction Office for Technical Precision Mechanics, the firm Minox from Heuchelheim (near Giessen) knocked at his door, and sought to work together with him, the master of miniaturization. And this way it came then on 10 Nov. 1978 to an "Agreement between Mr. Waaske and Minox", that begins with the following wording:

"Mr. Waaske and Minox intend to collaborate in the domain of the development of cameras. For this purpose Mr. Waaske offers to design for Minox concepts either according to his own ideas or also according to the wishes of Minox, and to elaborate those concepts, as far as accepted by Minox, until they mature to completion stage."

Medium-Format for Minox

After arrangements about the exclusivity of the planned projects, and the remuneration for the work of Waaske, the text reads further:

"Mr. Waaske and Minox spoke today about the possibility of the development of a concept of a 4,5x6-viewfinder camera. Mr. Waaske is prepared to take up this project under the aforementioned preconditions...Before Mr. Waaske accepts works on 24x36 mm compact cameras, he will inform Minox.”

Juergen Rinn, the then manager and one of the co-owners of Minox, still remembers well today the encounters with Heinz Waaske. He always appeared very nervous, because of the high cigarette consumption, also physically, always a bit groggy. The trips to Heuchelheim would have burdened him also physically a lot. But - and that was probably the most outstanding with this person on the whole - he had been a thoroughly upright man. A man with a charming, hidden humour, who after closer acquaintance could never hide a "twinkle in his eye" (Schalk im Nacken). In the talks however, there transpired always a certain individualism. Waaske did not think much of big teams. "With two to three men we, at the time with ROLLEI, stomped the Rollei 35 out of the ground, and that is how I imagine also the collaboration with Minox", he had said at the time of the contract negotiations.

Already one year later, on 25 Nov. 1979, the two-man team of Heinz Waaske and Rudolf Schober could present the Minox people with a first development report on the concept of a half-frame camera for 120 roll film, after having been given the green light for this in March 1978. Waaske's concept was basically accepted, the more so as he had filled the "technical wish list"(citation) of the people from Heuchelheim in the most important parts.

Here, the most important details of the "wish list" are presented - for the most part literally – from 2 Oct. 1978:

FILM: 120 roll film (16 exposures), nominal seize 4,5x6 cm. (The old Super Ikonta had about 42,2x56,8 mm).

FOCAL LENGTH: 60-65 mm (corresponds about 35-38 mm with miniature camera <35mm>.

MAX.APERTURE: 2,8.

EXPOSURE: Aperture priority with automatic electronic shutter and shutter speed indicator in the viewfinder.

FILM-TRANSPORT: Only no turning knob!

RANGE-FINDER: Dual image, better still, split image range finder.

VIEWFINDER: Bright frame viewfinder with automatic parallax balance, rangefinder measuring field, time and shutter indication.

SIZE: Flat, flat, flat (max. 45 mm greatest thickness, better 42 mm). The camera should easily fit into the side- or inner pocket of a normal man's jacket. Very rounded edges.

BODY: Matte-black varnished synthetic material like the 35EL, no leathering or scarring.

WEIGHT: 300-350gr.

PRODUCTION COST: DM 250-300 at a rate of 25,000 - 30,000 pieces per year.

A viewing sample (“dummy model”) produced on the basis of the aforementioned specifications, (which is still in the possession of the family - see photos), could already be presented in Dec. 1979. At that moment also the negotiations with the lens suppliers SCHNEIDER and ZEISS were concluded.

They had presented Minox with three lens proposals, which were calculated for the 4,5x6 image size. They were the PLANAR 2,8/70 (7 lens elements), the TESSAR 2,8/70 (4 lens elements), and the XENOTAR or SONNAR 2,8/70 (5 lens elements). It was decided, particularly from the cost point of view, in favour of the XENOTAR, which was to be fixed on a lens standard with push-in lens tubes.

And in reality, the standard exits the camera body by only 11 mm. The two-winged miniature double-doors operate and look like those built in the early fifties, and from the design point of view, appear unusually similar to those of the VOIGTLAENDER VITESSA. Since the viewfinder had to be arranged in a vertical position above the height of the film spools, even the minimalist Waaske did not manage to keep the minimal height of the camera below 100 mm. The camera shape however, is accepted by Minox without corrections, because Waaske had managed to design the camera as small as technically feasible - as he said - "pocketable".

The summer of 1983 had been earmarked for the completion of the PROJECT 645. But this was repeatedly delayed because of Minox having unresolved problems and difficulties with the electronics. In April 1984 Heinz Waaske was able to deliver an almost completed sample to his employer-customer. In a file note he writes "the evaluation by Minox of the device was good". The only criticism was directed at the rangefinder mechanism, which had not been constructed by Waaske, and which continued to give problems until the end.

That the camera was effectively a real beauty is indicated by the three out-of-focus black-and-white photographs which we authors found in Heinz Waaske's estate in the course of our research. It was not possible to locate more photographs of this camera at that time. But after the take-over of Minox by Leitz in April 1996 we obtained permission to photograph the Minox 645 GL for this book in the archives of Heuchelheim. This was kindly arranged for us by the well known Minox book author Hubert E. Heckmann, so that we can here, for the first time, present this showpiece of a camera.

645GL is also legible on the two little front doors, and one recognizes also that the Waaske-Minox was equipped with a Xenotar 2,8/62. Compared with the rather simple, and design-wise, rather boring first design sample of Waaske, the second prototype has become more "technical" through the arrangement of a lined up row of controls and lamps, including one for battery-check, and which points out its operations clearly. The bright square trim that surrounds the viewfinder pleasantly relieves the previously boring appearance. In addition, the grip-area for the right hand had been ergonomically developed as compared to the first model.

Amongst the documents of Prof. Richard Fischer from Offenbach, the designer of the successful Minox 35, there is a photograph of another design study for the Minox 645, where an attempt was made to give the camera more grip at the right hand side by means of a layer structure. This model however, is not to be found with Minox.

Waaske himself had also resolved (with this camera) another difficult technical problem. It dealt with the mechanical scissor-system of the two little front doors. Because of the relatively large dimensions required of the lens, it was consequently difficult to lock it in the end position. Here Waaske found, by means of two wedges, a solution to lock the lens into place absolutely shake-free. This design was later registered as a patent.

Unfortunately Never Built

This medium-format camera Minox 645GL never went into serial production. Although one played with the idea still in 1983 to have it produced in Japan, it disappeared in the end in the safes of the development department. The former Minox manager Juergen Rinn states: "The completion of its development coincided with the beginning of the decline of the firm Minox, caused through the massive entry of the big Japanese camera producers into the market niche of 35mm compact cameras, up to then occupied by Minox. Thereby the considerable means of investment necessary for this project were no longer available."

Rolf Kasemeier, former marketing chief and sales manager with Minox, relates the decision not to bring this actually typical Minox product on the market, to the fact that the management had in the end realized that the relation between costs and expected sales of the product were no longer correct. After more than 1 million Mark in development costs, the purchase of new tools and machines would have required considerably more than the originally calculated 2 to 3 million DM.

Over and above these investments Minox required for the market introduction of this camera at home and abroad more millions. With expected sales of 25. to 35.000 pieces a year, the necessary bank loans would only have been amortized after ten years. And since the Minox ship was in any case already leaking, the banks did not play the game any more. Even the (then) up-to-date hit, the Minox 35, could not provide a financial backup for this medium format camera. Namely one should not forget that starting from the beginning of 1980’s, the Japanese massively pushed on to the market and aimed at the up to then relatively unnoticed market segment of the 35 rangefinder compact cameras, after the expectations on the 110 pocket market had not been met.

For Minox Gmbh, who had experienced 1979 as the most successful business year since the founding of the firm, this advance of the Japanese meant a considerable loss in market share, and of revenue.

The management of Minox therefore concentrated the resources on maintaining the critically important sales of the 35 cameras in the hope of guarding a sufficient market share based on the name, the then still outstanding design, and the excellent lens. But the Minox 35 was then already 7-8 years on the market, and a new technical challenge designed itself. It was already foreseeable that for the 35 cameras, sooner or later, an auto focus system was required.

"But that could not be obtained", says Rudolf Kasemeier, "and one could also not build it that easily, and - foremost - not construct it that small without denying the Minox principle of 'as small as possible'. And there is no fun in a big camera, therefore nothing for Minox!"

1988 Minox had (because of an antiquated product line, and at that time low labour productivity of a large staff of collaborators) to announce a settlement, and bankruptcy by 1989, since the minimum quota of 35 % out of the Minox estate required for a settlement procedure could not be met.

Also the attempt of the Dutch Robert G. Corduwener as new man at the Minox top, to save this traditional German enterprise from the decline, failed finally. He had namely to realize that - as writes H. J. Bloemer in number 1-2/89 of Foto-Contact - "the management had not taken hard measures even in the months and years of signs of decline, in order to stop the descent. Controls of the planning through monthly debit and credit comparisons were as unknown as the overview of what really happened with the money of the enterprise".

So far H. J. Bloemer: his article became a sensation only with the subsequent sentences, because then exits the Waaske Minox 645GL again out of the dark of the Minox safes to daylight again. Namely he continues:

"In the course of an extensive conversation, after the take-over of the management directorship, Robert G. Corduwener showed a fantastic Minox medium format camera which he had 'found' in the development department. This model, which never came on the market - one can complement the engineers for this masterpiece, which according to its size, i.e. smallness and design, represented a real Minox - had been developed with an expense of over 1 million DM, without the (then) management having more than peripheral knowledge of the existence of this
camera."

That the compliment that H. J. Bloemer here made to the “Minox engineers” actually to a large extent must mean Heinz Waaske, neither he nor the still new Minox-chief himself knew at the time. It is correct that this camera construction had swallowed more than 1 million DM in development costs because the Waaske-settlements for construction and sampling costs alone already amounted to more than 700.000 DM.

In the article there is also a photograph on which this "million-thing" can be seen - Heinz Waaske, in whose files this article was found, has the camera even encircled with a yellow marker. It is the Minox 645GL which stands on the desk of Robert G. Corduwener. Here "she" is: the Heinz Waaske constructed, late due to never having been produced, but uncompleted beauty.

A small, up-to-date supplement may be added here to this chapter: In 1997 the circle closes itself, which had started in 1978, therefore almost 20 years ago, with the hand-sample for the Minox 645GL of the Waaske/Hermann team. In the spring of that year Minox, since 1996 belonging to the Leitz-combine, brings on the market the miniature camera {35mm) Minox CD 70 with a zoom lens 35-70mm. And when one asks what this new camera has to do with the 645GL, the answer is: The sample for the CD 70 was built by Gerd Hermann from Braunschweig - Heinz Waaske's "personal sample-builder".