Although something of a pleonasm, the term ‘sub-miniature’ has, since the 1930s, been widely taken to include still cameras using film less than 35 mm wide, or taking unusually small images on 35 mm. The inclusion of 18 × 24 mm (7/10 × 1 in) single frame (or half-frame) is a matter of personal preference. Sub-miniature cameras appeal to four main groups: clandestine photographers; those who want an extremely compact camera; those who enjoy a technical challenge; and collectors.
The classic ‘spy’ camera is Walter Zapp's Minox (1938) with its 8 × 11 mm (3/10 × 2/5 in) images on imperforate 9.5 mm film. The Kodak Match Box (MB), designed for espionage in occupied Europe, took a 30-exposure cassette of 16 mm film; c. 1, 000 were made 1944-5. A camera that enjoyed widespread popularity among Cold War intelligence services was the Tessina (1961), offering 14 × 21 mm (1/2 × 4/5 in) on specially loaded 35 mm film: the bigger format could hold much more information. The Minox has been through several iterations and was used in 1977, for example, to take clandestine pictures of Elvis Presley in his coffin. The Minox cassette has become a standard, used in most of the few new sub-miniatures that have been introduced from time to time.
Compactness without clandestine appeal has spawned countless cameras, many using 16 mm film, whether imperforate, single perforated, or double perforated. These were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s: leading manufacturers of ‘serious’ cameras (as distinct from novelties) included Mamiya, Minolta, and even Franke & Heidecke (Rollei 16, 1963). Others deserving mention include the Czech Meopta, the Russian Narziss SLR, and the Italian Gami. Many of these cameras are masterpieces of precision engineering: the Goerz Minicord twin-lens reflex (1951) is one of the most sought after.
Image sizes on 16 mm have ranged from 10 × 10 mm (2/5 × 2/5 in) to 14 × 17 mm (1/2 × 2/3 in), and there have been numerous mutually incompatible cassette types: the availability of these is the biggest barrier to using old sub-miniatures today. What really killed this aspect of the sub-miniature market (along with single frame) was the Rollei 35 (1966): tiny, but a full 24 × 36 mm (1 × 1 2/5 in), and with universal film availability and processing. Later cameras such as the Minox 35 EL (1974) followed this trend.
Devotees of a technical challenge delight in getting the maximum possible quality out of tiny negatives, concerning which there are only two things to say. One is that they often succeed: a postcard-sized print from a Minox is about a ×13 enlargement. The other is that, all too often, the pictures are mere snapshots that have absorbed an altogether disproportionate amount of time and effort. The full Minox system, in particular, has incorporated tripods the size of a fountain pen, tiny developing tanks using minute amounts of chemicals, and miniature enlarger (At the turn of the 21st century, Minox began manufacturing diminutive digital cameras in the form of tiny replicas of classic film cameras like the Leica III, Contax and Rolleiflex).
Finally, collectors recognize both high-quality cameras, such as those mentioned above, and novelties, which are effectively fully functioning toy cameras. Some, such as miniature ‘replica’ Leicas or Contaxes, were very expensive when new; others, such as the Coronet Midget (1934), with a unique film size, cost very little when new and are only popular today because they are rare and cute. Very early ‘sub-miniatures’ (before the term really came in) also command collector attention: the Ticka ‘pocket-watch’ camera (1906) is one of the few quite often encountered.
— Roger W. Hicks
Bibliography
- Coe, B., Cameras: From Daguerreotypes to Instant Pictures (1978).
- Pritchard, M., and St Denny, D., Spy Camera: A Century of Detective and Subminiature Cameras (1993)
