Recently "completed" sections on large formats subminiature and 35mm cameras
have been uploaded to
http://www.submin.com

Last month the 17.5mm/HIT types, 110, disc, APS, binocular (mostly
monocular) and general sections where uploaded. This means all these
sections are linked in and the information I currently have included which
means photographs, scanned manuals, brochures and instruction sheets.

35mm
====
Looking at the Rollei 35 was very interesting. As German prices fall to
one-third of 2001/2002 prices in US$ holds high and one seller is turning
80EUR in 220USD 20-30 at a time. Very few Rollei cameras have boxes or any
form of packaging. Many lack cases or even the wrist strap. The large number
of 500-900EUR special edition will make sourcing samples very hard -
expensive.

It was also surprising to see the number of variations of the Boltavit and
Photavit cameras. There are several lens and shutter choice for each model.
Although many agree that there are 5 models of Photavit what is a III, IV or
V differs. They are not marked up other than by lens and shutter type.

Still to come
=============
Updates to the 8x11 format cameras is the final task to complete. The Minox
section needs a lot of work on it, as many photographs of Minox cameras and
accessories still need to be linked in and written up.

It was assumed that the limit of all the data would be about 4Gb and fit on
a DVD. That barrier was exceeded a few weeks ago. A large number of articles
from magazines, often with 2Mb scans per page have been included. About
400Mb of manuals still needs to be upload to the web site. The hard drive
has a master copy with over 5.2Gb.

Future plans are to scan and include photocopies of advertisements sent in.
There are 100-150 sheets, but often very small advertisements.

Useful tips from the archives of various lists needs will be included. Most
topics that have been discussed may already be included.

Sample photographs for more Minox 35mm cameras and to compare with Canon
Ixus II, Minolta Vectis S1, all the 'pro' 110 cameras and about 20 cameras
using Minox 8x11 film are in the cameras. 20 Minox films at 30EUR each and
10 35mm at 7GBP each will be a fair bill. Of course all need processing at
once because the same picture, at some locations, is taken with 30 cameras
for comparison.

A number of manuals originally scanned at 200dpi will need to be redone
these at 300dpi to remove some of the scan effects. Changing to thumbnails
with side bars added 8700 files and 20,268,986 bytes to the site but some
manuals are now 20Mb downloads. Always a compromise between easy of download
and quality to re-print. 300dpi is half of what I would like but 80Mb
manuals would be impossible for too many people to handle. There was no feed
back on the manual at 2400dpi compared to the 300dpi version. Some still
would prefer access to scans at higher than 2400dpi. I can't afford the
costs.

Many sections need to be re-written to pull out the specifications from
manuals, create tables and make for more consistent style. Meanwhile all the
data available is now there, including photographs of cameras, their
accessories, some details on each, auction dates with value and some notes,
scanned leaflets, manuals and articles.

Others...
=========
Some non-subminiature cameras - e.g. Leica Z2X - have been included. Having
access to the Leica and to show the difference between the Leica and the
similar specification Minox CD range. Some notes on the Contax range has
been included. This might change and become more strict by removing all,
except the Minox CD range, 35mm cameras that are larger than the 100mm size
(4x2x1 inch) that is pocketable. More half frame cameras may have to be
included if any more are smaller than the 4 inch rule.

Variations
==========
Variations still turn up, even with cameras that seems to be so well
documented.

The 110 cameras section has increased a little, but getting samples of the
hundreds of thousands of very cheap 110 cameras is beyond the remit of the
site. The Minolta and Rollei variations may be include as Agfa 110 cameras
are now written up.

More APS cameras are to be reviewed. The Canon Ixus II is such a useful
quality pocketable camera, it is smaller than Minox 35ML and hardly larger
than a Minox 8x11. The zoom and flash mean one small package not two or
more. APS is also much cheaper to have processed than 8x11. APS cameras do
make for an interesting collection and top models are now very cheap.

Gerald