EU Customers: MINOX new products shipped from factory in Germany. No UK duty.
minox EC 1981-2002
The smallest German Minox
In 1981, Minox marketed a simple to use Minox: the Electronic Compact EC.1.8x3x8cm 56 grams. Priced at £200 to the LX's £1000, the EC offered neat solution, with cube flash as default. Later models offered an electronic flash.
1981-1996 - 154k sold.
Technical Details
The aperture of the lens was reduced to f5.6 to allow a 15mm fixed focus lens It is rumoured (minox forum) that the EC lens was the same as the 15mm lens for a 'C' but with a 'waterhouse stop' forcing the aperture to f5.6. Like the LX, the shutter is electronically controlled. 8 seconds to 1/500th.
We can refurbish Minox EC's and tune the mechanism to be accurate. When tweaked, the EC gives very good results indeed.
Market Value
EC's sell for between £60 - £100 on auction sites. Ours are a bit more, because they are guaranteed and checked. EC's were plentiful and popular as commercial gifts, watch for the 'Exclusiv' set marked by British Airways and a leather wallet set marked by Next. EC;s were popular as corporate gifts, we see many EC;s that still have their Minocolr 2 film packed and unused. At the time, processing availability an dprcing put new customers off the camera.
Market Value
EC's sell for between £60 - £100 on auction sites. Ours are a bit more, because they are guaranteed and checked. EC's were plentiful and popular as commercial gifts, watch for the 'Exclusiv' set marked by British Airways and a leather wallet set marked by Next.
EC ACCESSORIES
More accessories than you think
The EC came with a number of useful accessories to make the camera more useable for every photographic situtation. The marketing of the EC was aumed at women and peoiple wanting the conveneince of a tiny camera without the high cost of anb LX or the bulk of a Minox 35 GT.
- Flash cubes flashgun as stadard. Lost yours? £8.50 used, £12.50 new, sealed.Flashcubes from £7.99 for a pack of 3
- Chain with safety holder. No measrement beads: £7.50
- Nexk cord chan, new £8.50
- Leather slip case - rare £15
- 8x11 flash with direct connection to the camera £85
- Original Manual and brchure £15.
- Leather Combi case - camera and 8x11 flash used, rare £35
8x11 Flash
The 8x11 flash was designed for primary use with the EC. A direct connection to the camera means size and wight are kept to a minimum.
Harder to find now. Sold ass part of the Exclsiv set. All other flash-synchronise cameras have to use an adapter with the 8x11 flash (£20) to connect the 3 prongs of the flash to the PC flash ync socket in the camera.
Repairing an EC
The EC is prone to shutter fault, where the battery has leaked to the wires connecting to the printed circuit board. This generally means the shutter opens but does not close. This fault is hard to spot, as the EC has a virtrually silent shutter, and even seeing the shuttrer operate is harder than any other MInox.
This can be fixed from beteeen £60-80. One difficulty is repairing hte camera is that many parts were of moulded plastic, so they can snap ove time. The camera was never designed to lastover 40 years. With the right film, and a service, the results with modern fast film are surprisingly good.