At 18:19 12/15/01, Tom Trottier wrote:
The Olympus Stylus Epic is probably the smallest full-frame 35 (The
Tessina is smaller but heavier and has 14x21mm negs) and it has auto
focus, spot metering, motor drive & rewind and energy-saving flash.
Plastic body, f/2.8, 145g, the size of 3 film boxes, and $80. So they
haven't lost their creativity.
tOM
For cameras in current production, I believe the Minolta TC-1 is
smaller and is likely *the* smallest, but not by much. At $900,
smaller size costs much more (among other bells and whistles). I
haven't searched exhaustively for the smallest (in production), so
there may be another camera staking claim to it.
The Olympus XA, long out of production, is slightly smaller than the
Stylus along two of three dimensions. The Rollei 35, also long out
of production, is smaller than the XA along the same two dimensions,
although it is much heavier with metal frame and body.
The Rollei 35 and its succesors through the 35TE/SE held an
unchallenged "smallest full frame" status from 1966 until the
Olympus XA, circa 1978. If the lenses are omitted on both, the
Rollei body is smaller. The Minox EL (1974) came close. The
Minolta TC-1 has much less debatably taken that position away from
the Rollei 35 by beating it in two of three dimensions and having an
integral flash. I've included their dimensions below so that you
can see how close these all are dimensionally. The stylus is 15mm -
20mm longer. Otherwise, the differences are just a few millimeters
among all of them. They all push the envelope hard on how small a
full frame can be made.
Oly Stylus: 117mm x 63mm x 37mm
Oly XA: 102mm x 65mm x 40mm
Minox EL: 102mm x 69mm x 34mm (lens collapsed)
Rollei 35: 97mm x 60mm x 44.8mm (lens collapsed)
Minolta TC-1 99mm x 58.4mm x 30.5mm (body, not counting lens)
AFIK no camera makers other than Minolta, Olympus and Minox (35EL in
1974) have created full-frame 35mm that challenge Rollei's "smallest
size" achievement in 1966.
-- John
All true, but the Stylus includes an electronic flash and a motorized
winder. If you add those to the other cameras the difference is
dramatic.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California
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