In mid-2022, I was generously gifted a very special camera by a friend: a Goerz Minicord, reportedly the smallest twin-lens reflex (TLR) ever made, and one of the smallest truly serious film cameras ever made for that matter. My friend had inherited the camera, I believe, but had never shot film in it. I have very few “shelf queen” cameras — those that sit on a shelf and either don’t function, or for which film can no longer be purchased. If I own a camera, I want it to work, and I want to have used it at some point or another. As a result, my first objective was to figure-out how to get film into the Minicord and give it a go. Now that I’ve figured it out, it seems useful to share what I found.
Film Magazines
NOTE: I don’t claim to be some sort of expert on the Minicord, so what you’re about to read may be inaccurate, and I’ll revise it if and when I learn more.
A Goerz price list as shown on submin.com in their literature section clearly identifies two different film magazines for the Minicord — a 25-exposure cassette, and a 40-exposure “double cassette.” The Minicord manual also describes both types, but in short:
- The 25-exposure version consists of two separate cylindrical pieces, both with velvet light traps much like 135 (35mm) film cassettes. One is the supply side, and one is the take-up side. Note that there are no spindles or spools; film moves solely by the “fingers” in the advance that transport the film from bottom to top by its sprockets. As near as I can tell, these were intended to be factory loaded and used once.
- The 40-exposure version has the same two pieces, but they’re permanently connected by thin side rails, and were intended to be loaded with film by your camera dealer, or at home in a darkroom. What accounts for the capacity difference I honestly don’t know, as the space for them in the camera body is the same.
My camera came with two of the 25-exposure magazines, one in each position. I’ve so far been unable to source a double cassette. Whether designed for reloading or not, it’s actually a fairly simple matter to load the 25-exposure cassettes, which is what I’ll focus on for this article.
Film Stocks
The Minicord is designed to use 16mm “double-perf” motion picture films, with sprockets punched on both sides of the film, just like 35mm. While once very common, these films are not really very common today, because (as I understand it, anyway) more modern 16mm movie cameras use single-perf film, punched on only one side, and allowing for a larger image frame as a result. The Film Photography Project (FPP), under Mike Raso’s direction (who is a filmmaker himself), has ventured strongly into selling movie film stocks, not to mention film processing and scanning. It also appears to be one of the few sources anywhere for double-perf 16mm films. Orwo also manufactures double-perf 16mm film, including their incredible UN54 ISO100 black-and-white negative film, but availability has been spotty.
At this writing (late 2022), FPP has a number of double-perf films, including Kodak Vision3 color stocks for ECN-2 processing. I chose their BW100 film. While FPP doesn’t identify the source of this film, it seems relatively obvious that it’s Fomapan 100. At US$40 per 100 foot roll (again, late 2022 pricing here), it’s a very economical choice, and by my math, makes each shot in a Minicord cost about two cents. While Fomapan 100 is a very classic emulsion, and I wouldn’t expect much from it, it turns out that it performs quite nicely in the Minicord. I hope to soon try some Vision3 color film from FPP in my Minicord, as I already routinely process ECN-2 at home.
In any case, the Minicord needs double-perf because it has a dual sprocket feed / advance system. Each time you advance the film, two small metal “fingers” move toward the film, grabbing it by its sprockets, and physically pulling it from the supply side, and pushing it into the take-up cassette. Each stroke results in 15mm of film movement — the image frame is 10mm x 10mm square, and the spacing is 5mm, hence the 15mm total.
How Much Film Do You Need?
The math here is relatively easy. Each single cassette is designed for 25 exposures. Thus, 25 exposures, multiplied by 15mm each, equals 375mm total. It’s customary with bulk loading of 35mm film to allow three frames as a leader, and three frames as a trailer, so that’s an additional 90mm of film, for a grand total of 465mm of film per 25-exposure roll, or for metrically-challenged Americans, just over 18 inches.
Coincidentally, the Minolta 16 spy camera’s manual also suggests 45cm / 18 inches of film for each bulk roll for that camera, and since I bulk load those as well, I’ve simply memorized 45cm / 18 inches as “the” amount of film per load. That may short me a frame or two in the Minicord, but I don’t really care.
As a result, 100 feet of 16mm film will yield over 65 rolls of film for these camera. That is… a lot.
How to Cut and Load
NOTE: Please bear in-mind that I perform the entire operation of loading in complete darkness, solely by feel. You may wish to cut some 16mm film off your spool in complete darkness, and then use that piece of cut film in the light to practice the process. Also, examine the back cover of your Minicord, where the film cassettes are held; be able to identify which end is the top, by feel alone. The spring-loaded release button is the top end.
Back to the film… I would strongly suggest that you handle your master roll of 16mm film in complete darkness at all times. While the film may well be loaded in a so-called “daylight spool,” that’s for filmmakers, not still photographers. Every time you have the spool in the light, a long length of film at the leading end of the roll will be exposed to light and effectively ruined for the purposes of taking pictures, it’s impossible to know precisely just how much, and there’s no way to account for it. As a result, just open it in the dark, handle it in the dark, and NEVER have the light on unless the film is back in its light-tight bag, and safely tucked into its metal tin. (I’d also sacrifice a generous amount of the leading end of the film to start with, before you do any loading, since the daylight spool may have been handled in the light prior to packaging, and you’ll want to trim-off any film exposed as a result of that handling.)
My first step (with lights on) is to mark out 18 inches in a tactile manner. My darkroom has a Formica countertop, and I simply use two or three layers of masking tape in two locations on the countertop, with the edges 18 inches apart from each other. I have one separate piece of masking tape loosely stuck to the counter off to the side, at a place I can easily find in the dark.
Then, with lights off, I open the master roll of 16mm film, position (by feel) the leading end of the film against one of the pieces of tape, secure it with the spare piece of tape I previously set aside, unspool the film until it reaches the other piece of tape 18 inches away, and cut at that location. Wind the master roll back up, put it in its plastic bag, and back in the metal tin. This is relatively easy to do by feel in the dark.
Note that the non-emulsion side of the film faces outward on the master roll. Keep track of that as you work, because the emulsion side needs face the lens when you shoot. With the process I use, the emulsion side ends-up down, facing the countertop, at this point.
With this in mind, I find the velvet slot on one of the cassettes. With the emulsion facing up, I work it into the slot, and carefully push the film into the cassette a small amount at a time. It will not particularly easy to do this, and you want to avoid touching the emulsion side of the film excessively, since you may scratch it in the process.
Note that it may help to slightly bend the end of the film toward the non-emulsion side before you begin, so it’s more apt to conform to the curve of the cassette. Once you get it going, keep going until all but a couple of inches (several centimeters) of film remains outside of the cassette.
Next, slightly bent the loose end of the film that’s hanging out of that cassette toward the non-emulsion side, as I described above. Take the spare (take-up) cassette, and work the end of the film into the velvet slot on that cassette. Work just a small amount inside. At this point, you should have the two cassettes, loosely “joined” by a piece of film between them. Do not forget with cassette contains the bulk of the film, and which one is the take-up side.
Finally, take the film compartment cover of the Minicord, and by feel, identify the top — it’s the one with the springy button. Place the supply cassette into the bottom compartment, and the take-up cassette into the top compartment, ensuring that the leading end of the film doesn’t come out of the take-up side. If there’s a “hump” of excess loose film between them, press it downward or feed it back into the supply cassette so the film lies flat against the back plate of the compartment. Attach the film compartment to the camera — again, in the dark.
As long as your master roll of film is packed-up, and the film compartment is back in-place, you can now turn-on the room lights.
That’s really all there is to the loading. Because I handle the film completely in the dark, and load completely in the dark, the camera is actually ready to shoot, as there’s no exposed film to advance forward. As a result, you can turn the film counter dial to “0” (zero), and advance the film (which cocks the shutter) if needed. If the shutter is already cocked, the film will not advance, so just set the counter dial to “1” in that case.
How to Shoot — and What Can Go Wrong
Because the film is advanced solely by its sprockets, and is essentially forced into the take-up cassette. I advance the film in my Minicord very, very gently and slowly. When you’ve used the camera for any length of time, you can just sort of “feel” when it’s advancing properly. Once you learn that feel, you’ll know when there’s a problem.
That problem is generally that the film binds-up and won’t feed smoothly into the take-up cassette. The “fingers” in the camera’s advance then tear the sprockets, and the film will stop moving. If you slightly bent the end of the film as I outlined when loading, you should generally be able to avoid this. However, if you do experience a problem, here’s what I do…
Back into the darkroom, with the lights out, I remove the film compartment from the back of the camera. I then simply force the film into the take-up cassette (again, it’s the top one). You may need to remove it from the compartment to be able to do that. Just push it in a bit, then put it back in place, flatten the film against the pressure plate, put it back in the camera, snap it in place, turn the lights on, and return to shooting. If it simply will not feed, pull the film completely out of the take-up cassette, bent the end toward the non-emulsion side, and then feed it back in — trying your best not to pull new film out of the supply cassette — then put it back into the camera.
You’ll be able to tell by feel when the film is exhausted; the advance provides no resistance whatsoever, and there’s no weird sound of ripping film as with a torn sprocket. If you’ve shot roughly 20 to 25 frames, give or take, you’re done.
Processing
I don’t believe that Minicord shooting is for people who don’t process film at home. There are a handful of labs that might be able and willing to process your little strip of Minicord film, but packaging it to send to them seems problematic, and I would not entrust a rare and hard-to-find Minicord cassette to a lab where it can get lost or damaged.
I process my Minicord film using a 110 film reel designed to fit Paterson development tanks, which I purchased via Etsy. It’s 3D-printed, and it does the job. It requires 150ml of chemical to cover the reel fully, and I generally use Kodak HC-110 Dilution B for all my black-and-white processing, including the BW100 film I referred to above. The quality of the reel is good, and it works well, although the film has a tendency to come out of the reel during processing; agitate your film gently.
One thing to note here: Make sure you get the emulsion side inward on the reel, which is the opposite of how it’s loaded into the Minicord cassette. Remember, this is done in the dark, but it would look like this if the lights were on:
I scan my Minicord film using a 110 scanning frame for my Epson V800 from Negative Solutions — also a 3D-printed object. They typically provide 110 scanning frames with “bars” that correspond to a 110 frame spacing. You’ll need to specify the version of the frame WITHOUT the frame bars in order to scan Minicord film. They make 110 / 16mm scanning frames for a range of scanners. Note that Negative Solutions is a sideline business for its owner; as a result, be patient with email communication and shipping turnarounds. But the solution itself works quite nicely for me.
