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The “World's smallest Twin Lens Reflex camera” was made by Optische Anstalt C. P. Goerz in Vienna, Austria, from about 1951. (This is a different company to C. P. Goerz in Berlin that was merged into Zeiss Ikon in 1926).
The Minicord sub-miniature takes 10x10mm exposures on double perforated 16mm film in single or twin magazines. Styled like a small movie camera it is only 10.5cm high. Nicely designed and precision made, it comes with some impressive features. The lens is a fast f2 six element Helgor 25mm that will focus to 30cm. At first the lens mount was black, later it was changed to chrome. The coupled reflex viewfinder shows a large clear image and uses a roof prism so that the view is upright and unreversed. Parallax reference marks are included. There is a + 4 diopter adjustment on the eyepiece. The metal focal-plane shutter has speeds from 1/10th to 1/400th and B. Film advance and shutter cocking are by one stroke of a trigger. Flash sync. was fitted from 1954.
The film runs from one magazine to another and Goerz initially offered film by Adox, Agfa and Kodak. These single magazines were for 25 exposures. They also made a twin magazine for 40 exposures, it was available already loaded or empty for darkroom loading.
Film wind & shutter cocking trigger, fold-out grip “handle”
Film wind & shutter cocking trigger, fold-out grip “handle”
Original camera box, viewer for film strip and slides.
There were several accessories available for the Minicord: a projector, developing tank, flash bracket, filters, lens hood, various cases, and a viewer for either strips of film or slides that were in 25x25mm mounts for use in the projector. (Pic. 5) Then there was the Minilux enlarger, that you could only use with a Minicord; the camera was attached with the film back removed so it used the camera's lens. The enlarger came disassembled in a compact wooden box which then became the baseboard for the assembled enlarger. There were two print frames available to hold the enlarging paper for either 55x55mm or 80x80mm prints.
Introduced about 1958 was an identical model, the Minicord III, its only difference was that it had brown covering and paint instead of black. Goerz also made some of this model that were gold-plated with red or green leather panels.
Text and photographs ©2022 Geoff Harrisson
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