Homemade Minox Film Developing Tank

Photography & Video Science
Homemade Minox Film Developing Tank

If you’ve got one of these classic spy-cameras and are interested in developing your own pictures from it, instead of paying through the nose to have a specialist do it, you may be interested in this simple DIY method from MAKE pal Alan Dove:

There’s only one lab in the US that still offers reliable processing, and they charge about a dollar per frame to develop a roll and print proofs. That’s pricey for such low-resolution shots. I often develop 35mm and medium-format film at home, but Minox 8×11 film won’t fit on a standard reel, and the only dedicated Minox tanks ever made are now collectible antiques. Fed up with this situation, I applied my usual scrounge-up-some-parts-and-make-them-work approach.

[Thanks, Alan!]

6 thoughts on “Homemade Minox Film Developing Tank

  1. Radz Nguyen says:

    So strange, I think I will get one :D

  2. Tracy Dryden says:

    I think I still have a Minox with leather case, flashcube attachment and tripod adaptor lying around the house
    somewhere. If anyone is interested make me an offer.

  3. Asciimation » Blog Archives » More on projects and cameras. says:

    […] No developing the film is also a problem. I was thinking of all kinds of ways to get around this. Developing in trays in the dark, modifying an existing reel to make it smaller (I even bought a cheap second one to look at doing this) or taping the negatives to a carrier of some sort. […]

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I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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