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Goerz Minicord

Have you ever seen a 16mm TLR before? We aren't entirely sure we have either. Needless to say, such subminiature cameras are not at all common. This C.P. Goerz Wien Minicord (circa 1951) is about as cool as they come. It is a beautiful little camera whose design and feel make it a pleasure just to hold and play with, even if you don't bother to load it up with 16mm film.

Focus is done by rotating the taking lens, which is coupled to an upper viewing lens. The composition and focus can be seen through an eye level prism, set at a convenient 45 degree angle. Aperture and shutter are set manually, ranging from f/2 - f/11 and shutter speeds of 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/200 and 1/400, plus Bulb. The trigger-like shutter release button makes for easy and fast film advance. The camera does make use of a proprietary cartridge that needs to be hand-loaded with double perforated 16mm film, prior to using the camera. Once loaded, the Minicord makes 10x10mm exposures.

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The Goerz Minicord

Whenever a 16mm still film camera passes through our shop, we always ask ourselves the question, "When are we going to start cutting down 16mm film?" Notice, we don't ask ourselves the question of "what if."

For several years we have been slicing down film for Minox subminiature cameras, so it only seems natural that we would do the same for 16mm cameras. Truth is, we'd love to... it's just that 16mm is a more complicated matter than that of Minox. The cutting of the film itself would not be so difficult; after all, 16mm is readily available on the market in motion picture lengths. We would simply have to buy a spool of 16mm movie film and cut it to the appropriate lengths. That part is fairly easy. The part that is difficult is what you plan on loading the film into, and there are two facets to this complex issue.

The immediate concern is the cartridge. Unlike Minox cameras, and other cameras that used Minox film (like the Yashica Atoron), which have a universal cartridge, 16mm cameras use a variety of cartridges that differ from model to model, manufacturer to manufacturer. It would be easy to supply 16mm film, but most users also need the cartridges for their respective cameras. Take this Minicord, for example. It was lucky enough to come with its necessary cartridges, but these cartridges won't fit inside a Mamiya-16, or most other subminiature 16mm cameras. Some folks out there are 3D printing cartridges. Film Photography Project comes to mind, but again, these cartridges are appropriate only for certain cameras. The lack of a universal cartridge is probably the biggest hurdle that keeps us from cutting down 16mm film.

The second nuance is that not all 16mm cameras used the same perforations. Some, like this Minicord, use double perforated 16mm film. Others use single-perf and still others use non-perforated 16mm film. It is possible to supply film in all these styles - Film Photography Project is doing this very thing - but without research it can be difficult to know which film is appropriate for which camera.

There is some of the lengthy argument as to why we have not yet started cutting down 16mm film. It's the days when you get a camera, like this Minicord, coming through the shop, just begging to be loaded up, that we stop what we are doing and ponder this ongoing question a bit more. Perhaps we are edging a little closer to the day we can happily provide film for the Minicords of the world and its ilk.