Minox T8

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The last commercial design by Walter Zapp. It was also sold as a presentation set with the EC.

Walter Zapp left Minox at the age of 45. It is not clear what he did for the rest of his working life. The reports that he designed (invented) beer bottle tops and binoculars and worked on the "subminiature for the 21st Century" that no one, sadly, is likely to manufacture. In 1990 Minox marketed his T8, pocket telescope.

The T8 has been seen on Ebay for $200 and as low as 90EURO. They have appeared in clusters and bidding has often been fierce. The sample here was 100EURO with FOWA papers.

It is a x8 telescope where the path of the light is bent back on itself and squashed into the device a few mm less than width of a credit card but slightly longer.

When you view you have a 1:1 image and a white circle to locate the subject. Look down slightly and you see the area of the white spot enlarged x8. The optics, at least on this sample, are not as clear as on the MD8x16.

The case is plastic, like the EC but unlike the EC the slot to clip on the EC style chain is plastic. This looks like it would break in normal use. The EC neck strap would be better to include, but not with the plastic loop to fasten onto.

The case has a belt loop and button down flap.

There are two levers on the corner. One to focus the image and the other to open and close the lens protection.

Some modern digital cameras used a folded optical system to zoom inside the confines of the camera body and so do not have the Pinocolo nose.

http://www.europa.com/~telscope/binxray.gif shows the optical path of the T8 (below)

 http://www.europa.com/~telscope/binxray.gif

So of the two, the MD8x16 and the T8 my preference is the metal body MD8x16 with it's larger viewing area and crystal clear optics. The T8L is metal body, but as you hold this close to your face the metal will conduct heat away which in winter is not so pleasant and it is for this reason that Walter Zapp has been reported to have said he preferred the plastic version.

Had the T8 had a metal clasp and been credit card size it would be the perfect match for the Victorinox SwissCard (http://www.victorinox.com/), EON ice (www.iainsinclair.com), which of course where designed more recently.

For 8x11 users a version of the Emo-Optik  would be more useful as a telephoto for the Minox camera.

 

Model T8
Serial # 24069
Finish/colour black
Case  
Box  
Instructions multi
Purchased  
Date of Manufacture  
Cost  
Current Value  
Auction Price Ebay 2004/12/21 104.30EUR, 2004/05/19 126EUR, 2004/05/22 173.37EUR, 2005/01/17 228.56USD, 2005/09/18 60EUR, 2006/02/10 124.05USD, 2006/05/07 102.98EUR, 2006/07/04 20.50EUR (chipped), 2006/08/27 114.50USD, 2007/03/05 96EUR (case), 2007/06/04 21.50GBP (box, instructions), 2007/09/09 180.27USD (box, instructions)
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Last Updated on 27th September 2007