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{{short description|German camera manufacturer}} {{Overly detailed|date=February 2024}} {{too many images}} {{Infobox company | name = Minox GmbH | logo = Minox logo.svg | image = File:Tele Minox.JPG | image_alt = Small, spy sized camera attached to one eyepiece of a set of prismatic binoculars mounted to a tripod on a table top | image_caption = Tele Minox with adapter on [[Binoculars|prismatic binoculars]] | type = | traded_as = | founder = [[Walter Zapp]] | foundation = 1945 | defunct = | location = [[Wetzlar]], Germany | area_served = | key_people = Wolfgang Venzl | industry = cameras, binoculars and other optical equipment | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | assets = | equity = | num_employees = approx. 30 | divisions = | homepage = [https://www.minox.com www.minox.com] }} {{multiple image | footer = Upper: The Minox logo used by VEF (1938).<br />Lower: The Minox logo used by Minox GmbH (1949). | direction = vertical | width = 235 | image1 = VEF Minox logo.jpg | image2 = Minox logo.jpg }} '''Minox''' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|iː|n|ɒ|k|s}} {{respell|MEE|noks}}) is a manufacturer of cameras, known especially for its subminiature camera. The first product to carry the Minox name was a subminiature camera, conceived in 1922, and finally produced in 1936, by [[Baltic German]] [[Walter Zapp]].<ref name=rangefinder> {{cite journal|title=Rangefinder|date=December 2010|volume=59|number=12|page=98}}</ref> The Latvian factory [[VEF]] (''Valsts elektrotehniskā fabrika'') manufactured the camera from 1937 to 1943.<ref name=VEF>{{cite web|url=http://www.minox.com/index.php?id=60&L=2|title=MINOX – The Development of Visible Innovation|work=Minox|accessdate=17 May 2014|archive-date=23 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140923170512/http://www.minox.com/index.php?id=60&L=2|url-status=dead}}</ref> After [[World War II]], the camera was redesigned and production resumed in Germany in 1948.<ref name=VEF /> Zapp originally envisioned the Minox to be a camera for everyone requiring only little photographic knowledge. Yet in part due to its high manufacturing costs, the Minox became more well known as a must-have luxury item.{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} From the start the Minox also gained wide notoriety as a [[espionage|spy camera]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Minox Riga Camera |url=https://www.spymuseum.org/exhibition-experiences/about-the-collection/collection-highlights/minox-riga-camera/ |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=International Spy Museum |language=en}}</ref> Minox branched out into [[#Minox 35 mm cameras|35 mm film format]] and [[#Other products|110 film format]] cameras in 1974 and 1976, respectively. Minox continues to operate today, producing or branding optical and photographic equipment.
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