Full Frame Size Comparison

135compact.com 35mm ultra compact cameras

This page shows some of the smallest cameras for 35mm film next to each other. It might help you to decide which one to buy. There are others, but here are those that I owned and tested with film.

My first bunch, all of them can open up to F 2.8 and still make decent photos:

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	Minox GT, fully manual
Fujifilm ZoomDate F2.8 (Silvi F2.8) 24mm wide
	Minox GTE, fully manual, modern battery
Olympus mju-II, fully automatic, waterresistant
	Olympus XA, rangefinder

Width cmparison

When I decided to make a separate page for 135 film cameras, I bought some more. So this is the second bunch:

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Agfa Optima 1535	Elikon 535	Lomo LC Wide	Lomo LC-A
Konica A4	Kiev 35A*(see end of page)	Fujifilm Super Mini	Cosina CX2
Konica Lexio 70	Nikon AF600		Olympus Mju II comparison

seen from above (width comparison)

A later aquisition was the Minolta TC-1, it's price let me hesitate for a while. It went back to the seller as it was defective.

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Fujifilm ZoomDate F2.8	Nikon AF600
Olympus mju-II	Fujifilm Super Mini
Minolta TC-1

Width comparison again.

Furthert findings:

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Olympus mju III Wide	Olympus Mju II comparison
Ricoh GR1	Minox 35 GT (again)
Fuji DL 500 Wide Mini	Contax T

Width comparison.

Next lot, acquired, mainly from flea markets, except the GR1s and Espio Mini:

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Canon Prima Super 28	Ricoh FF-9	Pentax Espio Mini	Pentax Espio 24EW
Rollei Prego Micron	Fuji Tiara Zoom	Ricoh GR1s	Panasonic C-625AF
Minolta Riva 70W	Pentax Espio 145M	Ricoh Hi-Color	Vivitar 35 EM
			Olympus Mju II comparison

Width comparison once more.

Another size comparasion for the next bunch. Again the fabulous Olympus Mju II for comparison.

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Konica Lexio 115	Braun trend AF-M	Pentax Espio 738	Konica Z-up 110 VP
Pentax Espio 70	Pentax Espio 120SW	Konica Big Mini Ex	Olympus Trip 200
Canon Prima Super 130	Nikon Nuvis S an APS	Canon Prima BF-80	Olympus Mju II comparison

Width comparison once again.

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And another bunch.

Nikon Zoom 300 AF	Olympus AF 1 Twin	Olympus AF10 Super
Yashica Zoomate 70	Canon Prima Super 115u	Olympus mju I
Yashica AW mini	Ricoh FF-1	Olympus Mju II comparison

Width comparison another time.

And still more cameras to compare, a bit dusty, just out of the box. The Mju II has gone, so it's another little Olympus for comparison, the XA

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Konica Z-Up 125e	another Konica Lexio 70	(Bolta) Photavit V	Zeiss Ikon Tenax (I)
Olympus AFL-T	Rollei A26	Voigtländer Vito C	Revue 35 FC
Canon Prima Mini	Pentax Pino 35	Panasonic mini&Zoom	Chinon Auto GL-S
Minolta AF-C	Minolta AF-E	Zeiss Ikon Contessa S310	Olympus XA comparison

And width cpmparison another time.

And last, but not least, my personal favorites:

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Contax T	Olympus mju-II
Konica Lexio 70	Fujifilm Super Mini
Lomo LC Wide	Fujifilm ZoomDate F2.8

And again, width comparison

The Minolta TC-1 would have been one of the best for my purposes. I prefer wider angles. But as it had light leaks I gave it back. I will not buy another one. Minolta has ended the service and it seems as if these leaks will be the weak point of the TC-1 in the future. I then tried a Ricoh GR1 with similar features. There again, a weak point: they all die from dead LCD screens. But at least they are half the price of the Minolta. The Ricoh lens is fantastic. In my opinion it has even a bit more contrast than the reknown lenses of the Minolta or the Fuji Mini. I tried them with the same film under similar circumstances. This is my personal impression of course. But again, I was not lucky with the GR1. The top LCD screen made problems after 2 rolls of film only. So these two are only would-be favorites. Nevertheless I gave the GR1 a second try. After a while it had the same problems.

For manual control, it's the Contax T. The 38mm lens has an extraordinary contrast, like the Ricoh GR1 lens. For those who are used to manual cameras, handling is fluid and extremely easy. The camera feels more sturdy than all the others.

If you want it simple, just point and shoot, it's the Olympus Mju II with its fantastic 35mm lens. It's very small and just slides into your pocket.

The Fuji (Tiara) Super Mini is best for me, except flash on at start, it has all possible settings I need. The contrasty 28mm lens suits me well. It's very small and light indeed and even in point and shoot mode it gives wonderful results.

Two nice findings: the 24-50mm Fuji (Silvi) ZoomDate and the 28-70mm Konica Lexio 70. On the wide end they are both as good as their fixed focus equivalents and you can zoom in case of. With 200 ISO film and professional scans I could not see any major flaws.

The Lomo LC Wide with its 17mm is unique and quite good, but frail, both of mine had to be repaired. There is no alternative if you want super wide angles.

Some more remarks: The Cosina CX2 original is better than the hyped Lomo LC-A copy. For manual focus, there is the Olympus XA, one of the two only rangefinders, much cheaper than the Contax T. If you want to learn about the basics of photography, try the Elikon 535, it works astonishingly well, it costs near to nothing. For those who need a big viewfinder, the Agfa Optima is nice, it's not as compact as the others, but you can see from the pictures that it isn't big either.

* The Kiev 35A is a copy of the Minox G Series. It's a full format 135 camera. It was given to me on a flea market for free. There is nearly no interest in this camera, so there is no page for it. It has light leaks, it's unreliable, the lens quality is ways below the Minox ones, it's quirky, handling is rough and it breaks easily. Unless you collect Russian cameras, look for a Minox, they are cheap as well now.

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