Mercury

[herron]

Did it again. Bought a Mercury II CX (not a car). This is not my main collecting area (of course, I'm not sure what is any more)...but I've seen one of these before...a gentleman visiting my favorite local camera shop had brought one in...and I was fascinated by it. Tried to buy it from him, actually, but he was fond of it himself! ;D LOL

Never thought much about it...but I just found one on that insidious online auction site (Come to the Dark Side, Luke). and thought "what the heck" and made a bid. Well, I won. Now I will have yet another "new" toy to explore!



By the way, my "new" Kodak Retina I-a just arrived today...and it's every bit as good as it was described.

No doubt about it...gotta go out and get some more film!!

[PeterW]

Hi Ron,

I've never owned a Mercury though I've handled one. It's got to be unique with that huge disc shutter. Brunnings, in London, had several Mercurys in the window for ages in the 1950s, but they didn't seem to sell. Rumour was in the UK that the Mercury II gave film transport problems after the body was enlarged to take standard 35mm cassettes, but I don't know how true this was. Hope yours works OK.

Peter

[herron]

Peter:
It is the unique disk shutter that intrigued me...that and the 35mm half-frame images. I've seen a couple of Mercury CC's on eBay and let them pass because of the equally unique film cassette required. When this CX showed up, so I can use standard 35mm film -- I had to at least bid (had to....Come to the Dark Side, Luke...I keep hearing that voice whenever I surf eBay these days) ;D

Not being super familiar with them, I had not heard any rumors about the film transport, so I'm hoping this one is working OK. I will probably never run more than a roll or two through it, even if it's in great shape, but I'd like to at least try it!

Otherwise, what fun is it? LOL

[kdwall]

These are really fun cameras to use, but they do suffer with film transport problems. For lack of a better description, they get tired and weak. I think it must be wear and tear from having to crank up that huge rotary shutter! That's not a timid mechanism in there. It has guts! And I guess when they were new they really did hit those high speeds. The couple I used weren't quite up to speed, and one did bog down half way through a roll, but one worked very well. The lens was so-so in terms of sharpness, probably more so because you have to do double the enlarging to bring the picture up to size, but there was a pleasant warmth to the images.

KD

[herron]

I wonder if John Craig has a manual for it?

[Randy]

OOF! If I went down town and took pitchers with one a those things I'd draw a crowd fer sure! I was downtown one day takin pitchers of Johnsons Drive-In. I had my Spartus Full Vue set up low on my tripod...and some young feller walked up and said, "are you one a them survey'in fellers?" I asked "HUH?" and he said "I ain't never seen nothin like that before, so it must be fer survey'in", to which I said, "Yup! I am one a them survey'in fellers!" He asked, "whatcha doin, survey'in?" and I said "Yup! We're gonna put up one a them thar Taco Bells!" and he said, "yahoo, I like tacos!". He had a buddy with him, and he said, "Hoover!, he ain't one a them surveyer fellers, he's takin pitchers!" and Hoover said, "whatsee takin pitchers of?, the taco bell ain't up yet!". I'll tell ya, if ya start takin pitchers in this town, ya draws a crowd, and with a camera like that one, I'd draw a crowd fer sure!

[Rachel]

Great guys in your town Randy ;D

[Randy]

I was just practicing a little humor. Don't mean anything derogatory about it. That is what it's like here in my town though.

[Rachel]

No no Randy. I took it in the manner it was meant There are some real characters around wherever you are.

[herron]

;D
Rachel:
I have SEVERAL -- right in the family! I'm actually looking forward to some of the interest this Mercury will bring! LOL