New Acquisition – Universal Mercury II CX

I’d been looking for one of these for a while – either the pre-WWII Mercury (often called Mercury I) or the post war Mercury II. One of the foci of my collection is US 35mm cameras, most of which (with the exception of my beloved Retinas and possibly a few Argus’s) I find to be rather weird and wonderful. When I saw pictures of the Mercury I couldn’t help but notice the large hump on top. For those who don’t already know it’s a rotary focal plane shutter and I’d never seen anything like it. When I came across this one for a reasonable price I just had to have it.

As is often the case Mike Eckman has written one of his excellent reviews (see: Universal Mercury II (1946-48)) on it. He provides a short history of the Universal Camera Corporation, gives his thoughts on the camera, offers some tips regarding repairs and shows some photographs he had taken with the camera.

Since Mike has already provided so much information I’ll limit myself to just a few comments.

First the size of the camera surprised me. This is sometimes the case when you’ve only seen pictures of the camera. I recall seeing an Exacta in a nearby photo shop and thinking that it was much larger than I had thought. I also remember seeing a Kodak Bantam Special in the Kodak Museum in Rochester and thinking that it was much smaller than I expected. In the case of the Mercury it’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

Second the camera is black. I think it looks good in black, but I doubt that any Mercury every left the factory like this. All those I’ve seen are chrome. This is without doubt some owners paint job. This is possibly because the finish on the Mercury is generally considered to be pretty dismal. In her superb book: The UniveX Story (more about which in a future post) Cynthia Repinski writes:

Generally speaking, the metal finish on the Mercury II lacked the luster and gleam that characterized the Mercury I. The finish of the Mercury II seemed to become dingy and dull within only a short time. Signs of heavy corrosion are extremely common on Mercy II models today, whereas many of the Mercury I models appear almost like new. Some former Universal engineers recalled the inferior finish of the Mercury II was due to the postwar use of magnesium metal in combination with the aluminum allow normally used in die casting the Mercury housings. Magnesium had become quite popular during WWII and was being readily used by many other manufacturing companies in the post war fabrication of their own products. The aluminum alloy used in the production of the Mercury I camera provided a more gleaming appearance than the combination of aluminium and magnesium used in the production of the Mercury II camera.

When I purchased this camera I had no intention of using it. I’m not a fan of half-frame cameras. I thought that I’d just put it alongside such other gorgeously ugly cameras as the Kodak 35RF (which someone once referred to as a camera “only a mother could love”). However, once I had it in my hands I liked the way it felt. The more I look at it the more I like the way it looks (I no longer consider it to be ugly) and I’d like to try taking pictures with it. Unfortunately I can’t. The shutter works, the aperture works, the viewfinder is OK – but unfortunately the focus is completely frozen. I intend to try to “unstick” it though.

Rear view with the rather complex (I have no idea how it works) exposure calculator.

Vintage Camera Collectors Group on Facebook

I recently became a member of a Vintage Camera Collectors group on Facebook and so far the experience has been both interesting and informative. The group is closed (i.e. you have to request membership) and very active, with more than 20,000 members and lots of new posts every day. I’m usually something of a “lurker” on groups of this type, but this one has tempted me to contribute both posts and comments.

Members must follow these rules:

– This group exists for Vintage Camera collectors, to collaborate, trade, and share information.
– No Digital Equipment Allowed unless it is regarding using vintage lenses on digital cameras.
– This is NOT a group for showing off your photography however posting a few photos accompanied by the camera that was used is okay. Please no links to Flickr or similar websites.
– Outside links such as eBay or Craigslist are allowed for informational use only and not for selling. We ask that businesses keep self promotion to a minimum

* * SELLING & TRADING RULES * *

– All Sale or Trade posts must include Photos, Price, Description, Location, Condition, & Payment Options. Please upload multiple images to a single post to avoid clutter.
– Keep conversations off the Sale threads. Use PM’s unless there are specific questions regarding the item. Also comment on the main thread and not individual pictures.
– All Sales and Trades are considered private transactions and the Admins and Group hold no liability.
– A suggestion to sellers: Please research a realistic value for your item by doing a search in “Sold Items” on eBay before posting in the group to avoid any negative situations.

– Be Courteous and Respectful. Childish Behavior, Trolls and Troublemakers are not welcome. Admins reserve the right to remove any posts we deem are not in the spirit of the group and up to removal of offending members. Please report Spam and other issues directly to Admins by way of the drop-down arrow. Blocking an Admin will result in removal.

The group can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/vintagecameras/

What to look for before buying vintage cameras

Useful and informative three part series on “Inspecting vintage film cameras before you buy” on Down the Road.

Part 1: The fundamentals. Covers what to look for when inspecting the body, checking out the inside, and verifying the shutter and lens. Provides simple checks to ensure that everything is functioning as desired.

Part 2: Advanced features. Covers checking the battery cover and compartment, checking the focus, testing the meter, and (if applicable) the winder.

Part 3: Research. Deals with doing research to identify common problems with cameras in order to check and ensure that your camera isn’t suffering from them. I found this particularly helpful.

The beat up old Minolta SrT-201 above was given to me by a neighbor (for more information see A gift from a neighbor). The body is about shot (shutter frozen; missing rewind), but the lens (Minolta MD Rokkor-x, 50mm f1.7 works perfectly and produces lovely results. See Around Canopus Lake and On Pelton Pond).

The picture above was taken with a Sony NEX 5N. The lens information was not captured so it must have been one of my legacy lenses – but I can’t remember which one and didn’t record the information. From other pictures taken around the same time I suspect it was a Nikon E series lens, most likely the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 Series E.

A camera for inauguration day

Export version of the Richter Reflecta

Just came across this on a photography forum. I loved the statement: “focus is out of whack”, but I wasn’t sure if the author was being ironic or was serious (I suspect the latter).

Just saying, tried to mark the presidential inauguration day with the appropriate camera, but no such luck, focus is out of whack, in both viewing and taking lenses, and the shutter fires at approximately the same speed.Oh well – need to find time and send it for repair, eventually

Source: Sometimes it doesn’t work out… – Photo.net Classic Manual Cameras Forum

I’d never heard of this camera before. It turns out that it’s an export version of the Richter Reflecta, made c1940 in Germany and sold in the United States by Sears. Focus (helical) is controlled by the lever at the lower right, and the viewing and taking lenses are coupled behind the faceplate. It appears to be worth from $50 (in average condition) to $140 (in mint condition).

What an amazing photograph of an incredible athlete.

Source: “One Lucky, Very Lucky Shot” | THEME. Usain Bolt @ Rio Olympics 100-meter semi-final | Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

And no I didn’t take it! Although I’ve been to Rio a few times I wasn’t there for the Olympics. Incredibly the photographer, Kai Pfaffenbach had this to say (in a Reuters video) about his iconic picture:

The German photographer is humble about his work. In this Reuters interview he says he was “just playing around and had a bit of fun.”

See, you dead serious photographers? Start playing around and have some fun!

Let’s loosen up a bit, experiment, as the best things in life are hardly ever planned.

Pfaffenbach went for a 1/50th panning shutter speed, “trying to do some arty shot.” Framing, composition, detail and out-of-focus areas, all just perfect.

“One lucky, very lucky shot,” says Pfaffenbach.

I should be so lucky. I’m sure this photograph will go down as one of the greatest sports photographs of all time.

Grinning Usain Bolt, winning the semi-final to his third 100-meter gold medal at three consecutive Olympics (a first!), and still having ample time to smile back at his drudging, smaller-than-Bolt pursuers, captured by Pfaffenbach — simply iconic