Universal Mercury II (1946-1952)

The Mercury II was a half-frame 35 mm camera with a unique rotary shutter. About 150,000 were made by Universal Camera Corporation from 1946 through 1952. The list price was $82.90 for the version with an f/2.7 lens.

Front

Rear

Top

Bottom

Film Chamber

There was a similar Mercury made before WWII. The pre-war Mercury used a proprietary film load made for Universal by Gevaert in Belgium. Film supplies for the original Mercury were interrupted by the German invasion of Belgium in 1940, and the post-war version was redesigned to use the standard 35 mm film cartridges that are readily available from many sources.

The camera body is made from an aluminum-magnesium alloy and has a black synthetic rubber trim. The film winding knob, the shutter speed knob and the advance-rewind switch are on the front. The shutter button, a cable release socket and the film rewind knob are on the top. The top of the camera also has an accessory shoe and a flash shoe. A matching extinction exposure meter and a flash attachment were available. A film reminder and a very complex exposure calculator are on the back. The shutter housing is decorated with depth of field tables. The bottom of the camera has a tripod socket and the button to unlatch the back. The Mercury did not have the advantage of compact size that the Japanese half-frame 35 mm cameras did, the body being nearly the same size as the full frame 35 mm Argus model 21 that came out about the same time.

The lens on my camera is a scale focusing Universal Tricor f/3.5, 35 mm focal length lens that focuses to 1'-9". The lens stops down to f/22. An f/2.0 and an f/2.7 lens also were available. A 1-1/16" push-on Series V filter adapter fits the lens on my camera.

Shutter speeds were 1/1000, 1/300, 1/200, 1/100, 1/60, 1/40, 1/30, 1/20, B (bulb) and T (time). The shutter is synchronized for flash. The shutter is a rotary shutter that works like the shutter on a Hollywood motion picture camera. It has a slit in a rotating disk that spins to let the slit sweep over the film when you press the shutter button. The slit is variable in width, and with the shutter rotating at a fixed speed the size of the slit determines the duration of the exposure. The parking meter hump on the top of the camera is a cover for the shutter. One of the selling points of the Mercury was that the Harvard observatory used a Universal Mercury shutter in a coronagraph because the shutter made more uniform exposures than the other shutters being made at the time. The camera makes a half frame (24 mm x 19 mm) instead of a full frame picture mostly because the shutter would have to be much larger for a full 24 mm by 36 mm picture, making the camera too big. A roll of film that would make 36 pictures in a regular 35 mm camera will make 65 pictures in a Mercury. Winding the shutter advances the film, preventing missed frames and accidental double exposures. It is not possible to make a deliberate double exposure,

The Mercury has a reverse galilean finder that is small and a little hard to use compared to viewfinders in more modern cameras.

The finish on my camera is showing its age, and the shutter speeds have dropped by about half due to age (for example the 1/1000 setting is closer to 1/500), although it will still take a picture. I'd wanted one of these for years, ever since seeing a picture of one, because they are just so odd looking.

Old Chevy

Kodak Signet 40 (1956-1959)

The cameras in the Signet lineup (the 35, 40, 30, 50 and 80) were Kodak's middle 35 mm cameras - nicer than the Kodak Pony, but not as fancy as the Kodak Retina. The Kodak Signet 40 was a less expensive version of the Kodak Signet 35. The 40 was made in Rochester, NY, from 1956 through 1959. The list price in 1956 was $65.00, which had the buying power of about 604 depreciated 2019 dollars.

Front

Back

Right

Left

Exposure Guide

Exposure Counter and Film Reminder

Cocking Lever, Shutter Speed, Aperture, Distance Scale and Shutter Release

The camera body is plastic with metal fittings. The top has the film advance lever, the film reminder dial, the exposure counter and the rewind crank. The shutter release is on the front. The hinge for the back is on the left. The latch for the back is on the right and the "Kodalite" pin-and-screw fittings for flash are on the left. The rewind and shutter release levers are at the bottom of the back and front. The bottom has a tripod socket a little left of the center. There is a combined viewfinder and rangefinder like the one on the Signet 35.

The lens is a unit focusing, f/3.5-22, 46 mm Kodak Ektanon lens with three elements in three groups, in a Kodak Synchro 400 shutter, and focused as close as 2 feet. The lens has a retaining ring for Series V drop-in filters and attachments.

The shutter speeds on the Synchro 400 are 1/400, 1/200, 1/100, 1/50, 1/25, 1/10 and 1/5 second plus Bulb. It is a set-and-release shutter; advancing the film did not automatically cock the shutter. The shutter release is interlocked with the film advance to prevent double exposures or skipped frames. The release lever permits a deliberate double exposure or lets you try again if the flash bulb failed to go off. A socket for a cable release is provided. When you used a cable release, it bypasses the double exposure prevention system and to advance the film after making an exposure using the cable release you need to press the rewind lever and push the film advance lever once, then release the rewind lever and advance the film normally.


To load film you push down on the latch on the right side of the camera body and open the back. You push up on the rewind crank and drop the film cassette into the compartment on the left, then push down on the rewind crank so the fork engages the key inside the film cassette. You pull the film to the right and insert the leader into the take-up drum so the tooth on the drum catches a perforation on the film. Once the film is on the take-up drum you can close the back. About three pulls on the winding lever advances the film to the next frame, when cocking the shutter will allow you to press the shutter release. After you advance the film to the first frame, you set the exposure counter to the number of pictures on the roll. The exposure counter counts down to zero.

There is a film reminder dial on the right for Tri-X, Panatomic-X, Kodachrome (daylight or artificial light), Plus-X and Ektachrome (daylight or artificial light). The rewind crank has daylight exposure guides for Plus-X (ASA 125), Kodachrome (ASA 10) and Ektachrome (ASA 25) films.

To take a picture you push the lever about three times to advance the film, cock the shutter, check the shutter speed and aperture, focus with the rangefinder and make the exposure. When the roll is used up you press and hold the rewind lever at the lower back of the camera and rewind the film using the rewind crank.

This camera can take a sharp picture.

The Natchez Trace Bridge over Hwy 96, Franklin, Tennessee