[Leica] IMG: Mercury II

[Jim Nichols]

Some of you might be able to recall, as I do, street photographers who 
snapped your photo on city sidewalks and then offered to sell you copies 
of the image.  Their favorite camera was the Universal Mercury, 
introduced in 1938, or the Mercury II, introduced in 1945. A half-frame 
camera with a rotary cinema-type shutter, it produced 72 images on a 
36-exposure roll of 35mm film.  This was a very rugged camera with a 
cast aluminum body and an extremely sharp Tricor 35mm f/2.7 lens, 
requiring manual scale focusing with no rangefinder.  When properly 
focused, the image detail was equivalent to much more expensive cameras 
of that era.

http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Mercury+II+from+1945.jpg.html

Comments welcomed, and appreciated.

-- 
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA