Mercury in Retrograde
One of my Favorite film cameras is the Mercury II:
It's a half-frame camera from the 40's that was supposed to be the American rival to Contaxes and Leicas since we were having... second thoughts about doing business with Germany, and even Japan. Even though I'd adapted this lens to my Fuji X-E2 before, I'd never thrown it on my Sony A7ii.
Here are some shots!
I figured I'd be able to use the APS-C mode in the menu, which just punches into the sensor, since half-frame is about the same size as APS-C anyway.
Overall, I'm pretty astonished by this lens' performance. It handles color and contrast well, and definitely has a vintage focus fall-off in the corners, which is common for three-element lenses like this one. The Bokeh looks good too!
Also check out this sharpness!
So not bad for APS-C crop, right?
I've been withholding something. These are all shot full frame. Turns out this tiny lens covers the sensor at wider apertures with just a vignette. Stopped down, the corners fall out. Here's f/2.7 compared to f/8.
Not bad for a lens the size of a quarter!
Fantastic! The Mercury II camera itself looks awesome. Those front knobs and that huge crescent sitting atop the camera. Looking at the FF examples you shared it's interesting how quickly the image sharpens up within the intended frame size. It's such a difference. That's a fun setup!
Fantastic results! So cool you can get full frame coverage with the corner drop off! Definitely has those old wet plate swirly bokeh lenses had back in the 1800s
Quote from James Warner on June 20, 2023, 1:40 amFantastic! The Mercury II camera itself looks awesome. Those front knobs and that huge crescent sitting atop the camera. Looking at the FF examples you shared it's interesting how quickly the image sharpens up within the intended frame size. It's such a difference. That's a fun setup!
Quote from Cory Maben on June 20, 2023, 9:13 pmI love the styling of the camera, it's feel like a prop from an alternate history movie. That lens is weirdly sharp in crop mode very cool!
Thanks everyone! Yeah, I colloquially refer to this camera as my dromedary parking meter since it has that huge hump. It’s one of the first and only stills cameras with a rotary shutter!
