Some gots from this weekend...

Pixeldawg1 · Oct 3, 2020

So, I picked these up over the weekend. A Mercury II, a Kodak Bantam in mint condition and a Kodak Starmite, all with boxes and in very good condition. The Bantam is an early "Premium" model and interestingly, the Starmite is from Germany, but somehow ended up here in China. I am now looking for the flash unit for the Mercury and any of the other lenses. I have found neither on the internet and if you have suggestions, would love to see them. Thanks in advance!

Space Face · Oct 4, 2020

Wow, some history there. Do they all work?

CharlesF · Oct 4, 2020

Those look great! Where do you pick these up from? Here in the UK it's hard to find reasonably priced vintage cameras

webestang64 · Oct 5, 2020

Nice finds.

mjcmt · Oct 5, 2020

Everyone has to have a Brownie. Still lookin' for one.

Pixeldawg1 · Oct 5, 2020

mjcmt said:
Everyone has to have a Brownie. Still lookin' for one.

Agreed! I am looking for a specific one that I used in the 6th grade, and still can't find it. To answer the rest of these questions, First, I found these at the Shanghai (China) camera Mall. 2 buildings that are 6 stories each. One with new gear and the other with old gear. I go here pretty regularly and search for the rusty gold. Right now in my office, I have some 80 cameras on display. Running out of room for all of them. The deals can be good and bad here. A bit on the expensive side at times, but in China, you don't find too many of these around. Of these, by far the most historic is the Mercury. First hot shoe on a camera- and as luck would have it, on a FB photo group I am on, a very nice woman posted a Mercury flash for this very camera and I purchased in for $35, so eventually will add it to this camera, which is very cool. I have found that the flash units are quite difficult to find. Even comes with the original box. Happy days!

vin88 · Oct 7, 2020

are vintage digital cameras collectable? i have mentioned, the canon digital Rebel is like running, "a model T ford". i bought one, with kit, and made it work ( not easy for an old nikon F guy.) for $10 i bought a smaller, working one. -- a nikon 5700. i will endever to learn some of the useing programs. vin

The Barbarian · Oct 7, 2020

The Mercury actually has a pretty good lens. Unfortunately the Mercury had a proprietary film format. They also produced a MercuryII which used 35mm film. It's a very usable camera.

Pixeldawg1 · Oct 8, 2020

vin88 said:
are vintage digital cameras collectable? i have mentioned, the canon digital Rebel is like running, "a model T ford". i bought one, with kit, and made it work ( not easy for an old nikon F guy.) for $10 i bought a smaller, working one. -- a nikon 5700. i will endever to learn some of the useing programs. vin

Sorry guys, been a busy week. Yes, I think they are. I have a few, including the Mavica (did you know this means "Magnetic Video Camera"?), a Mavica Video and a few others, including a Nikon/Kodak hubred and a LeafFax (Used by wire services for digital transmission... EARLY).

Pixeldawg1 · Oct 8, 2020

The Barbarian said:
The Mercury actually has a pretty good lens. Unfortunately the Mercury had a proprietary film format. They also produced a MercuryII which used 35mm film. It's a very usable camera.

Actually, only the original model of Mercury has the special film format. The Merc II, which I have, takes regular 35mm film. Because of this change, it is physically taller and wider to accommodate for this change. Wish I could find some of the other lenses made for it.

Mark

The Barbarian · Oct 10, 2020

Yeah, I have a Mercury II. It's kind of weird looking, but it does take pretty good pictures.

Pixeldawg1 · Oct 14, 2020

The Barbarian said:
Yeah, I have a Mercury II. It's kind of weird looking, but it does take pretty good pictures.

I think it was in another forum that I am on, but someone said "what if they had survived long enough to make 35mm SLR's?". I think if they did, it would be innovative, as are the Mercury cameras and the area of 35mm cameras today would look quite different had they done this.

The Barbarian · Oct 15, 2020

I'm thinking that they'd probably look something like Exactas:

Lots of casting, engraved lettering, and controls that wouldn't be where most of us would expect them to be.