Film question about the original Mercury 35mm Camera

[Luddite Frank]

I' have been reading-up a bit on the Universal "Mercury " and Mercury II cameras, and have a question about the original proprietary films for the first generation Mercury 35 mm camera.

I understand Universal's gimmick about selling an inexpensive camera, then making the "real money" supplying & processing the unique film.

The orignal Mercury cameras had removeable spools, with a gear on one end.

Did the film have a paper leader and tail for "day-light loading", similar to 220 MF film, or was it "naked" film that had to be changed in the dark room ?

Also, was the Mercury film perforated or not ?

At this point, I suppose these are academic questions... 😕

I understand it is possible to load the original spools with modern 35 mm film for shooting... except that the tongue is centered on the film, instead of being to one side.


Thanks,

Luddite Frank

 

[Roger Hicks]

Paper leader and trailer, like 220, I think, but I'm not sure. Again as far as I recall, Contaxes (and presumably Exaktas and anything else that could handle cassette-to-cassette with standardized cassettes) could be used with something similar (i.e. no cassette). I have read that it was a standard load from some manufacturers, though not cross-compatible with Mercury. And no, I'm not confusing it with daylight reloads for standard cassettes (paper leader only).

Cheers,

R.

 

[Luddite Frank]

Thanks Roger !

Regards,

LF