Introduction
The Mercury camera system can be used with a number of medium format digital backs (“digibacks”) in many different configurations. Some of the advantages of pairing Mercury with your digiback:
Lens Compatibility: Mercury is compatible with hundreds or thousands of lenses from all eras of photography. If it is possible to make a given obscure lens work with your digiback, Mercury can probably do it. This includes true ultrawides and exotic lenses such as Zeiss S-Topar A2, supposedly the sharpest medium format lens every created. It was developed for aerial photography. Mercury is the only camera that can natively mount this complex lens other than the original aerial camera it was designed for.
Flexibility: Mercury is the most modular camera system ever developed. It can be reconfigured into almost any configuration, including handheld, technical, use with ground glass, use with Instax or Polaroid film, negative film, sheet film, and digital.
Fast and Easy Panoramic Stitching: The Mercury ST system is much faster and easier to use than any technical camera, and enables you to take a composite image with an equivalent sensor size of 6×9 film. This is the easiest way to push your digiback as far as possible, pairing it with a wide variety of medium and large format lenses with larger image circles. Shooting these lenses with a centered digital sensor captures a very small percentage of the image circle and fails to capture the true “character” of the lens. With the Mercury ST, which comes in both integrated camera body and removable 4×5 back variants, whole new realms of photography open up, taking full advantage of lenses from the entire history of photography.
Price: Mercury cameras are hand-made, largely via 3D printing. They cost a fraction of the price of any metal or composite camera, and thus you can afford to test out more exotic, more experimental, or infrequently used configurations. While Mercury Works keep its cost low by worrying far less about surface finish and other aesthetics, Mercury cameras are surprisingly rugged.
Extensibility: Mercury is an open source camera system. Mercury Works or third parties can be commissioned to design new modules to extend compatibility or features nearly without limit.
Digiback Modules
Mercury ST: Stitching module that mounts your digiback in a portrait orientation and provides a fast and simple sliding mechanism, paired with custom adhesive scales for all popular sensor sizes, to enable you to take perfect 6×9 sized images in mere seconds. The ST system can optionally be used with our custom ground glass back to visualize your entire image at once. It comes in both an integrated camera body form (compatible with even the widest lenses) as well as a Graflok 45 back for compatibility with Mercury and third party large format cameras. The Graflok 45 version comes in both 6×9 and 6×12 variants.
Basic Camera Back Adapter: This module is compatible with any Mercury camera front and when integrated creates a thin, pancake camera with wide lens compatibility, but no panoramic stitching capabilities.
135 Standalone Camera: This is an even thinner camera body designed to accept a digiback and a mechanical shutter (either a Copal 3 or an Ilex 4). A further Mercury module enables you to mount 135 format systems lenses from Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Leica, etc. While this is something of a novelty, it allows you to test out your favorite 135 lenses with high end digital backs, or simple capture a larger portion of the image area than was originally intended.
Graflok 23 to Digiback adapter: This adapter allows you to mount your digiback to any camera with a Graflok 23 mount, such as Mercury, Horseman, Graflex, and Ebony. This adapter moves the film plane 20mm farther back than normal, and thus can only be properly used on a modular or bellows camera (sorry, RB67!).
Digital Back Compatibility
Mamiya AFD / Phase One M Mount
Compatible Mercury Modules:
Basic camera back adapter
Stitching Back Camera
Graflok Stitching Back
135 Standalone Camera
Graflok 23 to Digiback adapter
Notes: Recommended to use Mercury Clamps for extra security and more precise flange distance. Clamps available for Phase One IQ series, Phase One P series, Leaf Creo, Leaf Aptus, and Leaf Valeo backs.
Hasselblad V Mount
Compatible Mercury Modules:
Basic camera back adapter
Stitching Back Camera
Graflok Stitching Back
135 Standalone Camera
Graflok 23 to Digiback adapter
Notes: Robust mount. No clamps recommended. Many brands have the advantage of mounting in either landscape or portrait orientation. Due to varying designs on the market, Mercury Hasselblad V modules come in two Types.
Type 1: Compatible with Hasselblad (film and digital), Phase One, Sinar, and Jenoptik brands.
Type 2: Compatible with Leaf and Kodak backs.
Contax 645 Mount
Compatible Mercury Modules:
Basic camera back adapter
Stitching Back Camera
Hasselblad H
Compatible Mercury Modules:
Basic camera back adapter (with 3rd party adapter; see Mercury User Guide)
Notes: Limited Mercury compatibility and no testing. Not recommended.
Universal Sync Box
The Universal Sync Box is our most advanced product for digital backs, developed in conjunction with Digital Transitions. It is a revolutionary computerized device that connects to almost any digital back and enables complete control when using a fully manual camera. Besides waking up your sensor microseconds before taking an exposure, it can automatically actuate fully manual leaf shutter lenses at the correct moment, synch to shutters with improper flash sync or missing flash sync, control electronic shutters, extend manual shutter exposure time beyond the shutter’s rating, and more.
The Universal Sync Box takes the frustration out of shooting with vintage lenses and manual cameras, unleashing new capabilities for your digital back.
Learn more or purchase on this dedicated page.
Manual Sync Box
This special accessory enables multiple simultaneous sync connections to a digiback, enabling compatibility with a wide range of camera configurations, shutters, and techniques. It is particularly recommended for Phase One backs if you don’t need the capabilities of the Universal Sync Box.
This is a small, coldshoe mounted device with the following connections:
Camera Side: 2.5mm shutter sync input + manual wakeup button. This button is positioned so that it can be activated by your index finger without looking during handheld use, or any finger during tripod use.
Digiback Side: PC sync port to connect to digiback + 2.5mm remote socket. This socket is compatible with standard, generic remotes, including programmable ones. Any remote that is compatible with Canon Rebel cameras will work with your digiback.
Upon request, either of the 2.5mm jacks can be replaced with 3.5mm jacks.
A second version of this box replaces the Digiback Side remote port with a Canon N3 variant for compatibility with any remote using this connector (Canon 6, 5, and 1 series cameras). This version is slightly larger, however.
Summary of Variants
A: Wakeup button and 2.5mm jack on lens side, PC sync port and 2.5mm jack on digiback side.
B: Wakeup button and 3.5mm jack on lens side, PC sync port and 2.5mm jack on digiback side.
C: Wakeup button and 2.5mm jack on lens side, PC sync port and Canon N3 remote jack on digiback side.
D: Wakeup button and 3.5mm jack on lens side, PC sync port and Canon N3 remote jack on digiback side.
Digital Back Characteristics
At Mercury Works we have extensively researched and tested digibacks. The table linked below summarizes the most important characteristics of various digibacks for use with Mercury today.
“Portable” in this context means that the digiback can shoot without needing to be connected to a computer. “Tethering” outlines what is required to connect to a computer for instant capture and Live View.
Digiback Characteristics Table (PDF)
For more information about using digibacks with your Mercury, including more details about older mechanical shutter digiback compatibility and more, see section 1.4 of the Mercury User Guide.
To purchase a Mercury camera or accessories, contact us directly via the button on the lower right of this site. A reasonably up to date price list can be found here.