Another in my series of vintage cameras. This is an Argus C-Four camera. This is one Jim Miller found for me at a yard sale. I have never taken any images with it but in its day it was considered a very good camera.
Some research: The Argus c-four is the very worthy successor to the once-popular C3. Simple, handsome and rugged, it’s got a great comfortable feel like the German and Russian classics at a significantly smaller price. Shutter speeds are limited to 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, and 1/300 (kind of like a FED!) but there is an actual hotshoe, activated by an M-F switch beneath the eyepiece. It has a removable back for film loading similar to old Contax/Leica and Russian copies of those cameras. Takes very nice pictures with its sharp coated Cintar lens. And it’s virtually vibration-free.
The c-four was itself succeeded by the more collectible but reportedly less user-friendly c-forty-four, which uses very nice German Cintagon lenses. There exists an uncommon version of the c-four that has interchangeable lenses, it’s known as the ‘Geiss-modified c-four’ and can be spotted by a telltale lever on the right of the lens mount. This camera, though not as sought-after as the c-forty-four, is supposedly much more user-friendly and probably a better purchase if you can find one and the hard to find Enna-Werk Lithagon lenses it accepts.
Technical Data:
• Produced 1951-58 Argus Cameras, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI USA
• Film type 135 (35mm)
• Picture size 24 x 36mm
• Weight 25.6oz (725.8g)
• Lens Argus Coated Cintar 50mm 1:2.8 (unusually fast for a triplet)
• Filter Size accepts Kodak Series VI adapter no. 26 or 33mm slip-on
• Focal range 3′ to infinity
• Shutter leaf
• Shutter speeds B, 1/10-1/300
• Viewfinder coupled rangefinder
• Exposure meter none
• Hot shoe
Well that’s it for today. Hope you enjoy your Friday. It’s going to be another HOT one so make the best of it. The forecast is for some relief this weekend, I hope.
Thanks for stopping by. Be careful.