Argus A (1936-1942)

The insignificant looking Argus A is one of the most commercially significant 35mm cameras ever produced because it is the camera that popularized 35mm photography in the US.  In 1936 the Argus model A was the first camera to be built in the United States to use 35mm film in Kodak's 135 film magazines.  The magazine had been designed to fit Leica, Contax and Retina cameras.  The Argus is no Leica, but it does take a picture.

International Radio Corporation was a radio manufacturer in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the 1930s. Company President Charles A. Verschoor wanted a new product to keep his factory busy during the summer, when radio sales tended to fall off. The result was the Argus Candid Camera. The Argus was intended from the beginning to be a mass market camera, originally selling for $12.50. Later the price was reduced to $10.00. 30,000 cameras were claimed to have been sold in the first week it was offered. About 210,000 were sold altogether. The Argus camera proved to be so popular that IRC got out of the radio business completely and changed its name to International Research Corporation. Eventually it became Argus Camera, Inc.

The camera body is molded from a phenolic resin. The back is stamped aluminum. The top of the camera has the film advance knob, the viewfinder, the film advance release button and the exposure counter. The bottom of the camera has the film rewind knob. For about the first year the camera came without a tripod socket. Later production had a tripod socket.

The camera has an f/4.5-f/11 50 mm anastigmat lens in a self-setting leaf shutter with speed settings from 1/25 to 1/200 second plus bulb and time. To make the camera a little more pocketable the lens is retractable. Three sets of fingers and flanges hold the lens in the retracted position. The lens has two focus settings: distant and close. The lens is set for the distant zone, 18 ft. to infinity, when the three flanges on the lens are between the three fingers on the camera body (fig. 7 and 8). It is set for the close zone, 8 ft. to 18 ft., when the flanges on the lens line up with the fingers on the body (fig. 5 and 6). The lens isn't marked to show which setting is for which zone. You just have to read the manual to know. Lenses and shutters originally were made by Ilex Optical of Rochester, NY. The lens takes a 23 mm Series V filter adapter.

When the camera first came out word got around that the lens was closer to f/6.3 instead of f/4.5. If you unscrew the front lens element and measure the iris diaphragm with the lens wide open you do get about an 8 mm diameter and 50 divided by 8 is 6.25. But that's not how it works because the strong positive front element causes the light rays to converge before they reach the iris. The focal ratio of a lens is the focal length divided by the diameter of the entrance pupil of the lens and the definition of the entrance pupil is the size of the aperture as seen from the front of the lens. Allowing for the strength of the positive front lens element you will get an f/4.5 focal ratio.

The camera takes currently available 35 mm film in standard cassettes. The film runs from right to left, which is the opposite direction from a Leica and most other 35 mm cameras. The exposure counter counts up. It needs to be manually set to zero after the film is loaded. To advance the film you press the film release, turn the wind knob a little, then let go of the film release and wind on until the film stops, just like an Argus C3. When the film is finished you rewind by turning the knob on the bottom. The camera doesn't have a film rewind catch. If you fiddle with the rewind knob between shots you could get overlapping pictures. You can check whether there is film in the camera by lightly turning the wind knob on the top of the camera. If there is film in the camera you can feel tension on the knob.

The viewfinder is a reverse galilean finder (negative lens in front, positive lens in back) without any frame lines or parallax correction. With a close focus of 8 ft., you don't need parallax correction.

The Argus Model A underwent some revisions during the seven years it was produced.  Here is an Argus Model A Timeline.

1936: The camera was introduced.

1936: A tripod socket was added.  The rewind knob assembly was changed.

1937: A second sprocket wheel was added.  The lens labeling was changed from “Argus Ilex Precise” to “Argus IRC Anastigmat.”

Early 1941: The aperture settings were changed from "f/11, 8, 5.6, 4.5" to "f/18, 12.7, 9, 6.3, 4.5."

Late 1941: The shutter speeds were changed from “25, 50, 100, 200, B, T” to “T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25.”  The labeling on the lens face was changed to drop the word “Anastigmat.”  The lens face was changed from brass to chrome.

1942: The camera was discontinued.

The Argus A is about as simple as an adjustable camera can be. It will produce good pictures if you keep within its limitations.   An Argus A today will make pictures that are as good as ever, modern films being so much better than films in the 1930s. With a fastest shutter speed of 1/200 second and a smallest aperture of f/11, this camera works best with 80-125 speed film for outdoor pictures on sunny days.  The later ones that stop down to f/18 will work well with 200 speed film.

Mid-train Motive Power

A CSX intermodal freight with distributed power at the Berry Road, Nashville, Tennessee grade crossing. The locomotive on the far track is in the middle of the train. A train is waiting on the near tack for the other to pass. From the parking lot of the Melrose branch post office. Argus A, f/11 at 1/200 second through an orange filter on Ultrafine eXtreme 400 film developed in Ultrafine powder developer. Ultrafine eXtreme 400 has been out of stock from the distributor for a while (Photo Warehouse - https://www.ultrafineonline.com/).  I don't know whether it will be available in the future.  Kentmere 400 would be the nearest equivalent.