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Bottom
Film Chamber
Lens Mount
Additional Lenses - 35 mm f/4.5, 50 mm f/1.9 and 100 mm f/3.5.
Auxiliary Viewfinder
Advancing the film cocks the shutter, which can be set for 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 or 1/300 second, or B (bulb). The B setting opens the shutter for as long as the shutter release is depressed.
The camera had a hot shoe on the top for the Argus Flasholder. The flasholder could take type M or type F flashbulbs. There was a switch on the back of the camera to select the type of bulb. Deciding the correct exposure for a flash picture took a little arithmetic. You divided the guide number associated with the size of flashbulb and the speed rating of the film by the distance to the subject to get aperture setting for the lens. Automatic electronic flash really simplified things when it came out in the 1970s.
The standard lens was the f/2.8-22 50mm coated Argus Cintagon, which was one of the first camera lenses to be designed with the aid of an electronic computer. Argus used the MIDAC computer located at the University of Michigan to do the calculations. The Cintagon was a tessar design and had a rare earth crown element. The lens was made in Argus's own optical shop.
Additional lenses were made for Argus by Steinheil, Munich, West Germany. They included an f/4.5-22 35 mm wide angle lens, an f/1.9-22 50 mm fast normal lens, and an f/3.5-22 100 mm telephoto lens. All were coated and were marked Argus Cintagon. The standard lens could take Series V drop in filters. The additional lenses took Series VI drop in filters. Leather cases were available for the lenses. Lens caps were not provided. A third party 58mm pinch type lens cap will fit the front of the lens hood on the 50 mm f/1.9 and 100 mm f/3.5 lenses. The slightly wider lens hood on the 35 mm f/4.5 lens takes a 60 mm pinch type lens cap.
A variable power viewfinder that fit in the hot shoe could be set for 35, 50 or 100 mm using a knob on the side of the viewfinder. The variable power finder also could be adjusted to correct for parallax. Because the finder took the place of the flasholder in the hot shoe, a flash extension bracket needed to be plugged into the viewfinder to let you use flash when you were using the auxiliary viewfinder.
The rangefinder was the coincident type with a round rangefinder spot in the center of the camera viewfinder. You centered the rangefinder spot on the subject, then focused the lens until both images in the spot coincided. You then composed your picture using either the camera viewfinder or the auxiliary view finder.
The lens mount is complicated by the need to couple the lens to the range finder with an external gear. Most makers of interchangeable lens range finder cameras used a cam in the lens and a cam follower in the camera to transmit distance information from the lens to the range finder. Argus used an external gear to transmit distance information to the range finder. To remove a lens the distance needed to be set to infinity, and the latch at the bottom of the lens mount pushed in while turning the lens mount about 45 degrees counter-clockwise, where the lens could be lifted straight out. To replace the lens you needed to align the red dots on the lens and lens mount, put the lens in the mount and turn clockwise until the lens latched.
The C44 can make a decent picture. The only US made rival to the C44 was the Kodak Signet 80. Imported 35 mm single lens reflex cameras, particularly the Pentax Spotmatic, took over the market for 35 mm cameras in the 1960s, and Argus stop making 35 mm cameras in the USA in 1966. Kodak stopped in 1969. Most of the West German camera makers closed in the 1970s. Only Leica survived as a maker of luxury cameras. East Germany continued to sell for $200 cameras that cost $600 to make, but that ended after the collapse of the communist economic fantasy in 1989.
A variable power viewfinder that fit in the hot shoe could be set for 35, 50 or 100 mm using a knob on the side of the viewfinder. The variable power finder also could be adjusted to correct for parallax. Because the finder took the place of the flasholder in the hot shoe, a flash extension bracket needed to be plugged into the viewfinder to let you use flash when you were using the auxiliary viewfinder.
The rangefinder was the coincident type with a round rangefinder spot in the center of the camera viewfinder. You centered the rangefinder spot on the subject, then focused the lens until both images in the spot coincided. You then composed your picture using either the camera viewfinder or the auxiliary view finder.
The lens mount is complicated by the need to couple the lens to the range finder with an external gear. Most makers of interchangeable lens range finder cameras used a cam in the lens and a cam follower in the camera to transmit distance information from the lens to the range finder. Argus used an external gear to transmit distance information to the range finder. To remove a lens the distance needed to be set to infinity, and the latch at the bottom of the lens mount pushed in while turning the lens mount about 45 degrees counter-clockwise, where the lens could be lifted straight out. To replace the lens you needed to align the red dots on the lens and lens mount, put the lens in the mount and turn clockwise until the lens latched.
The C44 can make a decent picture. The only US made rival to the C44 was the Kodak Signet 80. Imported 35 mm single lens reflex cameras, particularly the Pentax Spotmatic, took over the market for 35 mm cameras in the 1960s, and Argus stop making 35 mm cameras in the USA in 1966. Kodak stopped in 1969. Most of the West German camera makers closed in the 1970s. Only Leica survived as a maker of luxury cameras. East Germany continued to sell for $200 cameras that cost $600 to make, but that ended after the collapse of the communist economic fantasy in 1989.
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