Argus 40 (1950-1954)

The Argus 40 was made by Argus Cameras, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan, from 1950 to 1954. According to the date of manufacture printed on the inside of the camera, this example was made in April, 1953. The 40 came in several minor variations. The first ones did not have a name on the front (and were known as the "Model Argoflex"), some were marked "Argoflex" with no number, and the last ones were marked "Argus 40."

Front

Right

Back

Left

Top

With Flash

The viewfinder is a waist level brilliant viewfinder. A brilliant viewfinder consists of two positive lenses and a diagonal mirror. The image in the viewfinder is right side up, but reversed left to right. It is brighter than the image on a ground glass in a reflex viewfinder, but it does not show whether the camera is in focus. The taking lens is a coated Argus Varex f/4.5-22 75mm Anastigmat triplet lens with front cell focusing. The lens looks like the ones on the E, EM and EF. This is a scale focusing camera. The photographer estimated or measured the distance to the subject and set the distance on the lens. If the photographer set the distance to 25 ft. and the aperture to f/8 (both marked in red), the depth of field is great enough for subjects beyond 12 ft. to be in focus. The shutter is a self setting leaf shutter with speeds of 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/150 second plus bulb. As reminders, the 100 setting is marked red for black and white film on sunny days and the 25 is green for flash. The camera has a tripod socket on the bottom and provision for a cable release on the shutter. The shutter is synchronized for flash bulbs. After the shutter button is pressed the film has to be advanced before the button can be pressed again, to prevent accidental double exposures. The photographer can make a deliberate double exposure (or try again with the same picture if the flash failed to fire) by moving a small lever next to the shutter button. The Argus 76 flasholder plugs into the left side of the camera. The pins on the Argoflex 40 do not match the pins on the C3; therefore, a photographer can not use the same flasholder for both cameras. The camera takes 12 pictures on a roll of 620 film and has the familiar little red window on the back. The photographer spaces the pictures on the film by looking through the window at the picture numbers printed on the backing paper. The list price in 1950 was $33.95 (equivalent in purchasing power to $360 in 2019).

The 40 was followed by the simplified Argus Super Seventy-Five, which had a focusing lens, three selectable apertures and a single shutter speed (https://fourelementsinthreegroups.blogspot.com/2019/09/argus-super-seventy-five-1954-1958.html).