Argus A-four (1953-1956)

The Argus A-four is an inexpensive camera that works and looks a little like the Kodak Pony 135. The viewfinder is a reverse galilean type. The lens is a coated Argus Cintar f/3.5 44mm triplet with front cell focusing. Aperture settings (f/3.5 to f/22) are on the top of the lens. The shutter is a set and release, rim-set leaf shutter with speeds of 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200 second plus bulb. For ordinary sunny daylight pictures there are shutter speed reminders on the bottom of the lens: red for black and white film (1/100) and yellow for color film (1/50), and there is a black reminder for flash (1/25). The aperture scale on the top of the lens is color coded for sunny daylight settings with red for black and white (f/8) and yellow for color (between f/5.6 and f/8). The shutter was made by AGC in Calmbach, West Germany. The back comes off for loading film. The exposure counter is manually set to the number of pictures on the roll and counts down to show the number of exposures left. To take a picture you cock the shutter by moving the lever on the top of the lens and press the shutter release lever on the side of the lens. To advance the film for the next picture you rotate the wind knob on the top right. The shutter release and the film advance are interlocked to prevent double exposures or skipped frames. When you reached the end of the roll you rewound the film by pressing the chrome lever on the back and rotating the rewind knob on the top left. The lens takes a slip-on 1-3/16" (30mm) Series V filter adapter.

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Back

The camera really was a late bloomer because Kodak had the similar Pony 135 out three years before Argus brought out the A-4.