Argus C44R (1958-1962)

The C44R is an updated C44 (see the post dated November 29, 2018) with a thumb lever advance instead of a knob. The thumb lever is a little faster to use and a little easier on the fingers than the knob. It takes roughly one and a half strokes to advance the film and cock the shutter. The shutters are slightly different on the two models. The shutter speeds on the older, knob-wind version of the camera are 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/300, while the shutter speeds on this newer, thumb lever advance camera are 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and 1/300. Another change from the C44 is that you can couple a CM-2 light meter onto the shutter speed knob of the C-44R. Introduced in 1958 and discontinued in 1962, the C44R came in two versions: one with a short viewfinder housing and one with a long viewfinder housing. The advertised price was about one hundred dollars (close in buying power to a thousand of today's depreciated dollars). I do not have production numbers. The nearest equivalent camera that was made in the USA would be the Kodak Signet 80.

Front (First Version with 50 mm f/2.8 Lens)

Back (First Version)

Front (Second Version - with f/1.9 50 mm lens)

Back (Second Version)

The C44R took the same lenses as the C44.  The auxiliary turret viewfinder for the C44R was made in Lichtenstein.  Rotating the front set the field of view for a 35 mm, 50 mm or 100 mm lens.  A dial on the back could be set to the subject distance to correct for parallax/  The viewfinder fit in the flash shoe and had a socket for a flash extension.  I think this is the nicest of the Argus auxiliary viewfinders.

Argus Turret Viewfinder Front

Argus Turret Viewfinder Back

The C44R and the C33 used the same selenium cell CM-2 light meter.  You removed the trim button on the shutter speed dial and attached the light meter to couple it to the shutter speed dial.  The shutter speeds could be read where the meter attached to the shutter speed dial and the meter needle indicated the lens aperture.  The shutter speeds from 1/4 second and 1 second were in red to indicate that they were available only on the C33.  The meter could be set for film speeds from 2.5 to 1250.

CM-2 Light Meter