82-Year-Old Argus C-3 35mm Rangefinder Camera: SURVIVOR Cameras, an In Depth Review Part TWO.

August  19, 2021

#435

Gentle reader,

This is part two of a four part series. Part one can be read here:

The Robb Collections: Found: Fully Working 60-Year-Old Petri 7 35mm Rangefinder Camera. It and Three Other SURVIVOR Cameras an In Depth Review Part One.

Since I have limited room in my now tiny collection, I chose the ONE camera which was NOT given to me to pass on to someone else, via eBay. Starting on August 22, 2021 at 9:00 PM Eastern or 6:00 PM Pacific time, THIS camera will be for sale at no reserve on eBay. Items for sale by rfcollectin | eBay

Now, this camera, an Argus C-3, the venerable "Brick" is a VERY early model, in fact it is the 4,216th one which was made, all the way back in 1939! It is 82 years old and works perfectly!

Here it is, posing with the 1961 (60-year-old) Kuribayashi Petri 7 which has taken it's place in my "Gifts only" cameras collection.

There were more than one MILLION Argus C-3 cameras made in several variations. The newer they are, the less adjustability the have. Here are three variations I once had including this one:

There was a pink tint to the white background which I could not get rid of, so I converted the photo to black and white. 

The left one's leather covering is grey. Note there is only one control on the front and a large addition to the top which includes a light meter.

The middle one's leather was beige or light tan. It has the same number of controls as the 1939 model, but only five shutter speed choices to the originals ten. It has a shoe mounted light meter which one reads and sets the speed by. 

And here it is. I did not know how old it was until I discovered the Argus Collectors Group website many years ago.

I will explain each piece and control of the camera. My parents had one as were were kids, I do not know from when.

This is the left side. Note the patina on some of the metal pieces. One opens the camera's back by pressing hard with a finger on the raised circle of the shiny square metal piece.
The right side. I am referring to as if one was holding the camera with the lens facing away from themselves.
The back, with the viewfinder hole on the left, and the rangefinder hole on the right. The latter is used to focus the camera.
The top. Left knob is for winding the film. I believe the round device is a cover over the rangefinder adjustment screw(s). 

The numbered dial is the film counter. When one turns the left dial, the film's sprocket holes are counted and the six-sided device moves a little. It stops the film when one frame has been wound. 

The last thing is the shutter button, top right. It has a little locking device on it.

The bottom. The dial is for rewinding the film. To release the film for rewinding, one presses the little nail head shaped device (below) which is the one that counts the sprocket holes. 

The round metal disc on the right is the tripod socket with the standard 1/4" threaded hole. The small black six-sided device holds the camera level when on it's "feet" comprised of the two round devices.

The back cover opened. The film take-up spool is on the left in the chamber. The film fits in the right hole. 

One pulls the the film rewind knob downward to allow the film cartridge to be inserted or removed. 

Note the two sprockets (with teeth) which transport the film during winding. As noted above, the little six-sided device (sticking up from the top) is what counts the film's movement and is also pressed to release it for rewinding. 

In the dark hole in the middle is the back of the shutter.

Here is the serial number. They started counting at 10001.
Here are the (left) viewfinder hole and (right) rangefinder hole. Note the blue tint in the right hole. The bottom half of the image seen through this window is blue tinted. The top half is clear.

To focus a rangefinder camera, one looks for a something vertical in the subject area. For instance, the side of a face. By rotating the rangefinder ring OR lens' body, one watches and when the face's edge (or other vertical subject) aligns with it's lower (blue tinted) half in the window, the camera is in focus.

Here is the roll of film I found in the Petri 7 camera when I opened it. It is obvious how the film lines up exactly with the sprocket teeth on the roller and passes it by the shutter.
If one bought the deluxe Argus C-3 kit, it came with a flash which used flash bulbs and plugged into the two holes below on the left side of the camera.

Above is an aftermarket adapter which plugs into those two holes and allows one to use a separate flash or even many in a studio setup by plugging their flash's cord into the round socket opposite the two prongs.


Here is the flash adapter in place. One can now see the PC socket which the flash's cord would plug into. When the shutter opens, a circuit is closed inside the camera, attached to those metal holes. That fires any flash plugged (electrically) into those holes, or via the adapter.
Most major camera companies have names for their lenses. Last Century, Argus lenses were called Cintar. 

This lens' maximum opening is f3.5. The minimum is f18. The lower the number, the wider the opening. 

After World War II, the number was changed to F16 to make worldwide parity. 

To open or close the aperture (inside the lens) one used their fingers to rotate the ring with the two metal pegs sticking out of it. 

This is the shutter speed dial. The fastest speed is 1/300th of a second. The slowest is 1/5th of a second. 

Both shutter speed and aperture opening combined allow one to make correct exposures.

For an action shot, a wide open aperture and fast shutter speed is required to stop the action.

To show speed, a narrow aperture and slow shutter speed would blur a moving subject's movement.

To make the subject, say a person or row of people, in focus, but the background blurry, again, a wide open aperture and fast shutter speed.

To make everything from say three feet (one meter) in front of you to the back of a room (or field or valley, for example) ALL in focus, the smallest aperture and correspondingly slow shutter speed (and a tripod) are needed.

Note the gear teeth on the range finder. Nowadays, it is one word. Behind the round disc is another gear and as you can see there are teeth on the lens as well.

One rotates the rangefinder OR the lens body itself while looking through the rangefinder hole (window) on the back of the camera. The lower portion of what one is seeing is blue tinted, the upper half is not. Once both halves are aligned, the camera is in focus.

Then one switches their eye to the left hole (window) to compose the photo and makes the shot.

I was able to find this tiny filter which fits the Cintar lens. It is supposed to eliminate haze in the air and make summer photos more sharp.
And here it is, complete and ready to be packed off to the new owner.

Years later, (but for quite a while when C-3s were still selling) Argus made more sleek looking (and expensive) cameras. Like this C-forty-four. Prior to this was a C-4 which did not have interchangeable lenses like this one does. Note that there are only five speeds, plus B which holds the shutter open until you release the button.


This is an even fancier C-forty-four which belonged to my step-daughter's grandfather on their father's side. It came with all three lenses plus cases for all and the device on top which one uses to see what each lens "sees" by rotating the inner lenses. 

For further articles on cameras, collecting and using them and digital photography plus making budget studios, links are here:



I hope that you enjoyed reading and learning about this very old camera. Every camera, including the one(s) in your cell phone, works the same. Aperture, shutter speed and focus. But all done automatically and NO film needed.

Scott
August 19, 2021
#435





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Found: Fully Working 60-Year-Old Petri 7 35mm Rangefinder Camera. It and Three Other SURVIVOR Cameras an In Depth Review Part One.

August 19, 2021

#434

Gentle reader,

My wife, Nancy, is awesome. Not that you needed to know that. But, I have been blissfully married to her for more than twenty-five years, without a single fight. She gets me. And I her.

When you get to a certain point in a marriage, or any long term relationship, it makes sense to let the other suggest or even pick out gifts they would like to have for upcoming events, birthdays, Christmas, you get it.

That way, everybody is happy. Each of our interests have changed a number of times over the years. And sometimes it's difficult to keep track of what people's interests are.

With that being said, we visited an antiques store in Manassas, VA prior to my birthday. She encouraged me to pick out things I liked. 

Since I no longer collect many things, especially cameras, when I spied the only camera they had, below, I was surprised at my feelings when I opened the "ever-ready" leather case, saw what it was, removed the lens cap, held it to my eye and tried it out. 

It STILL worked!

My eBay "name" is "rfcollectin". No secret there. I used to collect rangefinder-focused film cameras. I had HUNDREDS of them over many years of collecting.

Above are the four vintage "survivor" 35mm film cameras I will be covering in this series. One sixty-year-old Japanese, one eighty-two-year-old American, and two Germans, one from the 1950's and one from the early 1970's. Three were gifts from loved ones who upon finding out that I'd begun to collect cameras, went out of their way to give them to me.
ALL four are completely functional, every aspect and part which moves physically or with electrons, still works.
Above and below are the two cameras reviewed and compared in the first two articles.
A first-year (1939) produced, Argus C-3, the venerable "Brick" of which more than one million were made, on the left. It is the only vintage camera I own which I bought myself.
And a 1961 Kuribayashi Petri Seven 1.8, the newest camera (505th) to join my now tiny collection. It, being my newest is the focus of this first article.
Eye to eye. Quite a difference between 1939 and 1961 technology.
The front and rear of the leather "ever-ready" case which has protected it for sixty years.
The knurled screw that holds the case by screwing it into the 1/4" tripod socket hole. I use a loose screw to prop up lens-heavy cameras for photos.
Case open, often-lost, slip-on metal lens cap is still there.
Case fully removed as well as the cap. Aside from the lens, the BEST thing this cap (and closed case) did was keep light away from the selenium (solar powered) light meter surrounding the lens.
On my birthday, I was showing the camera to the youngest grandkids. We pretended to make "selfies" with it. Gianna asked if we were actually making pictures. "Well, honey, if it had film in it, yes." To my utter surprise it DID have film in it! How old it is and is it still viable? I'm not willing to spend twenty dollars to find out.
The flat piece of metal (atop vertical rectangular piece) on the left end of the camera is pushed upward to open the film compartment.
The right end of the camera.
I just found the manual online. So it will tell me what the < on the otherwise unadorned top is for.
I also don't recall what MVE stands for. Tripod socket has seen some action. Little button in shallow indentation is pressed to allow film to be rewound.
Really outstanding condition.
I, of course, opened the back before trying rewinding to see if it had film. Again, we don't know if it is or was viable after unknown years inside the camera.
Above the smaller rectangle in the viewfinder is the rangefinder "patch". 
Below, you can see if from the front (small yellow rectangle) inside green filtered glass.
To focus a rangefinder camera, one looks (in the viewfinder) for a vertical line in the scene, rotating the lens (more on this below) one aligns the two disparate vertical lines (above and below central patch) in the center of the scene. When aligned, the subject is in focus.
Silver knurled knob, above, is what one moves to focus the lens.
A closer look at the many "bubbles" which diffuse the light onto the selenium light meter. It was called "Circle-Eye" by some cameras makers back in the day.
A closer look at the focus lever/knob and the PC socket for camera flash cord.
Little silver colored lever X----- -----M switches between electronic (X) flash or flash bulbs (M) camera settings.
The other lever, with a tiny knurled knob on it is the self-timer lever, which also STILL works.
Silver ring with numbers, 500, 250, etc. is the shutter speed ring. Small window (on the left edge) shows the film speed setting. Fastest then was ISO/ASA 200 speed.
Below that, is the Aperture Setting ring. F1.8 is wide open, each setting (higher number=smaller opening) lets in 50% less light.
Bottom ring of numbers are metric and western distance scales showing how far away your subject is.
These three shots are of a later, 7 S, model I had years ago. It has a dent above the viewfinder, the "Circle Eye" meter and self timer no longer worked. The rangefinder patch is a diamond instead of a rectangle.
There are other differences I can discern at a glance on the lens and the addition of an Under Over exposed meter on the top of the camera.
A larger shutter button as well as a different type of shot counter and the winding lever comes out of the back rather than on top of the camera. Later on there was a model 7 S II, which I did not have one of.

NEXT article will be on the 1949 Argus C-3 camera. My parents had one when we were growing up. Here is a photo of me likely shot with it.
At five, I was really proud of my twin cap guns and holsters. Roy Rodgers (a signing cowboy/actor long before lending his name to the fast food restaurants) was my hero.

Here are links to two articles which list in chronological order, EVERY article I have written on cameras, and those related to cameras and photography and collecting thereof.



Thank you so much for taking the time to read my humble blog. Your kind words and comments are welcome and heart warming.

Scott
August 19, 2021
#434

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Adidas Fame and International Appeal Cannot Be Denied. Found: Adidas Tokio Solar HM, A Collaboration with Japanese Firms

August 18, 2021

#433

Gentle reader,

I first wrote about Adidas way back in 2015. My first encounter with them was in the 1960's when my dad and the dad next door were both Presbyterian ministers teaching and seeking their doctoral degrees at the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California, which is located in Marin County across the Golden Gate Bridge from the City.

Davy, next door, and I were best of friends. His dad was a hiker and runner. The latter uncommon then. He had the coolest "tennis shoes" (which was the generic name then and there, for sneakers of any kind) they were white with blue "racing stripes" on them. I coveted a pair of my own. 

I mentioned it to my aunt, our only one, one time she came to visit and she gave me twenty dollars(!) which is almost $172.00 today, to buy some.

Davy and I set out to look for a shoe store which sold them and I found them, $19.95 was the price. I happily paid it.

I wrote about that and the surprising result of my wearing them to school here: The Robb Collections: I was an elementary school trendsetter! ADIDAS and driving shoes collection.

Here is what they looked like. Back then, Adidas were built in Yugoslavia, and these of kangaroo skin. Truly international shoes.
Unlike the later-made blue-striped ones shown above, they had these soles. They were indoor soccer (football) shoes. 
But that is not what I have invited you here to read about. Prior to my 65th birthday* my wife and I were walking in the local outlet mall and entered the Adidas store. I immediately was drawn to these:
Well, technically, not these, but a smaller pair. They did not have my size in stock. You know what they say about men with big feet, big shoes! HAH! You thought I was going there, I keep these pages PG. 

* Did you know that you are actually older than you thought? It takes the Earth 365 days and eight hours to transit the Sun. Thus, every fourth year is a "Leap" year a day is added to the calendar: February 29th, making the year 366 days long. Taking that into consideration, I was 65 years and 16 DAYS old on my birthday the other day.
These three photos and many below are all courtesy of Adidas.

Here is the box's label on the box of size thirteen Adidas Tokio Solar HM running shoes:
I am on a fixed budget and even if I weren't, I would NEVER pay that kind of money for something I wear. I am half-Scottish, after all. We Scots are tight with our purses.

The ones the outlet store had were $90.00, my wife does well with her job and loves to buy things for me. I was able to track down this pair on eBay for $85.00.


This is one of two web sites I found with the story behind these shoes and some others as well. Here is a link to the other:


A quote from the Hypebeast site, also about these shoes: 

"HUMAN MADE and adidas Originals are continuing their collaborative efforts with the release of an entirely new sneaker, the Tokio Solar HM, and NIGO‘s take on a velcro strap-equipped Stan Smith-esque shoe, dubbed the UNOFCL.

The shoes and accompanying apparel collection draw inspiration from NIGO’s personal archive and adidas’ vintage sporting heritage. It follows on from the recently-released collaboration that brought colorful takes on the Rivalry, Stan Smith, and Campus silhouettes, this time around opting for a collection that’s far less bright bar one pair of shoes.

adidas Originals’ archive also played a part in the design of the Tokio Solar HM, which takes design cues from the Tokio trainer that was developed for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. It’s made from Primeknit and is overlayed with suede panels to give the sneaker a retro feel, while zig-zag-cut Three Stripes in leather and an “X” made out of the same leather appear on the mid panel and heel, respectively."

This Adidas shirt features the Human Made logo combined with the famous "three stripes".

And now, some more photos of my green Adidas Tokio Solar HM running shoes.
I was surprised to find the Continental Tires loge on the soles. For years Adidas collaborated with Goodyear Tires making driving shoes with Goodyear soles on them.




The crossed stripes remind me of Scotland's flag.

The white area in the center is hollow, while I do not run, I have no doubt that these would do well at that task.

The following shoe colors will be coming out soon. Images courtesy of Adidas.

Now those resemble the Scottish flag even more so, being blue.

I also found this solo image of another possible release. Very colorful. I have this vintage pair of even more colorful Adidas.

They are even colorful on the soles. I have one other pair, albeit, not Adidas, which are also colorful. Pardon the dirt, but I actually wear my sneakers.


Polo, by Ralph Lauren, these are driving shoes. Note the sole wraps up around the heel, mimicking the shape of our heels. This is to grip the car's floor while working the pedals.
Looking like they should have spikes in them, the thick red pads aid in gripping the clutch and brake pedals while performing spirited driving, or racing on a course.

I thank you for taking the time to read my humble blog. Below are links to previous articles I have written about my unplanned collection of sneakers.




While some of my sneakers were bought new, the vast majority were thrift store finds. I never set out to collect sneakers, it just happened. 

I have given away some, re-donated others and sold a few pair I rarely wore on eBay. So, the rack has space on it now.

Scott 
August 18, 2021
#433
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Review of AIYIMA T2 6K4 Tube Preamplifier Can this Solid Little Asian Beauty Sing?

  March 20, 2024 #477 Gentle reader, This video takes over from the previous one here:  The Robb Collections: UPDATE Inexpensive Chinese-Mad...