Argus C3

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The Camera

the Argus C3 the Argus C3

These little metal box rangefinders are ubiquitous, owing to their prestigious place among the best selling cameras of all time. They are called "the brick" and you can see why: that's what they are, basically a metal brick or lunchbox with some camera bits stuffed inside and poking out of them. I actually have two of these, which I bought from the the son of a couple who had passed away that no doubt purchased a pair of them to take snapshots on vacation. They're my oldest 35mm cameras and among the hardest to use, owing to the stiff controls (probably just an age thing), lack of a built-in light meter (not really an issue), and extremely tiny rangefinder. Still, I was impressed to see how acceptable the photos they produced were, 80+ years after the camera's introduction in 1939. Given how cheap, indestructable, and readily available these are, I'd say it's still worth having one, but probably not the easiest introduction to analog photography. Be warned if you do find one of these cameras and want to use it-- the rangefinder likely needs to be calibrated after a long time without using it. You can find instructions for that procedure online, but it's really quite easy to do.

Photos

This is the only roll I've shot (so far) on one of my C3s, which I consider more novelty/collectors items than a camera I would use regularly. They aren't the greatest but they show at least that you can get decent results with a camera this old and brick-like.

Frozen Vine
A vine growing on an exterior structure, covered in snow
Frozen Sign
A combination street sign/stop sign, covered in snow
Egress
An egress window in the snow. The head of a mannequin is posed hauntingly in the window
Bird Feeder
A bird feeder covered in snow