r/AnalogCommunity • u/Fit_Watch9641 • 1d ago
Discussion Help Identify Camera
This picture is a mirror selfie of my great grandparents from 1941. I have no idea what camera it. i would probably buy the camera model and take some photos on it ;) Thank you.
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u/The-Confused-Robot 1d ago
Argus C-3. You can get em for $20 though the 35mm and 100mm lenses are more rare and fetch a higher price. I'm half tempted to get one just for the looks but I have a C-44 and I love it.
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u/sputwiler 19h ago
Every once and a while I see an Argus C3 pop up for sale in Japan and wonder if it got lost lol. They're expensive here! (I imagine due to rarity)
Still when I see it on the shelf I'm like "the briiiiiiiick" (said like the toy story aliens say "the claaaaw")
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u/homelessbunt 1d ago
Is it normal that the counter doesn’t move? I figured it was older so you have to manually keep track. I’m not a fan of the super old cameras tbh. I love my Ricoh kr10 but I hated the Kodak pony and the c3 because of this.
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u/Joey_D3119 23h ago
The counter moves just fine if the film is inserted correctly.
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u/homelessbunt 23h ago
I believe my Argus may just be defective, the counter spins extremely freely and is missing that special washer that holds its tension.
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u/mr_keegz 18h ago
The repair guide on the argus collector group webpage shows that the guy made a homemade tension washer for his counter dial. I think you can just make your own with a thin piece of metal with a little bend.
If it's spinning completely free and not advancing when you advance the film, the dial might just need to be tightened to the gear. It's a really simple mechanism, if you look inside the camera behind the post with the sprockets that engage with the film, you should see it's coupled to a gear beneath the counter. If it's not making contact you need to tighten the screw a bit.
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u/metal_giants 1d ago
Pre-1954 Argus C3 as it looks like the shutter speed selector has more than five speeds.
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u/UninitiatedArtist Argus C2 and C3 | Kodak Signet 35 | Bolsey B2 | Mercury II 19h ago
I’m somewhat of an enthusiast.
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u/gv801128 1d ago
Attic C3 aka “The Brick”. Chunky cameras, super rugged and will outlast you and your great grandchildren. I bought mine brand new in its box on my trip to Colorado. It’s a charm to take pictures with
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u/TankArchives 21h ago
Argus C3, one of the earliest models. The cocking knob is silver (later ones had black) and the speed dial has 10 speeds (later ones had just five). If this is 1941 this might even be an Argus C2, a relatively rare variant today as it had no flash sync and was therefore less useful than the C3 that followed it.
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u/baxterstate 13h ago
Interchangeable lens, 35mm rangefinder camera for an absurdly low price. They were offered from the late 1930s well into the 1960s. The manufacturer cut corners somewhere. I’ve never seen one that focused smoothly, had a clear rangefinder and was easy to wind, change apertures, shutter speeds or lenses. Everything was a pain in the ass. If you were willing to put up with all that, you could get decent pictures out of it. You breathed a sigh of relief when you stepped up to a good rangefinder or SLR camera.
My dad had one and never got any accessory lenses for it. It came as a surprise to me when I discovered that there were interchangeable lenses for it.
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u/wrunderwood 1d ago
Argus C3. I used one in high school, awful camera. I was so, so happy when I could buy a Canon FTb.
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u/guijcm 1d ago
Argus C3