Film Tutorial #12 Argus C3 timeline 

Very cool hope you enjoy it well.

Thank you for the valuable information. Do you shoot with any of them? I really enjoy putting film through my C3.

@@tlangphoto You are most welcome. Yes, I have shot at least one roll through all but five of them so far. It’s been a while, but I plan to test the rest of them eventually. Almost 100% B&W, but I did shoot a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 with my 1965 Standard C3. For B&W, a lot of it has been Arista 100, and some classic Tri-X, but I really can recommend Kodak T-Max 400 speed, pull-processed 1 or 2 stops. That seems to make very nice fine-grained images.

The C3 is quite literally the brick foundation that 35mm photography was built on. :)

Very cool I’m glad you came across my videos!

They really are so much fun to use. What is your go to film?

@@tlangphoto I like to use 400 speed film in these just because I mostly use it on hikes for landscape shots and we live in a cloudy and tree covered area, but Fuji 400 works great in it, portra is a little more forgiving. My absolute favorite film in general is portra 800 because it’s really not that grainy and the colors are incredible and it lets me use the full aperture range on my FD lenses.

If it has the logo on the front and no hot shoe that is indeed very strange

Do you have a link for the replacement leathers? I have some upcoming projects with Some Argus cameras, it might be nice to customize one.

@@tlangphoto hey guess what I got a Argus C3 rangefinder the one without the hot shoe and without the Argus logo on it I basically got the 1940s version I'm thinking about getting the replacement leather for it and they make the version without the Argus logo on it and it has the dial on the back

Glad it was helpful!

You are correct, Thank you for the information. How many Argus camera do you own?

@@tlangphoto ~16 or so: A, AF, A2B, B, C3, C3 standard, C3 Matchmatic, CC, Argoflex E & EF, C-twenty, C4, C44r, Autronic, SLR, & some argus/cosina.

They are fantastic! Do you own any yourself?

Travis Lang Not yet, almost every other day I try to search for one. We are in Asia, here is easier to get Japanese cameras. Any recommendations?

Fuji cameras are in pretty large supply and I have been told they are reasonably priced.

very correct, Good catch. my brain was stuck in the current day when I recorded this video.

Any model produced after 1946 will have a coated lens group so that should render best with todays current films available. But really I don't think there is a bad version of the C3. they are very durable and mechanically simple.

@@tlangphoto Thank you for the response, I just won one off a Goodwill Auction, $17 total cost including shipping, it appears to match closest to the second camera you showed. thanks!

The 50mm f/3.5 Cintar lens went through several variations. I have disassembled and serviced more than 22 of these lenses, from cameras spanning 1938-1965. I have shot rolls of film through most of these lenses. There is a lot of variability in lens quality, even after servicing and resetting the focus. I will say that so far, in my collection, the post-WWII lenses are generally better than the pre-WWII ones. The 1945-46 variant is special, because that variant includes both coated and uncoated versions, and has an 11-blade iris diaphragm, compared to 10 blades for all other variants, before and after. I have a 1950 C3 and a 1955 C3 whose lenses are very good; but the 1945-46 variants seem to be the best, on average, and overall.

It is a fairly easy fix, I would check some other videos on RU-vid showing how to tear down and reassemble the C3

Sounds interesting, what is the serial number on your camera?

@@tlangphoto 1016447

@@tlangphoto it also has the mushroom cap

@@dylanleasure2833 That serial number indicates it was manufactured in 1947, going from memory. The cold shoe came in around 1954.

Yes, that is correct but the USA's involvement did not start until December 7th, 1941. Argus paused their camera production sometime after that date to shift over to war time production of optics for naval ships and weapons systems to help with the war effort. after the wars end they transitioned back into camera production but used many existing pre-war stock camera parts on their new post war cameras. It was in interesting time in American history as well as the history of this Michigan based camera company. I would highly suggest looking into the story of the Argus camera company.

Yes, that is correct but the USA's involvement did not start until December 7th, 1941. Argus paused their camera production sometime after that date to shift over to war time production of optics for naval ships and weapons systems to help with the war effort. after the wars end they transitioned back into camera production but used many existing pre-war stock camera parts on their new post war cameras. It was in interesting time in American history as well as the history of this Michigan based camera company. I would highly suggest looking into the story of the Argus camera company.