The Argus and I

[Stephanie Brim]

I got the Argus C3 in the mail and I must say that I am extremely impressed with the build quality of the thing. It's heavy and it really does look like a brick, but the thing seems sturdier than even my Nikon. The lens is nice and clear, the rangefinder is very nice, and the viewfinder, while small, is decently easy to use. The camera itself is in very, very good cosmetic shape and looks almost mint except for a bit of dirt. The insides are very clean. Very nice camera.

I have done some testing and found a few things, however. The thing was fine until I opened the film hatch and now the back won't stay closed. I have it Duck Taped and now it's light tight. The other thing is that the slow speeds seem to be very, very slow...anything under 1/30th is unusable at this time. The rangefinder is also a bit stiff, but this was expected and can probably be dealt with. I'll have to have the film developed but all in all it seems to be working specimin that needs some TLC.

I'm going to send it to someone (who was it who offered?) for CLA sometime, probably after the film is developed that I have in it right now. I'm so excited to use it more that I may take it to the wedding we're going to this Sunday, problems and all, and take a few shots.

Thanks to Wayne for the camera! 😀

 

[richiedcruz]

I have a couple of C3's, too, and find that 1/30 is about the slowest realistic speed that you can expect out of them. Any longer, and I just use the bulb setting and a cable release. The film latches of C3's usually don't give much trouble. What you have to do is push down on the metal tab of the body and get it under the chrome latch part on the door. If either is out of alignment, it should not be too difficult to bend them back into alignment.

Hope that helps,
Richie

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Thanks!

Mine is an older model C3 and, unless I'm mistaken and just haven't found it yet, there is no bulb. I could just not be seeing it, though.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Mmmkay...me stupid and didn't see that before. I also just now read it.

I'm slow.