Argus C3 Film Camera History

ArgusC3.jpeg

Brendan Grace

April 5, 2021

Welcome to the 30’s! Even though there is a depression, we have a booming camera!

The Argus C3 was one of the most revolutionary cameras for its time and it remains the best selling American camera ever made to this date. Argus started in Ann Arbor, Michigan and manufactured their cameras out of Ann Arbor as well. This camera was produced for over 20 years starting in 1939 1. The reason this camera did so well during its time was because of its affordable price, the box-like design, and a quality camera that is easy to fix. The camera was made out of bakelite and metal framings and the price was set around $10 2. and could be afforded by a lower to middle class family during its release. This 35mm film camera is equipped with a rangefinder, a f3.5Argus Cintar 50mm lens, and a focus of 3ft up to 100ft or infinity 3. At one point the camera had a unique split image rangefinder and interchangeable lenses. The price of the Argus was raised to $25 during its time of production because of the increased and constant popularity, also a camera with a split rangefinder and interchangeable lenses for that price was unheard of. When the United states started WWII the camera became popular on the battlefield and many pictures from this time were taken on an Argus C3. The camera was designed by a man named Gustave Fassin who had designed Argus's previous camera 4. It’s unique design gave the camera “The Brick” nickname and many people liked the small, light, sharp corner design that the Argus C3 had.  

  1. Argus C3 Wiki http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Argus_C3↩

  2. Argus C-series (1938-1966) Mike Eckman https://www.mikeeckman.com/2019/08/argus-c-series-1938-1966/↩

  3. Argus C3 Wiki↩

  4. Argus C-series (1938-1966) Mike Eckman↩

Individual Project - Final Presentation.pdf
Argus 35mm Film Camera