Argus Model A (1)

[Robert Ross]

Hi All

Today,I purchased an Argus A (1) with instruction manual. It was about to be discarded at an almost finished estate sale.

To be honest, I didn't expect it to function...boy was I wrong. Everything works on it..the rear cover is a bear to open with its propriety latch mechanism..some adjustment made it much better and still light tight.

Total cost if you don't count the fuel to get there....$5.00

The Bakelite body is still uncracked, the lens is clear, and the aper. and speeds look pretty close.

Another piece of history saved from the landfill !!!!!

Robert

[photax]

Hi Robert,

This ia a beautiful camera ! And purchased at good terms. I got one in my collection. Does yours also have some Art-Deco patterns at the rear panel ?

MIK

[Robert Ross]

Hi Mik

Yes, it does have some interesting edge to edge scroll work on the rear cover..a definite addition to the camera.

I am surprised at the level of finish and durability on this camera..a photographic "timex" if you will.

Anxious to run several rolls of film through it for a test drive....

Robert

[PeterW]

I also have an Argus A which I will keep despite reducing my collection to concentrate on a few makes of European cameras.

I will keep it because to my mind it's a wonderful example of camera design that started with no pre-conceived ideas about how things should be done.

It helped that the company that made it, IRC, had considerable experience in moulding Bakelite so designing the body mouldings was no problem.

After that it's almost as if the designer or designers thought, "OK, forget what other people have done, we need to do this and this so what's the simplest way to do it that will make the camera easy to produce, easy to assemble and reliable so we can sell it at an attractive price?"

When I got it I put only one roll of film through it because I was very disappointed with the lens performance. The pictures were nowhere near as sharp as pictures I've seen on the internet taken with similar cameras.

Looking more closely, there are tell-tale marks which suggest that someone more used to dealing with heavy industrial machinery took the lens apart using a big screwdriver and a hammer. Maybe he didn't get it reassembled correctly.

Even so, I will keep it to display as a landmark, benchmark or any other word you want to use to denote a camera that marked a turning point in both design and construction.

PeterW