Argus C3 series cameras

[Niner]

If you look at the camera pages on facebook somebody is always showing off their C3 "brick". Usually the standard version ..but the series lasted from before WWII until the 60's and the Argus C series was the most produced line of all times.... at least in the US. The line had many variations, even though to the casual glance they all looked the same. I took some photos to illustrate a few differences from a camera made not long after WWII and one called the "matchmatic" made in 1964 if I'm reading the code right.

The cocking buttons were backwards to each other as to cock or fire. The shutter release was a narrow tower on the older model and a mushroom on the newer. The Newer model had a bracket for light meter that was specific to the camera in setting the shutter and aperture. The lenses were not set up for changing aperture the same way and the matchmatic had numbers that related only to the attachable meter and not the standard opening numbers. The shutter speed dial had regular number selections on the older model and something like zone readings on the other to increase or decrease the shutter speed.

There are people that are serious collectors of the Argus C series and know way more about the differences that were made over the years than a casually interested person such as my self will ever know or appreciate.