Argus Camera ARGUS A2 manual Hand-Held Or Accessory-Shoe Mounted Rangefinder, Flash Guns

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quarter of the way around the inside rim and cut it off. Try to fit it on the lens mount. Continue this process of unwrapping and trying until the lens cap fits snugly. Use the razor to trim the excess plastic and tape, and admire your new lens cap! If making a lens cap for the pre-war Argus A2B and A2F, make small notches in the lens cap to accommodate the screws in the face plate.

Hand-Held Or Accessory-Shoe Mounted Rangefinder

These devices measure the distance between the camera and the object being photographed. They are used to ensure that your subject appears in focus. While they were popular from the 30’s to the 50’s, SLR cameras and cameras with coupled rangefinders made them unnecessary.

Rangefinders are more practical on the Argus AF and A2F with their variable focus. Companies that manufactured rangefinders for accessory shoes include Watameter, Telex, Hugo Meyer, Rainbow, Waltz, and Ideal. They often had a clip which sat in a camera’s accessory shoe.

Flash Guns

The main selling point of the Argus AA and FA was their ability to use flash. While this does not seem fantastic to us now, it was revolutionary at the time of the introduction of the AA. The flashbulb had only been invented a few years earlier; many photographers still used dirty and dangerous flash powder. Candid indoor pictures, night shots, and flash fill photography all suddenly became possible with the introduction of flash-synchronized cameras like the Argus AA. At the time, it was a major step for amateur photography.

Unfortunately, flashbulb photography now has several distinct disadvantages. Flashbulbs are no longer widely manufactured, and while they are not rare or even uncommon, they soon will be. Even those that can still be found are aging and becoming less reliable. Flash bulbs require large flash guns and produce much more light than electronic flashes, making them much more intrusive for public use. Like the once- common vacuum tube, the flashbulb belongs to that growing family of self-consuming technologies that will soon join the dinosaurs.

When acquiring a flash for your Argus camera, make certain that you purchase a flash that will fit your camera. The Argus AA uses a flash gun whose flash posts are 3/4ths of an inch apart (center to center). This flash is also used with the Argus C3.

The Argus FA uses a special flash however, that is not compatible with the Argus

AAor C3. For a flash to fit the Argus FA, the flash posts must be 1.2 inches apart (center to center).

There is one flash accessory that can be used with any Argus camera. When flashbulbs first became popular, many cameras could not be easily adapted for use with a flash. Several companies tried to capitalize on this by making flash adapters that would screw into a generic Cable Release Socket and synchronize the camera shutter with a flash gun. These adapters can still be found. They do, however, require a bit of fine tuning and this will consume some of your precious supply of flashbulbs.

On a final note, be aware that due to considerable timing differences an electronic flash cannot just be connected to a camera that expects flashbulbs. Modern electronic flashes cannot be used with a flashbulb camera without timing alterations to the camera.

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Contents Page Page Preface Page Table of Contents Why the Argus A/A2 Camera? May History Page Page Page October Models And Variations Argus a Lens Speed f/4.5Lens Speed f/4.5 Aperture Settings f/4.5, 5.6, 8 Argus AFArgus B Extinction Meter/Calculator No Flash Synch Tubes NoPre-War Argus A2B Argus A2F Argus AA Lens Speed f/6.3Post-War Argus A2B Years Manufactured ~1945Argus FA March Aperture Indicator A, AF, A2Bs, & A2F Parts Of The CameraShutter Plunger pre-war A2B & A2F Sprocket Wheels Winding Shaft User’s Guide Loading The CameraTaking Pictures Page Using The Sunny/16 Rule Rewinding Finished FilmUsing The Light Meter/Exposure Calculator A2B and A2F ISOStop Shutter SpeedFilm Speed Read Shutter Speed from the block Stop Settings And Spacing Holding The Camera Upside DownLens Attachments AccessoriesLens Shade Portrait Attachment No Copying Attachment NoYellow Filter Lens CapLens Accessory Case Lens Accessory KitLens Accessory Kit for Argus AF Red FilterSoft Suede Zipper Bag Black Leather Zipper CaseDe Luxe Black Leather Case Other Accessories Carrying Case Safety ScrewLight Meter Mechanical Self-Timer Vintage Book On PhotographyCable Release Small TripodNew Lens Cap A Lens Cap in various stages of productionHand-Held Or Accessory-Shoe Mounted Rangefinder Flash GunsRestoration And Repair Camera BodyFilm Transport Mechanism Film Advance KnobView Finder Counter DialSprocket Wheels Back CoverExtinction Meter Flash MechanismNeck Light-Proof RibbonNeck You Can’t Fix Variable Focus Neck Two-Position Focus NeckSeparating The Neck From The Shutter Homemade adjustable shutter removal tool Shutter Cleaning The Lens Shutter MechanismPre-War Shutter Pre-war Shutter Face Plates Pre-war Shutter with the Face Plate removed Post-War Shutter Post-war Shutter with the Face Plate removed Fixing The Iris And Other Repairs Argus AA ShutterFinding Light Leaks Page Tricks Using Ground Glass Tricks And ModificationsTaking Close-Up Pictures Double ExposuresModifications Most Common Modification Intentional Lens AberrationsModifying Old Filters Pinhole Argus Optimum hole specifications for various shutter positions Special Effects For The Proletariat Page Closer Two-Position Focus Adding a Cold Accessory Shoe Finding An Argus In Good Shape 60 Second Camera EvaluationFinding An Argus Online For More Information Appendix a Argus a Patent Page Page Page Page Advertisements Appendix B Bibliography and ReferencesOther