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3
Preface
For the sake of expediency, any Argus A- or A2-type camera will henceforth be referred
to simply as “an Argus.” The author realizes that Argus manufacturers produced various
types of cameras and that, if mentioned in casual conversation, the word Argus will
probably conjure the image of the far more popular C3, not an A or A2. He nonetheless
considers this compromise necessary in order to prevent the reader from being
continuously bludgeoned by such windy phrases as “the Argus A and A2 family of
related cameras, including the Argus FA.” Further, the Argus A2B is sometimes called
an A2, even in official Argus literature, although every camera with an extinction meter
and a two-position focus has a serial number that is prefixed by “A2B”. For this reason,
this text will refer to all such cameras as A2Bs. The term A2 is reserved to mean the
family of cameras that came with the extinction meter, namely the pre-war A2B, the
A2F, and the post-war A2B.
This book is intended to be a user’s guide, not a collector’s guide. As such, it
does not concern itself with current street value, scarcity, condition rating, or other such
collector information. While there is much in this text to interest a collector of Argus
cameras, it concentrates predominantly on those issues that would be of importance to a
user. Further, the information in this text was gathered by studying a cross section of
Argus cameras and determining their similarities and differences. Therefore, errors or
omissions may have occurred, and the author wholeheartedly apologizes for any
problems this may cause.
This text assumes that the user has a rudimentary knowledge of photography.
This includes an understanding of apertures, shutter speeds, film speeds, and lens care,
among other things.
The repair techniques described in this text are not those one would use on an
expensive camera. However, since using the proper tools and techniques would exceed
the cost of the camera, your author has chosen to described cheaper, less traditional,
methods that are effective nonetheless.
Other vintage cameras also deserve their own modern following. Cameras like
the Argus C3, Argus C4, Universal Mercury II, and Kodak 35RF are inexpensive and
easy to obtain today. Each of these can be easily repaired and used with off-the-shelf
35mm film. Take the opportunity to research these cameras as well as the Argus A.
Finally, the use of the word “proletariat” in the title deserves an explanation. This
outdated term was particularly popular in socialist propaganda in the 1930s, when the
Argus A was first introduced. The members of the proletariat, also known as the proles,
are the exploited working class who are forced to trade manual labor for money in order
to survive. The Argus A was the first 35mm camera designed to make photography
affordable enough so that anyone, even the proletariat, would be able to purchase and use
it. The use of this term does not imply any socialist leanings in either the author or the
persons, companies, or groups mentioned in this text.
Many thanks to both Raya Kuzyk and Guma Chernyk for help in editing this text.