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ABOUT
ARGUS Argus, and its famous Model C3 35mm camera, has had considerable historical influence on the photographic industry. A 1945 Fortune Magazine stated that Argus Cameras "overnight changed candid camera photography in the U.S. from a class hobby to a mass pastime." |
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Argus has produced many different camera models over the years and even expanded into movie cameras, movie projectors, and 35mm slide projectors. During World War II and the Korean War, Argus was also a leading supplier of military cameras, binoculars, periscopes, and gun sights. |
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The first Argus camera, known as the Model A, was manufactured in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1936. It was an immediate success as the first low-cost, easy-to-use 35mm film camera in the world. Thirty thousand cameras were sold in the first week at $12.50 each! Worldwide sales of this model continued until 1950. The popularity of the Model A strongly influenced Kodak to switch their film manufacturing from a 126 to a 35mm format, which remains the dominant film in use today. |
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The next Argus camera was the Model C2. It was manufactured in 1938 and was the first of the distinctively shaped, square-cornered, range finder cameras which were popularly referred to as the "Brick." The Argus Model C3, also of the "Brick" design, followed in 1939 and remained the best-selling 35mm camera in the world for almost three decades. | ||
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Copyright 2006 Argus Camera Co. LLC All Rights Reserved