Accepting that I liked the equipment as much as taking pictures made it
easier to justify getting more equipment -- especially old cameras. Except
for replacing lost or damaged cameras from my younger days, I still don't have a
specialty or theme for my collection.
Argus cameras are readily available and are relatively simple to work
on. I've tried my hand at
disassembling several and have managed to reassemble most of them. I also
learned not to go too far in the disassembly process! Beginning in 1936, Argus
made millions of cameras such as the Model A, C, C3 (the famous
"brick"), C4, C44 and many others. My C44 works well
and I've taken many photos with it. The C44 has interchangeable lenses;
the 35mm and 100mm are shown. This one does not have the add-on light
meter so a handheld meter must be used. This camera and accessories in the
nice leather case would have been an enviable kit in the late 1950s. Using
a completely manual camera like the C44 is quite an educational
experience. An instruction manual, The Argus Guide, by Dr. Kenneth
Tydings in 1952 recommended to think "SAFE" -- Shutter, Aperture,
Focus, Exposure" before taking a photograph. The manual
then expounds on these topics but not exactly in a simple manner. From
reading a number of manuals of that era, my impression is that the study of
photography was an intimidating process in those days.
Using the Argus C44 is actually straightforward if you know how to use a
fully adjustable manual camera. This photo was taken in the dining room on
board the "Mississippi Queen" paddlewheeler during a Popular
Photography workshop in 1999. The oddest part of the 
C44
to me is focusing with the gearwheel which turns the lens. The center of
the gearwheel provides the opening for the rangefinder. The shutter speed
is set on the front of the camera body and aperture is set on the front of the
lens. The lenses have a depth of field scale - a nicety that I greatly
miss on zoom lenses for my modern cameras. Although some have indicated
that lens changing is the worse aspect of the C44, I think that winding and
rewinding without a lever is worse by far. Apparently, many customers
agreed and the C4 and C44 were quickly followed by the C4R and C44R with winding
and rewinding levers.
Folding cameras are things of great mechanical beauty and the Kodak
Retina series of the 30's, 40's and 50's are classic examples. The Retina
was made in Germany; over 2-1/2 million were sold. I especially like
the looks of the postwar models, the Retina I, II and III. I have a Retina
IIc. 
The Retina I had a noninterchangeable lens.but the Retina II and III had
interchangeable front lens elements. By changing the front elements, the
normal 50mm focal length could become either 35mm or 80mm. The Retina II
had a f/2.8 50mm lens; the III had a f/2.0 50mm lens. Although beautiful,
these cameras are difficult to learn and awkward to use. For
example, aperture and shutter speed are mechanically connected as a "Light
Value" which represented equivalent combinations of aperture and shutter
speed. On the one hand, the Light Value was as simplification; on
the other, a complication. If the Retina user wanted to take a more
conventional approach, he had to remember to set the shutter speed before the
aperture. The Retina does have a nice winding lever even if it is on the
bottom of the camera. Focusing is via rangefinder by turning the
lens. The focusing tab on the lens isn't just a nice feature, it is
necessary because the lens is so short and full of controls. Actually,
operation of the Retina isn't so difficult until one of the supplemental lenses
is added. With the change in focal length, a viewfinder lens must also be
added to the flash shoe (shown on my camera). After setting the proper
Light Value as described above, the next step is to focus the camera. But
since the rangefinder is not coupled to the supplemental lens, the user must
manually transfer this distance to another scale which is located on the bottom
of the lens. So the procedure is: focus with the rangefinder, read
the focus distance from the scale on the top of the lens, flip the camera upside
down and set the distance on the scale on the bottom of the lens. Of
course, there are two scales on the bottom of the lens: one for the 35mm
component and another for the 80mm component. Now all the user had to do
was set that same distance on the viewfinder lens to avoid any parallax
problems, compose using the viewfinder and press the shutter release. But
what a quiet shutter!
Here's a shot I took outside the Baton Rouge Science Museum using my Retina
IIc. I took some
liberties with the cropping since, even with the external viewfinder, tight
framing is somewhat difficult.
