This is the Model 21 Markfinder, a scale focus camera using 135 film manufactured by Argus Camera Incorporated from 1947 to 1952. This camera is notable for being the first camera to make use of projected framelines in the viewfinder to assist in framing the subject.
If you are living in the United States and familiar with vintage cameras, the name Argus should be familiar to you. Where I live in Michigan, about an hour from Ann Arbor where the cameras were made, you can barely walk five feet through an antique store or thrift shop without tripping over an Argus camera of some kind.
Despite being best known for making cameras, Argus was actually established for the manufacture of radios made out of Bakelite in 1931 by Charles Verschoor under the name International Radio Corporation. IRC had been moderately successful during the Great Depression, making inexpensive radios at prices most people could afford. However, Verschoor wanted a product that could be sold during the slow radio selling summer months, and seeing the success of the German Contax and Leica cameras, endeavored to make an American 35mm camera at a much more affordable price.
Verschoor released his first camera in 1936, the model A. It was also christened with the name Argus, after the mythological Greek god of a thousand eyes. Though the name Argus would go on to supersede the initial product, much like Kodak or Kleenex, and eventually Verschoor would sell off the radio side of the business.
Now named International Research Corporation, Verschoor created a very successful business selling inexpensive 35mm cameras made out of Bakelite. In 1938, wanting to make an American 35mm rangefinder camera, they would introduce the C, then the improved C2 and C3 camera, the latter of which was the most produced American rangefinder camera with over two million units sold over a nearly 30 year production run.
Even with the success of the C3, IRC was not afraid to try different things. One of these was the Argus ColorCamera (model CC) introduced untimely just before the start of World War II. The ColorCamera was a departure from the boxy Bakelite casting of the Argus C3, having a smooth curved body made mostly from sheet metal stampings and having a built in selenium exposure meter. Production of the ColorCamera would be curtailed by the war and production would not be resumed thereafter.
International Research Corporation would prove highly valuable to the war effort. Their experience with both radio equipment and optics was highly valuable. IRC would manufacture products for the war effort such as radio sets, binoculars, artillery telescopes and notably, aircraft reflector sights.
Though a much older technology, aircraft reflector sights reached technological maturity during the Second World War and be widely used on allied aircraft. The concept of a reflector sight is simple yet important. A mirror and a half silvered mirror are used in conjunction to project an aiming mark into the vision of the pilot. Notably, the position of the mark does not vary no matter what angle it is viewed at, and the way it is projected does not interfere with the peripheral view of the pilot.
The gif below made by Bryn Mawr shows the effect of an aircraft reflector sight in use:
The first noticeable thing about the Markfinder is that it is not a rangefinder like the C3, it's a scale focus camera and that's a slight disappointment, as the curved metal body feels great to hold in the hand, unlike the "brick" that is the C3.
The 21 Markfinder measures 5 5/8" x 3 1/8" x 2 7/8" (143 x 80 x 73mm) and weighs in at 19.5 ounces (appx. 550g). So it's noticeably slimmer and lighter than the C3 too.
The Markfinder uses the same 50mm f/3.5 coated Cintar triplet lens as the C3, but it is in an incompatible mount. It can be adjusted from f/3.5 to f/16 via the frontmost knurled ring. The knurled ring on the lens barrel varies the focus (for which you must guess the distance or use an external rangefinder) from 3 feet to infinity.
The shutter is a unique Argus design built into the body and offers speeds of Bulb and 1/10th to 1/300th via the knob on the front of the body. (Most examples only went up to 1/200th, but late examples like mine were updated to have a top speed of 1/300th).
The 1/100th speed, f/8 aperture and 25 foot marking are all color coded in red. According to the manual, setting the camera to these positions allows it to be used without further adjustment in bright daylight with black and white film. This was to accommodate novice and inexperienced photographers who may otherwise be intimidated by the controls. The 1/50th highlighted in yellow was for the same, but with color film. (The manual doesn't actually specify which color or black and white film, but presumably these would be something like Kodak Plus-X and Kodachrome at ASA 50 and 12 respectively.)
The lens can be detached, and is in theory interchangeable, but since no other lenses were made for the Markfinder, this is a moot point. The purpose for it being removeable was to facilitate its use on a contemporary enlarger.
The back of the camera is fairly plain. The viewfinder window is in the upper left of the body. There is a circular leatherette patch visible on the back cover, which calls back to the Argus ColorCamera, as this was where the exposure calculator would have gone on that model.
The bottom of the camera is also sparsely populated. In the center there is the back lock (rotate 90 degrees) and a slightly offset 1/4" tripod socket.
The back removes easily for film loading and the film chamber is ordinary, though the corrugated pressure plate is unique.
Most of the controls on this camera exist on the top plate. Starting on the left we have the film rewind knob. Atop the viewfinder housing is the flash hotshoe and the small black lever to the right of it can be rotated either for F or M-sync. The film counter dial is off to the right side, it is additive, counting up to 36. In front of that is the shutter release button, which is threaded for a cable release. The wind knob is on the far right and winding it both advances the film and cocks the shutter. Since the two operations are linked, double exposures are not possible. To rewind the film into the cassette, the wind knob needs to be lifted and turned 1/2 revolution, then the rewind knob can be used.
The viewfinder of this camera is its most interesting feature. It is quite large and bright, especially for its era. The markfinder itself projects four framelines which form the borders of the image area. Unusually, there is also a cross aiming reticle in the middle of the frame, clearly carried over from the reflector sight concept.
Having familiarized myself with the construction of the Argus 21 Markfinder, I opted to load a roll of Kodak Gold 200 into it and take a walk around downtown.
The first thing I would like to comment on is film speed. With a top shutter speed of 1/300th (or sometimes 1/200th) and smallest aperture of f/16, the choice of a 200 ASA film is really pushing the capabilities of this camera in bright sun. Most of my shots were taken at this extreme, but being in shadow did give me the opportunity to open up the lens a bit.
The lens renders images with similar qualities to the same lens found on the Argus C3 that more people will be familiar with. Good color saturation and center sharpness for what is an air spaced triplet, with some of that starting to fall off near the edges.
The shutter is repeatable and reliable, although it is loud, sounding much like a desk stapler when fired.
Loading film is easy and unencumbered seeing as the back is removable.
The greatest asset of this camera is its viewfinder, it's large, bright and easy to frame with. I expect even for glasses wearers it would be easy to use. The center aiming mark is unique, and I suspect had a trend of people framing their shots with peoples' heads centered in the frame making for less ideal composition, and may be why you didn't see this carried over onto other camera designs. The framelines also do not move to compensate for parallax, showing how primitive this technology was when applied to this camera.
My biggest qualms with this camera have to do with some of the control location choices. The shutter speed control is on the front of the camera body. It's inconvenient to have to turn the camera over to set the shutter speed, but it's also annoying because you want to grab the otherwise rounded camera body and the location of the dial interferes with your right hand hold.
The location of the aperture control on the front of the rotating lens mount is also problematic, as you have to chase it around as the lens is focused to be able to read the markings.
The film advance knob that also cocks the shutter is geared such that it takes many turns to advance the film one frame, which probably has to do with tensioning the large torsion spring in the camera body that powers the shutter. This itself wouldn't be an issue so much, other than it's crowded in with the shutter release and exposure counter on the top frame.
Finally, when fired, the shutter release button kind of falls out from under your finger. This doesn't seem to have any functional impairment, but it's oddly disconcerting.
The Markfinder would be discontinued in 1952, being replaced with the rangefinder equipped C4. I don't have records on how many were produced, but they're much less common on the secondary market than a C3 or C4, so they could not have been as popular.
I don't know if the Argus 21 Markfinder is a camera I truly like. It can take nice pictures, but it doesn't quite agree with me and I lament the absence of a rangefinder.
Nonetheless, it is an important camera historically not only for being the first use of a bright line viewfinder, but also being the direct predecessor to the Argus C4 and C44 rangefinder cameras, which do unfortunately lose the bright lines which make the Markfinder unique.
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