Argus

The Casual Collector

The Argus SLR

America's favorite 35 gets sophisticated
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Argus SLR, the first Argus 35mm single lens reflex.

      Argus entered the 35mm field in the mid 1930s with simple and very successful cameras. As time passed, their cameras grew in sophistication. I believe this is their first SLR, manufactured by Mamiya in Japan. Some of you will recognize it as a variant of the Mamiya Prismat, which was also marketed as the Tower  32A & Sears 32B. Its' features are fairly typical. Auto diaphragm, instant return mirror, Leica type shutter speeded 1  to 1/1000th second, self timer and 58mm f-1.8 lens. Later Argus SLRs were made by  Chinon, Cosina and Petri.

 

Argus SLR with optional CdS meter. A Selenium cell meter was offered earlier.

     The camera's distinguishing characteristic is its' lens mount. It does not share the Prismat's Exakta type bayonet. Nor does it use the Nikon F mount of the similar appearing (though internally very different) Nikkorex F. If you guessed it has the M-42 screw mount of later Mamiyas, you're wrong there too! The Argus SLR features a proprietary bayonet mount. One third of a turn clockwise and the lens clicks securely into place. I don't know if this specific mount was used on any other camera. An adapter was offered to allow the use of M-42 lenses with manual diaphragm operation.     Externally, it's a large, heavy camera. A peek under the baseplate shows little evidence of elegant engineering. A notch above "crude, but effective" here. That said, the visible mechanism seems simple, probably even reliable. The camera works, but the shutter tapers. As it is approaching it's 40th birthday, likely without a cleaning, lube and adjustment, ever, shutter issues should be expected.

 

Close cousins. The Argus SLR and Nikkorex F. Argus bayonet to M-42 screw mount converter also shown.

 

     As mentioned above, these are not the same machine. The Nikkorex uses the first version Copal Square shutter and has a very different mechanism as a result. Stylistically they are very closely related. BOTH cameras were designed and built by Mamiya. The Argus came with an Argus-Sekor lens, the Nikkorex with a 5 cm  f - 2 Nikkor-S.

     The plot thickens, as Mamiya would build versions of these cameras for Ricoh and Sears.

 
 

Learn more about these cameras!

Mamiya Prismat   Ron Herron's comprehensive site devoted to Mamiya 35s.

Mamiya Prismat Family   Joerg Krueger's site dedicated to Mamiya 35mm SLRs.

Nikkorex F   Stephen Gandy's CameraQuest article on the Nikkormat's predecessor

Argus mounts Mamiya/Sekor lens via M-42 adapter.