Argus C4 Brick.

Argus brick.


Ah, the much maligned Argus C3 "Brick."

This is a camera nobody cares about. But they should. It is totaly fascinating. Kind of like an ice cream sandwich except the ice cream filling is a block of bakelite, and the chocolate part is nickel plated cast metal. You will never have a better opportunity to shoot with a pair of Buick bumpers smashed into an old telephone.

On top of that, most come in some sort of stale leather case like this:

These cases seem to be random in design I have personally endured at least four of these nonsensical contraptions, and seen quite a few more. Weird.

About half of the cases round out the edges to make a sort of leica III facade.

The lens, Argus Cintar 50mm, is disappointingly excellent. I mean, really. The pictures look great. The pictures are sharp, and the only thing "cool" that happens is some nice vignetting wide open. Focusing, however, is I guess what you would call pretty exciting, and not really in a good way.

Then there is the inside story.

Leaf Shutter behind the lens.

The Leaf shutter is weirdly BEHIND the lens, allowing you to exchange the lens with a telephoto called the "Sandmar." The only thing I have figured out about this "Sandmar"lens is that it is probably even more inconvenient than the telephoto "Longar" adapter lens for the Kodak Retinas.

Top surface control area, where you can't see the horrible viewfinding experience. Around the shutter reease, you can turn a small collar to "B" for bulb operation, or "I" for "instant" exposure. The actual shutter speed control is on the front, and goes from about a 10th of a second to what they say is a 300th.


To wind, you twist the knob, hear the counter sprocket tearing through the film holes, scream, and press the release knob. Then repeat... minus the screaming and tearing part. You only repeat that part the next time you need to wind.

The other problem is that you have to remember if you wound the shutter first, or wound the film. ... or if you remembered to do any of these things at all.

Another weird problem is that your finger may be next to the shutter winding mechanism... yes, from winding it. Yes, and if it is still there, the lever will keep the shutter open indefinitely until you get your butterfingers out of the way. Really weird, and it happens more than people think. You finger just lands in the way naturally. After all, you are holding a brick.


There is a good part to the experience though. The best part is that you can get some nail polish remover and do this:

(chrome brick)


The argus brick. Going price... about fifteen bucks.

Busch Pressman Model "D" 4x5 Camera

So, suitably horrible pictures of a magnificent photographic piece of machinery.

This is the 4x5 Busch Pressman Model "D"

Busch Pressman Model "D"

I'd guess the most familiar contemporary to this camera is the Graflex 4x5 press camera. The first thing you might notice that is different with this thing is the raw density. The camera is made of aluminum, and closes into a tough clamshell that is significantly smaller and heavier than a Graflex. It is significantly lighter than any 4x5 linhof Technika, and lacks some of the insane flexibility, but it does feel good and tough.

I am under the impression that it comes with the same fabulously underrated Wollensak Optar 135mm f/4.5 lens as standard. could be wrong though. Mine came with a 150mm Dagor. No complaints there, except that at f/6.3 wide open with some vignetting, the viewing was almost unusably dim.

The camera has mostly machined aluminum parts istead of the stamped sheet steel components of the Graflex. It seems this was a bit of a luxury alternative to the standard. Also, the front standard has rise, fall, a bit of shift, and swings forward as well as backward, which is a glaring omission from the Speed Graphics. Not that they were ever intended for landscape.

This is not a perfect competitior though. The front standard is centered by threading a pointed post upward, holding it vertical. This isn't a precision operation, and I have had more than a few "uncertain of parallelism" moments with wide lenses that ended in the top and bottom of the picture out of focus. Sometimes in the real world there just isn't time to coddle the camera.

It does have a front drop bed for super wide lenses though, and the rails are connected to the chunks of focusing rain in the body, so there is no way you can have the front standard fly off the camera is some mysterious and horrible way.

The bellows can certainly reach a 210mm lens, and maybe a 240, but long lenses are not the speciality, and there is no extension available. Even on a 240, a telephoto is a worthwhile consideration. From my experience, 300mm is pretty much out of the story, as are anything wider than 90mm or so. I'll bet 75mm is okay with the bed lowered, but there are far better cameras for the wild lenses. I think this camera, being foldable into a nuke-proof lunch box, is best used with a normal lens, a meter, and a couple of holders anyway.

The star of the show has to do with the film side though. Although the Busch Pressman D doesn't have any rear movements, it does have a fabulous, machined aliuminum rotating back.

Rotating back locks in position


In all, it's a pretty awesome little presscamera, and I have used mine on a few continents with mostly satisfactory results. The balance between surprising ruggedness, and some minimal viewcamera flexibility are not optimal for me, but might be just the thing for you.

Now there's the question of finding one. The Busch pressman is not uncommon, but doesn't usually show up just when you need one.

Majestic "Bencher" Tripod gear head. Why not go all out?

So,

Struggling for support... and there it was:


The Majestic "Bencher" Tripod studio head. Crank it! Crank it!

I just think the world should know about an inappropriate stigma attached to these giant tripod heads. I bought this one to support an 8x10 camera that made regular tripods feel like they were made of jello. With the "Bencher," things became instantly rock solid. Compared with more fashionable alternatives, the price is good too.

The one thing that people don't seem to know is that these heads are quite reasonable in weight, and only have a mild possibility of maiming a helpless bystander. This is all relative, mind you.

I used this thing outside of the safety of the studio for years, and it was great with the 8x10, various 4x5s, and especially the Pentax 6x7s. The crank adjustment is particularly fun. Makes you feel like a machinist, and makes fine vertical adjustments weirdly satisfying. There is always a supply of them, so you can sell yours if you need the space, and not worry about being able to get another one.

Only thing to watch out for, apparently, is when the gears get worn, and some play appears, like the steering box of a 1970s Camaro. I can't imagine what camera could do that though, and being that this thing appears to be bigger AND more rugged than a detroit steering box... Hard to imagine in any case. Maybe that's just a rumor.

Worth a try.

Next week blatherings about a lesser known, but surprisingly magnificent 4x5 press camera. Oh, joy!

Ghetto autocollimator. Say that ten times fast.

Ghetto autocollimator. Say that ten times fast.

I had some projetors and junk laying about and couldn't get a hold of my autocollimator. This works great!

The image comes out of the projector carefully focused to infinity. if the lens is correct, it focuses the infinity image to the film. Being illuminated, you can look in the camera, and see the image on the film using the viewing camera and half silvered mirror in the middle.

Yes. That really is a piece of toilet paper tube.

Yes. that is supposed to be funny.