Episode 42: The United States of Argus

No one has recently challenged the Camerosity Podcast as the "Nerdiest Film Photography Podcast" but that won't stop us from further proving that point by taking a trip to the USA! No, not that USA, this time I am talking about the United States of Argus!  For Episode 42 we invite two special guests, both members of the Argus Collector's Group, Phillip Sterritt and Mike Reitsma.  Phil and Mike both have an otherworldly level of knowledge about Argus and their cameras, their history, rare versions, and what the best Arguses are to use. Although we spend a great deal of time on Argus, in this episode, we venture into a huge number of other American cameras worth checking out, like ANSCO, Perfex, Clarus, Universal, Falcon, Detrola, Ciro-Flex, Graflex, Wollensak, Winpro, and many others! Joining us on this episode are collectors and first time callers Eric Risse, Pat Casey, and retired US Navy Photographer Greg McCreash who at the very end of the show busts out one of the most amazing American Cameras ever made, but I don't want to spoil it for you, so you'll just have to listen to the episode (or read the show notes).  In addition to Eric, Pat, and Greg are returning guests Dan Hausman, and Robert Rotoloni. On the episode we cover a ton of history, what is an extinction meter and how does it work, our recommendations on which American cameras you should try if you've never shot an American camera before, and Theo discovers a rare Australian Argus in his collection that he didn't even know he had! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you!  We would love to hear from more listeners, especially those who are new to shooting film or collecting cameras.  Please don't feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show.  We LOVE people who are new to shooting and are interested in having an episode dedicated to people new to the hobby, so please don't consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you'd like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, and right here on mikeeckman.com.  We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. If you want to join us for our next episode, we will record Episode 43 on Monday, February 20th and we will talk to John Minnick about his custom built Graflexes, along with an entire Graflex and 4x5 discussion.  Be sure to stay tuned for the official announcement! This Week's Episode Many Advanced American Cameras of the 40s and Early 50s Were Because You Couldn't Get Stuff from Germany / ANSCO Automatic Reflex 3.5 Charles Verschoor and How Argus Originally Made Radios / IRC and Detrola Used Bakelite in Radios Worked Well in Cameras The Argus A Series / Argus B Has a German Lens and Possibly French Lens / How to Differentiate Between Argus A Cameras How Do Extinction Meters Work? / Mike's Favorite A-Series is the Argus A2F with the Focusing Helix $25 Was the Price Point for Several New American Cameras in the late 1930s The Argus C-Series / Argus C  / The Ontora Double Exposure Device Anthony's First Impressions of the Argus C3 / Enna Werk Sandmar Lenses / Changing Lenses on the Argus C3 The "Argus Grip" / Repositioning the Cocking Lever / Argus C3 Match-Matic is the Harry Potter Camera / How the Match-Matic Meter Worked What are the Rarest Argus C-Series / Argus C with F/S Switch / Argus Prototype / Metric Scale Arguses / Minca Arguses Theo Has a Rare Australian Made Argus Seventy-Five And He Didn't Know It / Argus C4 Black Bodies Argus Was a Pretty Cool Company to Work For / Argus Eyes Newsletter Where did the Name Argus Come From? / Mythological Character with Many Eyes What Was the Successor to the Argus C3, the Argus C4 o