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I had been quietly looking at the Argus A cameras on eBay
for a few weeks. Up to that
point my interest had only been in medium format cameras. Actually, it was the
back of this camera that interested me, with its art deco design. It was a
fairly logical transition. I had just recently purchased a Kodak
Duex, also with an art deco look and a bakelite body. So when I spotted
the Argus A, I was genuinely intrigued. After some research I found that the
AF model was the only one with a focus ring, but it was a harder camera to
find. Part of the interest in collecting cameras is the hunt and finding this
particular camera was a real joy...that I won the auction seemed like destiny.
Many of the back plates with the beautiful design have been damaged by the
inner part of the snap on the inside of the leather camera case, but this one
was practically mint. In fact the whole camera was almost like new. After
receiving the AF I found the leaf shutter was sticking open, returning only
slowly to the closed position. After getting access to the shutter, I found
one of the machined parts rubbing on another, and with a slight finger
pressure, I gave them some extra tolerance, and the shutter freed up. I had
contacted the man who sold me the camera and found out that his late father
had bought the camera new, and made many family photos with it before putting
it in the closet in favor of a new Kodak Retina. He had also experimented with
black & white infrared film, so the camera came with a push-on red filter,
and also a yellow filter and a lense hood.
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