Argus was an American maker of cameras and photographic products, founded in 1936 in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

. Argus originated as a subsidiary of the International Radio Corporation (IRC), founded by Charles Verschoor.

History

1960s portable Argus PreViewer for color slides Argus Cameras Sylvania Electric Products USA

The International Radio Corporation was founded in 1931 by local businessman William E. Brown Jr., George J. Burke (who was a judge at the

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), and Charles Albert Vershoor. IRC started out selling a line of radios, developed by Verschoor, that had a body made out of molded plastic instead of wood. The Model A, the company's first camera, was introduced in May 1936. In August 1942, the company stopped all domestic production and focused on producing military optics and radio equipment for the armed forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The company changed its name to Argus, Inc. in 1944. Argus introduced the Argus Model 21 in 1947, a metal-bodied camera and the company’s first model with an automatic shutter cocking to prevent double exposure and a hot shoe for flash. By the end of World War II, Argus had won the Army-Navy “E” award five times for “excellence in design and manufacture of war-related material". Argus Inc. changed its name to Argus Cameras, Inc. in 1949. Its best-known product was the C3 rangefinder camera, which enjoyed a 27-year production run and became one of the top-selling cameras in history. The company's Model A was the first low-cost 35 mm camera in the United States. In 1956, the Argus 50mm f/2.8 Cintagon lens, designed for the C44 camera, was one of the first commercial lenses designed with the aid of a computer. In 1957,

Sylvania Electric Products Sylvania Electric Products Inc. was an American manufacturer of diverse electrical equipment, including at various times radio transceivers, vacuum tubes, semiconductors, and mainframe computers such as MOBIDIC. They were one of the companies in ...

acquired the company but continued to operate as Argus. In 1962, Sylvania sold the company to Mansfield Industries, an importer of photography products. By 1969 it had ceased camera production (some rebadged cameras continued to be sold under the Argus name through the 1970s). More recently, the Argus brand has been reestablished, and is used on a variety of inexpensive

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

cameras made by Argus Camera Company, LLC., located in Inverness, Illinois.

Models

A series

*A (1936–1941) *AF (1937–1938) *B (1937) *A2B (1939–1950) *A2F (1939–1941) *AA (1940–1942) *FA (1950–1951)

C series

*C (1938–1939) *C2 (1938–1942) * C3 (1938–1968) *21 (1947–1952) *C4 (1951–1957) *C44 (1956–1957) * C3 Golden Shield (1958–1966) * C3 Matchmatic (1958–1966) * C3 Standard (1958–1966) *C44R (1958–1962) *C4R (1958) * C33 (1959–1961)

Argoflex

*Argoflex E (1940–1948) *Argoflex *Argoflex II (1947) *Argoflex EM (1948) *Argoflex EF (1948–1951) *Argoflex Seventy-Five (1949–1958) :*Argus Seventy-Five (made in Australia) *Seventy-Five (1949–1958) *40 (1950–1954) *Argoflex Forty (1950–1954) *Super Seventy-Five (1954–1958) *75 (1958–1964)

Autronic

*Autronic 35 (1960 only) *Autronic C3 (1960–1962) *Autronic I (1962–1965) *Autronic II (1962–1965)

Other models

*K (1939–1940) *M (1939–1940) *A3 (1940–1942) *CC (1941–1942) *Minca (1947–1948) *A5 (1953–1956) *A-Four (1953–1956) *C-Twenty (1957–1958) *Lady Carefree (126, circa 1967) *Carefree (126)

Digital

*DCV-011 *DCM-098 *DCM-099 *DC-1088 *DC-1500 *DC-1512E *DC-2185 *DC-2700 *DC-3000 (May 2000) *DC-3185 *DC-3190 *DC-3195 *DC-3270DV *DC-5190 *DC-5195 *DC-5340 *DC-6340

Awards

Argus had two cameras for children developed in partnership with TEAMS Design. The cameras, the Bean and Sprout, won a Bronze 2009 IDEA award from ''

Bloomberg BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'' and the

Industrial Designers Society of America The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is a membership-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the practice and education of industrial design. The organization was formally established in 1965 by the collaborative merger of t ...

in addition to an Appliance Design 2009 EID award.

References

External links

Argus Museum
Ann Arbor, MI
Argus Camera Information Reference SiteArgus A
an
Argus C3
a
Marc's Classic Cameras
{{DEFAULTSORT:Argus (Camera Company) Companies based in Ann Arbor, Michigan Photography equipment manufacturers of the United States Cameras Re-established companies