Argus (camera company)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2020) |
,_535_West_William_Street,_Ann_Arbor,_Michigan_-_panoramio.jpg) Argus Building | |
| Industry | Cameras |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1936 |
| Defunct | 1969 |
| Headquarters | Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
Argus was an American maker of cameras and photographic products, founded in 1936 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Argus originated as a subsidiary of the International Radio Corporation (IRC), founded by Charles Verschoor.
History[edit]
Founded in 1931 as the International Radio Corporation by local businessman William E. Brown Jr., George J. Burke (who was a judge at the Nuremberg trials),[1] and Charles Albert Vershoor.[2]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 was introduced in May 1936.[2]
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.
Sylvania acquired Argus in 1959 and sold it in 1969, by which time 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 cameras made by Argus Camera Company, LLC., located in Inverness, Illinois.
Models[edit]
A series[edit]
- A (1936–1941)
- AF (1937–1938)
- B (1937)
- A2B (1939–1950)
- A2F (1939–1941)
- AA (1940–1942)
- FA (1950–1951)
C series[edit]
.JPG)
- 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[edit]
- 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[edit]
.jpg)
- Autronic 35 (1960 only)
- Autronic C3 (1960–1962)
- Autronic I (1962–1965)
- Autronic II (1962–1965)
Other models[edit]
- 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[edit]
- DCV-011
- DCM-098
- DCM-099
- DC-1088
- DC-1500
- DC-1512E
- DC-2185
- DC-3000 (May 2000)
- DC-3185
- DC-3190
- DC-3195
- DC-3270DV
- DC-5190
- DC-5195
- DC-5340
- DC-6340
Awards[edit]
Argus had two cameras for children developed in partnership with TEAMS Design. The cameras, the Bean and Sprout, won a Bronze 2009 IDEA award[3] from Bloomberg BusinessWeek and the Industrial Designers Society of America in addition to an Appliance Design 2009 EID award.[4]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "George Burke Dies Suddenly | Ann Arbor District Library". aadl.org. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
- ^ a b "Argus Museum Ann Arbor". www.argusmuseum.org. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
- ^ "TEAMS Awards". TEAMS Design. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ Appliance Design EID Awards
External links[edit]
- The Argus Collector's Group
- Argus Camera Information Reference Site
- The Story of Argus Camera at Ann Arbor District Library
- Argus camera timeline
- Argus patents
- Argus A and Argus C3 at Marc's Classic Cameras
- Argus C3
- The Argus A/A2 Page includes Hrad Kuzyk, "A Modern User's Guide to the Argus A/A2 Camera", 12/2/2006.
