Can anyone ID this camera?

[compur]

I don't know why Kodak never went into business of making serious cameras.

Kodak made many professional level cameras - the Ektra, the Retina series, Vollenda, Recomar, the Medalist cameras, the Master View 8x10 and other large format cameras and lenses, etc.

 

[timor]

I don't know why Kodak never went into business of making serious cameras.

Kodak made many professional level cameras - the Ektra, the Retina series, Vollenda, Recomar, the Medalist cameras, the Master View 8x10 and other large format cameras and lenses, etc.

Yes, that's true, but what would you call here "serious" attempt ? Only Retina is known a bit, but that thanks to the fact, that it was designed and made in Germany for sales in Europe. Ektra ? A world most complicated and unreliable rangefinder for (equivalent of) $20000 ? Leica is half that price. And after the war situation was even less positive for American would be camera makers with (forced) cheap supply of cameras from Japan. Actually It was maybe a positive spin as thanks to almost monopoly on American market and pressure of German engineering in Europe, Japan was able to develop the best camera industry we know.

 

[Derrel]

No it wasn't the best selling camera in the world, maybe the best selling camera in the US but they weren't exported in large numbers, they almost all went for domestic consumption.

Ian

A number of sources state that it was the best-selling 35mm camera in the world. Or they describe it as an incredible seller, with over two million C3 cameras sold. For a specific camera model, two million units is a very high number. I think maybe some kind of Euro-centric feeling might be at play here. Is the USA not part of "the world"?

Anyway...I find it hard to believe that a camera priced at $25 to $66.50 over the span of 1938 to 1966 would NOT outsell $175 economy Leicas to $350 Leicas, and $350-$450 Contax rangefinders. I had a 1940 Bass Camera catalog when I was a kid...the prices of Leica III and Contax rangefinders were ASTOUNDINGLY high. $400 would buy a decent car in those days.

Here's anice article on the C3 with more and varied info than many have: https://sites.google.com/site/fromthefocalplanetoinfinity/argusc3

 

[IanG]

The word best selling is very misleading because there were many companies selling far more cameras as a whole as well on an individual model basis per year. That would include Kodak in the US, and many Japanese manufacturers making much higher end cameras.

The 2.2 million figure for the C series includes different models as well as variations of the C3 and it's not actually that many cameras per year over the period they were made. Some of the early Instamatics (oh a US camera gain) way outsold the C3. and so did many of the aerlier Kodak models, but unlike the C3 they were sold and also made in in other parts of the world.

That doesn't take away the fact that a lot of C3's were made and sold but over a long period of time where other companies had progress enormously, but then Graflex were slow to change as well.

So not Euro-centric rather just a more balanced view.

Ian

 

[bsinmich]

Argus was in Ann Arbor, MI at that time. I have an early one that doesn't have the flash contacts on the side. I also have an A2 and that is crude. The pot metal castings for the insides are one thing that make them look cheap. The C4 was a big jump forward with double exposure prevention and combined range/viewfinder.

 

[compur]

Only Retina is known a bit ...

The Retina was known more than "a bit." The 35mm film cartridge still in use today was originally created for the Retina making it one of the most influential cameras of all time.

... it was designed and made in Germany for sales in Europe.

Retinas were made for sales all over the world, not just Europe. It was a hugely successful camera line.

Ektra ? A world most complicated and unreliable rangefinder for (equivalent of) $20000 ? Leica is half that price. And after the war situation was even less positive for American would be camera makers with (forced) cheap supply of cameras from Japan. Actually It was maybe a positive spin as thanks to almost monopoly on American market and pressure of German engineering in Europe, Japan was able to develop the best camera industry we know.

Nevertheless, it was a serious attempt by Kodak to create a Leica competitive product. All major camera manufacturers made some flops including Leitz.

It's true that Kodak's emphasis was on simple consumer level cameras but they did make a number of pro-quality cameras and lenses. For example, their Commercial Ektars are still highly prized today by large format photographers and the Medalist (a 6x9 rangefinder) cameras still bring good prices on the used market as do various Retina models and others. Kodak AG made cameras rivaling Zeiss in pro-level quality back in the day.

 

[compur]

Argus was in Ann Arbor, MI at that time. I have an early one that doesn't have the flash contacts on the side.

The Argus C & C2 didn't have the flash contacts and are fairly collectible.

 

[IanG]

It's true that Kodak's emphasis was on simple consumer level cameras but they did make a number of pro-quality cameras and lenses. For example, their Commercial Ektars are still highly prized today by large format photographers and the Medalist (a 6x9 rangefinder) cameras still bring good prices on the used market as do various Retina models and others. Kodak AG made cameras rivaling Zeiss in pro-level quality back in the day.

I think it's people in ignorance that have written in that way, so given that impression, (I don't mean you),I have a 1940 Kodak Professional Catalogue (Kodak UK) and the truth is that Kodak had a two pronged approach, first the amateur market and then the professional market, and in quite different ways.

Kodak wasn't just a manufacturer they were also agents and distributors for other companies,. In the UK/Eusrope they sourced lenses locally, they distributed Ross lenses for quite a few years in Australia and New Zealand, they sold Dallmeyer made Packard shutters,Thornton Pickard shutterss, ademco dry mountinf presses etc etc.

Ian