Blast from the past - Argus C4 in Clenchwharton - A NelsonFoto Forums thread

[GrahamS]

This is a thread that I posted on NelsonFoto on 9-3-2007 in the Classics Forum. (I don't remember if that means March or September.)

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While in Kings Lynn last weekend, I visited a car-boot sale in a local village called Clenchwharton. I was lucky enough to find an old gentleman selling brick-a-brack, and he also had a Chinon 35mm SLR , a Zenit 11 SLR with a 55mm f2.0 Helios, and a Praktica Super TL1000 that was in mint condition. Unfortunately the Praktica was not fitted with a CZJ lens, but with a Super Paragon 28mm f2.8 lens. It was marked at GBP 15.00 but I bought it for ten. My Best Beloved took pity on an old Singer sewing machine that cost a fiver, also in mint condition. Somehow, I prefer the Praktica.

These images were taken with an Argus C4 with Coated Cintar 50mm f2.8 lens. The flare characteristics, compared with the un-coated version of the Cintar lens as fitted to the Argus C3, is very good indeed. See Dennis Gallus' post here for comparison:

http://nelsonfoto.com/v/showthread.php? ... post106805

Maybe Dennis is right - the Argus Glow lends a certain character to the image that the coated lens eliminates.

Film is Fuji C200 converted in PS Elements 5 to B&W.



REPLIES:


Ben:
Great photos Graham; that C-4 is a very capable shooter. Lots of detail in the photo of the dolls. Interesting that you converted color film. I've been doing that with Provia, and I love the look.

Glenn Thoreson Glenn Thoreson is offline
The old grouch

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Whoa! Crisp to the extreme! Great photos, Graham! I'd kinda like to see how the colors look, too.
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#4 Report Post
Old 09-04-2007
Rick Oleson Rick Oleson is offline
no it's not.

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Location: Lexington, Kentucky USA
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even your flea markets look better than ours.....

: ( =
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Old 09-04-2007
Wayne Wayne is offline
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Great results Graham - those Cintar lenses certainly aren't slouches.

I imagine it'd be a mad scramble amongst the stallholders should those clouds produce some rain!
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#6 Report Post
Old 09-04-2007
doubs43 doubs43 is offline

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Location: Georgia, USA
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Graham, those are some excellent pictures. Between Dennis' shots and yours, I fear that the price of Argus cameras will easily double in the near future! They do a remarkable job in spite of looking rather crude when placed next to other cameras. It's no wonder they were so popular.

Walker
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#7 Report Post
Old 09-04-2007
Dean Williams Dean Williams is offline
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These look great, Graham, and you really do have cleaner, nicer looking flea markets than we do here.
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Old 09-04-2007
Josh Josh is offline

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Oleson View Post
even your flea markets look better than ours.....

: ( =
Rick,

I dunno about that, there are some charming flea markets down near Corbin and over in neighboring Va. in the hills. I mean what's not to love about flea market browsing in a tobacco warehouse with rotting stalks and that certain musty smell only tobacco can leave behind?
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Old 09-04-2007
Dennis Gallus Dennis Gallus is offline

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Graham,

Wow! Those are snappy images! And I'm amazed at how great the color conversion turned out. I too anxiously await the posting of some color images.

When people over there in the UK see you wandering around with what is probably considered an old and obscure camera, what sort of remarks do they make? Do you attract attention? Has anyone ever suggested that you need to buy a new camera?

Thanks for an excellent post.

Dennis
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Old 09-04-2007
Julio1fer Julio1fer is offline

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Great series, again. Hoping to see some color too.

Quote:
even your flea markets look better than ours.....
Especially through Graham's eyes.

[Philip]

Graham, thanks for reposting these Nelsonfoto threads!
I wonder how many were saved.

Philip

[GrahamS]

There's more where these came from....

[jamesmck]

There's more where these came from....

Graham - Do you mind sharing what procedure you used to copy these threads? I note that the photos are at the end of the saved post. Did you have to re-enter the links to them?

[GrahamS]

James, back then I was on a corporate Windows XP pc using Internet Explorer. If I remember correctly, the "File" drop-down menu had a "save webpage as" button or something similar - and I would choose "html file". The images were saved as they appeared, embedded in the thread. To re-post here, after opening the file in Chrome I copy-and-paste the text but I have to save each individual image from the original thread to my desktop and then up-load them one by one, which is why they appear at the end of the thread here. I wish I knew how to just re-post the entire html file. I'm no IT expert, but it worked, for which I am thankful. BTW, when I did this, Craig had recently up-graded the software and when I used the filter to find "All your Threads" it didn't go back very far, so I don't have my entire posting history. I have about 60 threads, all fron the time when digital was just pushing film aside, and many of them are from my first digital cameras.

[jamesmck]

Thanks, Graham. I will test this out on a thread here at PT. Do you recall if your method saved all of the pages in a thread rather than just the one showing on the screen?

[GrahamS]

Thanks, Graham. I will test this out on a thread here at PT. Do you recall if your method saved all of the pages in a thread rather than just the one showing on the screen?

It saved the entire thread.