Argus Anastigmat

A collection of mine which began years ago is vintage cameras. This seems like an obvious collection I would have for those who know me well - vintage things and cameras? Right up my alley.

I love how I can relate to them as a photographer using a digital camera on a daily basis. I love seeing how far they've progressed and I love the grainy product of film. There's nothing, nothing at all, like a photograph taken on film. I love how these relics stand as testaments to time and I ache to review all of the sites and faces the cameras have captured.

The first vintage camera I came across was in the display case at the Salvation Army at which I worked in the summer of my college years. I had to have it. Next came a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye and I located film similar to what it requires and modified it to fit - and it worked. (Future tutorial?)
I shot with it and the square negatives came out fantastic! Then came a dual-reflex camera and I used its viewfinder to shoot "TTV" - Through The Viewfinder - photos, literally using the camera's viewfinder and shooting through it with my Canon DSLR.

Recently, I was generously gifted by my grandfather - who once worked at Kodak in Rochester, NY - a slew of cameras to add to my collection. This Argus Anastigmatic was one of them. It was the first 35mm camera produced and was made simplified and solid (out of bakelite)  for the separate battlegrounds of soldiers and college students alike.  I was thrilled to learn it took standard 35mm film and I recently cleaned up the camera, popped in some film, and have been shooting with it.

I'm unsure of the results, as I am not used to a manual film advance and I'm fairly certain I'm going to have half-and-half prints of two separate shots. It's really quite tricky, getting used to the advance. It's also funny trying to convert my knowledge of aperture and ISO into the camera's basic increments engraved on the lens.

I'm excited for the results!