Object Record

Metadata

Catalog Number

2023.5.57

Title

Argus V-100

Object Name

Camera, 35 mm

Place of Origin

German

Year Range from

1958

Year Range to

1959

Description

The Argus V-100 was a rather nicely designed and made rangefinder 35mm camera. It was a rebadged version of the Iloca Rapid IIL. Iloca, a German firm, established in 1948, designed and manufactured a number of good quality mid-level 35mm cameras under its own Iloca brand name but also produced versions of some of those cameras for others. For example, Iloca also supplied its Rapid IIl to Sears badged as the Tower 52.

The camera featured a coupled rangefinder with a single rangefinder/viewfinder window, a built-in selenium cell exposure meter, a double-stroke lever to advance the film and cock the shutter, and a hot shoe. It was offered with a choice of two non-interchangeable lenses, either an Argus Cintar 52mm f:2.8 at a price of $99.95, or an Argus Cintagon II 48mm f:2.0 at a price of $119.95. Both lenses stopped down to f:22.

The shutter was an EVS-coupled between-the-lens ten-speed Synchro-Compur calibrated in speeds of 1, ½, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, and 1/500 seconds, plus B and a self-timer. It was also provided full M and X flash synchronization. The exposure value system was, then, a relatively new concept in which the one shutter speeds and the lens openings were linked together so that changing one automatically changed the other to maintain the same amount of light reaching the film.

Opening the fully removable metal back could be a chore that required a rather convoluted procedure. Pushing a button on the back released the rewind knob. Pushing the button a second time raised the rewind knob another notch. Twisting the rewind knob then released the back latches.

Offered alongside the domestically manufactured Argus C-3 Standard and Match-Matic, as well as the C-4R and C-44R, one might wonder what marketing niche that V-100 would fill. Argus manager Joe Detweiler, writing in the Mar/Apr 1958 issue of Argus Eyes stated the rationale for the camera:

"The V-100 is a fine German-made camera added to our line to fill a special slot in the camera market where we have not previously been in contention. This market consists of customers who specifically want an imported camera with special features. The price range and features are enough different from our top cameras to make the V-100 non-competitive with the C-44, while adding to our sales strength and position with retail dealers. It means plus business."
In reality, the V-100 was an attempt to combat the rising tide of competition from cameras coming into the US from Europe and the Far East. Like other domestic manufacturers, Argus found it more and more difficult to keep market share in the medium to high end of the 35mm camera market."

While the V-100 was a good camera, it wasn't good enough to capture significant market share for Argus and it was quietly discontinued in 1959. In 1960, Agfa took over the struggling Iloca Company, absorbing the Iloca line into its own.

This Argus V-100 has a Cintagon 48mm f:2.0 lens. Features a built in lightmeter. The film rewind sits flush with the top plate and pops up with a switch for usage.

Collection

Ron Norwood Collection