This camera was a gift from our good friend Les in Columbia, SC.

Someone, somewhere in the past took an early vintage Argus Model A and replaced the shutter and lens assembly with a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar lens in Compur shutter, along with a hinged contraption with swinging lens filter and heavy metal protective shell. We will probably never know the origins of the modification.

I had the camera on display at the ACG Mid-America Gathering in St. Louis this July.

The limited two-position focus system of the Argus Model A was retained... it can be set either for Far (more than 15 feet or so) or Close (about 6 to 15 feet), depending on depth of field with selected aperture. For all practical purposes, the camera is "fixed focus."

I finally got the opportunity to find out whether the camera is a functional item as well.
One a beautiful late summer day I loaded it with a roll of Fuji 200 color film and took a walk at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.

Film was processed at Dwayne's Photo of Parsons, Kansas.

Please click on thumbnails to see enlarged.
All images are (c) 2016 E.J.Kowalski.
Thanks! Ed