The Argus C3 Matchmatic and a New Beginning

If you can’t accept my flaws, you don’t deserve my magic. — Bob Ross

Like humans, every vintage film camera is going to have flaws, some many, but with some appreciation and ingenuity you can get a lot of magic despite those flaws. As someone with Crohn’s disease, I relate to this so much.

For my first post lets talk a little about Crohn’s Disease awareness and film photography. I am sharing with you the first video on my YouTube channel that is just a step by step on a quick cleaning of an Argus C3 Matchmatic. On this particular camera the main cosmetic flaw was a very hazy view in the rangefinder.

Argus C3 – Aly’s Vintage Camera Alley Youtube Channel

A Little Crohn’s Disease Awareness

In the video you may be able to notice my hands shake and I do mention the arthritis in them. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. A disease that causes inflammation of the entire digestive system from the mouth down. For some, it can be mild and can be controlled by diet and stress reduction while for others like me it can be severe with many complications with he need for very strong medications. In response to the inflammation the body gets a host of other issues and diseases along with the chemo-like medications that cause even more problems.

I was recently in the hospital for two weeks straight with a very bad flare up, and a high doses of steroids to stabilize me. When I finally went home I quickly found I couldn’t walk and was having horrible pain in my legs. After tests the doctor concluded it was caused by the steroids, which also has caused my face to swell up like a moon (it’s a side effect called moon face) and has continuously woken me up every morning at 3 and 4am.

Now you may be asking what does this have to do with an Argus C3?

Well, on one of these steroid awakened mornings, I woke up and watched the sun rise with the birds, and decided to get my cameras out and start drowning myself, so to speak, in vintage cameras (and sometimes my Digital Canon t6i) as well as the photos I could take with them.

Soon, I began to feel frustrated because my hands would cramp when I tried to hold my cameras. My legs tightened and hurt so bad after I stood for more than five minutes while trying to get a shot, so I just kept finding myself back in my bed holding my cameras and looking at them.

Then I decided I wasn’t going to let that stop me because I really needed this.

So, I started practicing with my cameras, like the Canon TX, from bed. Just silly pictures around my room. Then I made it a point every morning after breakfast to get up and take pictures around the house for as long as I could stand.

Then I made it out into the front and backyard.

It invigorated me and kept me going. I joined camera and photography pages on Facebook and was inspired to buy an Argus C3 “the brick” as it’s called. It was a bit of a nightmare. It hurt my hands and was difficult for me to get the hang of because it’s pretty stiff. It’s also completely manual, and a rangefinder, which I had never practiced with before, but I liked the challenge. However it did turn out to have a lot of “flaws” which I’ll address in another post.

Then I received as a gift from my girlfriend, the Argus C3 Matchmatic. This one had flaws as well but I decided to take them on myself, and that’s when I came up with the video and this blog in hopes I could help others the way I’ve been helped by all the YouTube videos and blogs about cameras these past months.

I decided to make my first video about something simple like cleaning the rangefinder glass. I hope it helps someone and I hope anyone reading this that has a limitation or illness that often keeps them from what they love, I hope you’ll be inspired to keep doing it as best you can.

Please tell me in the comments below any limitations you overcome everyday to do what you love, and please visit my Facebook page and subscribe to my YouTube channel. I would love to hear from you and what videos you’d like to see in the future.

---