I've been curious for a long time about the Sandmar lenses for the Argus C3. Recently, I was able to acquire a 35mm example inexpensively along with the viewfinder, and it came attached to a very nice 1953 model of the camera. There was little bidding competition for the outfit on ebay, possibly because of the missing lens shade. Most of these lenses were also sold as part of a set of two, the other being the 100mm telephoto.
The outer filter ring shows the model name of the lens along with its specifications: Argus Sandmar Wide Angle 35mm F:4.5 Nr. 422.
The rear ring contains the revolving focus scale along with an inscription showing the place of origin and a bit of post WWII history: Enna-Werke München US Zone Germany pats.pend.
The accessory viewfinder can be used both with the wide angle lens and the telephoto. The mask is pulled forward and placed over the front of the finder to provide the proper framing for the 100mm lens.
The Sandmar lenses are nicely made in typical German fashion, and they are coated for contrast enhancement. However, without the lens shade in place the results I got showed some flare, and I had to adjust the contrast significantly in Photoshop.
A brief slide show presents some example shots from the C3 with the Sandmar Wide Angle.
3 comments:
Looks like you found another gem there, Mike.
I have always been curious about the additional lenses for the C3. Changing the lenses does not seem too easy!
You got nice results with the Sandmar, the nature shots have a beautiful pictorial look.
The wide angle is actually easier to mount than the standard Cintar lens. I need to get some kind of shade for the wide angle to give it a fair test. The sharpness was fine, but there was some flair in all the shots. I think it is going to be hard to beat the Cintar, which has always given me great results.
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