The Argus 75 is one of those cameras that’s hard not to love. It started life in the late 1940s under the Argoflex Seventy-Five name before eventually settling into its final form as the Argus 75 by the late 1950s — a run that carried all the way through to 1964. Over that time, the design barely changed, which tells you everything you need to know about how well it worked.
Made in Ann Arbor, Michigan from sturdy Bakelite plastic, it looks like a Twin Lens Reflex camera, and that big top viewfinder definitely adds to the effect — but underneath the styling it’s really a wonderfully simple box camera. There’s no focusing to worry about, no aperture to dial in, and just the one shutter speed to speak of. You look through the viewfinder, press the button, and that’s pretty much it. The only choice you’ll ever need to make is whether to flip over to the Bulb setting for a longer exposure — and even that’s optional.
The 75mm Lumar lens is a single-element meniscus design, fixed at around f/11, and paired with the large 6x6cm medium format negatives it produces, the results can be genuinely impressive for such a no-frills little camera. Sharpness drops off a touch toward the edges and there’s a hint of vignetting, but honestly a lot of people consider that part of the charm.
The one practical thing to be aware of before you shoot is the film. The Argus 75 was designed for 620 format film, which hasn’t been manufactured for decades. The good news is that 120 film — which is still widely available — is essentially the same stuff on slightly different spools, and with a bit of patience and a changing bag you can respool it yourself without too much trouble.
The manual below covers everything from loading your film to getting the most out of the shutter Argus 75.