Dusting off the Argoflex Forty

I decided it was time I got back to shooting some of my simpler cameras.  The representative of that group that always delights me with its results is the Argoflex Forty.  I was surprised when I looked back through my blog postings that it has been two years since I last picked up the little twin-lens Argus.  I re-spooled some Fomapan 100 onto a 620 reel and shot the 12 frames over a couple days.

I developed the film in HC-110b and thought the Fomapan showed good grain and tones.  I also have some Fomapan 200 in 35mm which often gets poor reviews, but I think it will be interesting to see  how it does in PMK Pyro.

The pictures mostly showed me the good sharpness I have come to expect from the coated Varex lens, but there was quite a bit of variation in the density of the negatives even though most were exposed in sunny conditions.  A few of the images I shot at slower speeds also were blurry across the frame.  That indicated a shutter problem, and when I closely examined the action of the shutter as I should have done earlier, I could see that shutter was sluggish at lower speeds and not even closing completely sometimes.  So, time for a clean-up.

The first step in disassembly is to screw out the little pin which stops the rotation of the lens at the infinity position.  Then, you can unscrew the front lens group, taking note of the position of the lens when it comes loose so that it can be screwed back in properly to achieve proper focus.

The face plate with the shutter and aperture indexes lifts off after removing the peg at the top and the small screw at the bottom.  That gives access to the shutter cover plate and center lens group which can be lifted out after removing the long screws at the 4 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions.

By holding the shutter open I was able to lightly scrub the shutter and aperture blades with Ronsonal, and I also brushed some on the gears and levers of the simple shutter mechanism.  After cleaning I found that I could not at first get the shutter operating properly; the release remained locked with the shutter at the B setting and the shutter seemed to operate at just one speed at the other settings.  It turned out that I needed to have the shutter set to the 1/25 position during reassembly in order to get everything properly aligned.  It is also important to hold back the little tabbed lever attached to the star wheel with a small screwdriver blade so that it fits into the slot in the shutter cover.  With everything back together now the shutter seems to be working properly at this point, but I'll run a roll of color through the camera soon to make sure I've got it right.