{"id":32590,"date":"2025-10-22T01:03:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T05:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/?p=32590"},"modified":"2025-10-21T02:29:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T06:29:04","slug":"the-right-pov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/the-right-pov\/","title":{"rendered":"the right POV"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

an Argus ‘spy camera’ c1924 disguised as telescope<\/p><\/div>\n

Toronto<\/strong>. Dry plate technology introduced ‘detective’ cameras – hand held cameras disguised as satchels, purses, boxes, etc. usable without the give-away of a tripod. Once potential subjects recognized this new variation of camera, another means of \u00a0secrecy had to be created.<\/p>\n

One logical means was a device to let the photographer seem to look in one direction, while actually photographing in another. Various cameras emerged with the viewfinder and taking lens at right angles to the stance of the photographer. Leitz even had an accessory viewer for the Leica in 1929 called a WINKO. Tiny prisms allowed the viewfinder and rangefinder to function with the camera held at a 90 degree angle.<\/p>\n

Bill Belier’s column, “A Treasure From My Collection …” in issue 25-3, shows a camera from the late Ron Anger’s collection in the article titled, “THE 1924\u00a0<\/b>ARGUS MONOCULAR CAMERA\u00a0<\/b>FROM CONTESSA\u2013NETTEL”<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill begins the article. ‘My name is Anger\u2026 Ron Anger’. And so it was that we met in\u00a0September 1977 when he responded to a classified ad that I had\u00a0placed in a Toronto newspaper seeking to buy old cameras. He\u00a0identified himself as a fellow collector and invited me to a meeting with other old-camera enthusiasts to be held the following\u00a0Wednesday. I was unaware that a collector\u2019s group had been\u00a0formed in 1974, until my new friend introduced me to the\u00a0P.H.S.C. that evening.<\/p>\n

“How appropriate that Ron\u2019s membership number is 007. This\u00a0month\u2019s featured ‘treasure’ is just the type of camera that would\u00a0have been designed for James Bond, had Ian Fleming\u2019s British\u00a0secret agent been around in 1924, the year that Contessa-Nettel\u00a0introduced the Argus.<\/p>\n

“Described as a monocular spy camera, the Argus resembles a miniature leather covered telescope. The format is\u00a04.5×6 cm for cut film and the lens is a CZJ [Carl Zeiss, Jena] Tessar 5.5 cm, \u00a0f<\/i>:4.5 with shutter speeds of T, B, and 1\/25 to 1\/100. Both\u00a0viewfinder and taking lenses are positioned at 90\u00ba, which of\u00a0course, is the main feature of the camera.<\/p>\n

“When Contessa-Nettel became part of the Zeiss Ikon\u00a0group of companies in 1926, the Argus underwent a name\u00a0change and became the Ergo. Essentially the cameras are\u00a0identical with the exception of the \u201ctrap door\u201d cover concealing the lens. The original Argus (as illustrated) has a rectangular cover, the Ergo has a circular cover.<\/p>\n

“During the transitionary period there probably was a parts exchange, as some later\u00a0Argus models appear with the circular cover while some early\u00a0Ergo models have the rectangular cover. And why a name change?\u00a0Perhaps some knowledgeable Zeiss historian could enlighten us.” …<\/p>\n

Members can read all this illustrated article in the issue 25-3 pdf file on the free members-only DVD\/thumb drive. Joining is easy, just follow the instructions for cheque (MEMBERSHIP above) or credit card etc. (Membership right). Send any membership questions you have to Lilianne at member@phsc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto. Dry plate technology introduced ‘detective’ cameras – hand held cameras disguised as satchels, purses, boxes, etc. usable without the give-away of a tripod. Once potential subjects recognized this new variation of camera, another means of \u00a0secrecy had to be … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1944],"tags":[2130,398,4812,4811,4810],"class_list":["post-32590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-argus","tag-camera","tag-carl-zeiss-jena","tag-detective-camera","tag-spy-camera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32590"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32594,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32590\/revisions\/32594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}