Suggestions for a WWII period camera

[mshchem]

There are a number of great ideas on this thread that I am now researching but I have to say right now the Argus C2/C3 is really interesting to me. I could definitely see that as an everyman camera that an adventurous person from the USA would bring to work on the Canol project. I hadn't planned to use 35mm film but plans may change. I'll definitely try one out and see what I think.


Canol pipeline -- this is no picnic [Public domain], by http://www.gac.ca/PopularGeoscience/factsheets/CanolPipeline_e.pdf, from Wikimedia Commons

My Dad took some amazing Kodachrome slides with a C3. ASA 10 ain't for sissies . He used an amazing, to me as a kid, folding flash unit also made by Argus, 22V battery and 25B flashbulbs for fill and indoors. Ann Arbor Michigan, the second city of the American Photographic industry in the 1940s. I like this idea.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Box cameras, Ciroflex, Rolleiflex, Speed Graphic, many 120 folding cameras.

 

[Jim Jones]

One pre-war camera that had a simple but reliable rotating focal plane shutter (1/20 to 1/1000) was the Mercury made by Univex. Unfortunately, it used a unique loading of 35mm film. Most people would never realize if someone was using the similar post-war model, the Mercury II, that used standard 35mm cassettes. The Mercury II came with a triplet lens that perhaps performed as well as the Argus 3C lens. Several interchangeable lenses were available, although these are now scarce. It was also a half-frame camera, popular in the depression yearsys before the war. Its looks were unique due to the shutter housing.

 

[itsdoable]

If 35mm becomes acceptable, the Argus is the obvious choice, small, light, and (http://tonyvaccarofilm.com/) carried by American foot solders into battle to record that life. The Leica II would be an (more expensive) alternative.

Personally I'd see if I could get the Medalist working - that was the quality "portable" camera used in that theater, and you already have one... and the film! As mentioned before, the lighter alternatives are the folders (ie: Zeiss) or the TLRs (ie: Rolleiflex).

 

[Craig]

My Grandfather was in the Canadian Army in WW2 and went through Italy and Holland. He carried a Zeiss Nettar 515 folder in 645 format as his personal camera through the war.

 

[nsurit]

Another vote for the Voigtlander Bessa RF. Light, well built medium format with good rangefinder and built in filter. Added feature is a solid black body for that truly professional look.

 

[guangong]

The Kodak Medalist was made specifically for the US Navy for use under all conditions. It is rugged. Get it serviced by someone who understands its quirky engineering. The lens is phenomenal. On purpose of Medalist was to photograph enemy shore defenses from ships as sea.

 

[R.Gould]

If ypu can find one Ensign Commando, designed and built originally for the British army/navy use during the latter stages of WW2

 

[Paul Howell]

Kodak 35 Army version

 

[Mike Chini]

Speed Graphic. Will help you appreciate what photographers did to get the shot. Fun cameras to use!

 

[M. Axel Wikstrom]

Have a 6x4.5 Ikonta made in '35 that was owned by a U.S. soldier who fought his way through France and Germany during the last months of the war. It's a camera that probably never part with. Great condition, so it was probably not used much after the war.