C3 Matchmatic shots

[gp-ak]

Took a few rolls through my new C3 Matchmatic, my first rangefinder! Really fun little camera and in great shape, too. First one taken in Alaska, the others in Oregon.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4754609879_d627cfac80.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4139/4754610115_df468ff733.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4755248970_553038865d.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1434/4721191835_7e91271d77.jpg

[Mr_Flibble]

Looks good to me.

Interesting style of building on/over a creek bed.
I've personally stayed away from the Matchmatic, because of the non-standard markings for shutter speeds and aperature settings.
Does your light meter still work or did you use some other method to get the proper exposure settings?

[gp-ak]

No lightmeter at all with this one, just guessed what the exposures would be. And yeah the numbers on the matchmatic are a pain, I had to carry a conversion chart in my pocket to consult.

[crawdiddy]

I have a Matchmatic as well. My wife says it's her favorite of all my vintage cameras. Personally, it reminds me of a 1966 two-tone Chevy Impala.

The "coded" aperture & speed settings are a bit of a pain, but I can live with that. The biggest problem with mine is the focus is hard to turn. I guess I need to disassemble it and clean out the gunk.

[Mr_Flibble]

Right after I posted my question I kind of reasoned that there would be some sort of conversion chart.
I guess it becomes less annoying once you've learned the chart by heart.

[Red Robin]

Picked up one today at a Sm.sale in a carport. Five bucks got me a black&tan argus a square thingy on top where the flash usually goes and a 1/2 case. (Black with eye-popping white stitching, no top case to be found.) All the alloy had survived in an non-iodized state, the tan stuff all seems OK as well as the bakelite. The seller stated"Never could get that thing to work!" and from the looks of the lens & other glass surfaces must have then parked it on the mantel , I'd say around 1962, maybe 63. Well some TLC and it all looks and seems to work alright. Film will have to wait. The post brought me my AGFA karat IV. :D I've downloaded user manuals for both but the argus is just gonna have to wait on that German engineering and that clean clear sharp glass:cool: Red Robin

[Mr_Flibble]

Sounds like you got the matchmatic light meter or a viewfinder with it. But as you mention it came in with a half-case if it is the light meter I guess the selenium cell has been exposed to light for the last 50 years and is now probably as dead as a doornail.

[Red Robin]

Yup, Got the cell-thingy up there in pristine non-working condition. I do remember reading that some have been resurrected by cleaning the "contacts". I may give it a try. How much worse could it get? It already doesn't work. Stay tuned----More will revealed.

[Mr_Flibble]

As long as the meter has been kept in the dark then cleaning the contacts might work. If it has been exposed to light on a daily basis for the last 50 years then the cell will definitely have degraded beyond usefulness.

I wouldn't know where to get a replacements since Megatron LTD closed down last February.