I never expected there would be many lens
choices for the Argus C3, and in comparison to other 35mm cameras, there
really aren't many choices. But when you go for decades thinking
the only lens is the one on the camera, to discover three or four exist
is a big revelation!
The 135mm is a curious lens. It has
a very steep focusing helicoid which makes it likely that using a small
aperture is a good idea to assure good depth of field and consequently
sharper images.
I had my short experience with Soligor in
the early 1970's when I first got my Pentax camera. I made some
pictures with the Soligor 90~230mm zoom that my neighbor loaned me.
Then I went several years with a couple Takumar lenses and got hooked on
Asahi optics and their fine construction.
I saw this lens for sale and soon had it
home. I had to adjust the gear flange that couples the rangefinder
to the lens because it was too far away from the camera and didn't
engage in the rangefinder gear properly. This involved the
loosening of three very small set screws.
The screws were so small I found it
necessary to work with them using a 15-power magnifier. I got the
adjustment made by simply turning the flange until it was just slightly
above the camera mount when the lens was threaded on completely.
Then I got the three set screws back in position with the help of some
thread locker to prevent them getting loose by accident.
The lens is in like-new condition,
complete with the original box, caps, instructions and plastic bag!
