Aires 35 Rangefinder lenses and photos

[oldhaven]

In the " What Have You Bought" thread RFF member Bernardl asked me to post some photos from the test roll of the Aires 35IIIL that I recently acquired and had to do quite a bit of work to get functional. I thought it would be a good opportunity to start a thread on the Aires 35 Rangefinders to show what the various models and lenses are capable of. I hope others feel free to post their own results from this short lived Japanese maker. I will be adding some photos from a couple of other models I own. Here are a few from the 35IIIL test roll. any flaws probably the fault of the photographer.

Aires 35IIIL, Lens: 45mm f/1.9 Aires Coral H coated 6 elements, Expired Fujicolor Superia Xtra 400

 

[oldhaven]

Aires Viscount, four elements 45mm f2.8 Q Coral lens. expired Fujifilm 400

This lens is less common in the first version Viscounts before they had meters added. I have a more common first version 45mm f1.9 H Coral Viscount but had to repair it and have not put a test film through it. A couple of these photos have been posted before, but they are quite good. This camera was CLA'd by Clarence GAss from Kansas several years ago by the former owner.

 

[ped]

Here are some from a test roll I just put through my 35-IIIc. HP5+ 400, Rodinal 1:25

 

[ped]

 

[rick oleson]

A couple of Aires IIIC images and the camera that made them ....

 

[oldhaven]

Very nice. The IIIC is one of the models I don’t have, but I can see it does a nice job. Nearly all of mine have somewhat faded viewfinders, and I use Rick’s trick of applying a small black dot on the window to make focusing easier.

 

[ped]

Very nice. The IIIC is one of the models I don’t have, but I can see it does a nice job. Nearly all of mine have somewhat faded viewfinders, and I use Rick’s trick of applying a small black dot on the window to make focusing easier.

Mine’s pretty good and hopefully the new one will be even better - but if you check the video I posted in a similar thread about these you’ll see it’s quite easy to open and clean the VF/RF

 

[rick oleson]

Very nice. The IIIC is one of the models I don’t have, but I can see it does a nice job. Nearly all of mine have somewhat faded viewfinders, and I use Rick’s trick of applying a small black dot on the window to make focusing easier.

I did that myself on the IIIC.

 

[BernardL]

@oldhaven @ped @rick oleson
Impressive images. Move over, Leica.

 

[David Murphy]

The results from this camera are impressive - nice work!

 

[ped]

 

[oldhaven]

These were shot with an Aires Viscount 45/1.9. The Film was Wolfen 100, and I was not pleased with the result, but it was probably me. These pictures look about the period of my 1967 boat.

 

[David Murphy]

I like the photos and the boat. What a pleasure that must be to take out on a scenic lake!

 

[oldhaven]

Thank you David. The boat is used on the lower Androscoggin River, where it flows into Merrymeeting Bay. It is relatively shallow fresh water with a 7 foot tidal range, which makes boating interesting. Most of the roll was a bit underexposed as I did not properly account for the yellow filter.