Introduction & History
The Aires 35-III L fixed-lens 35mm rangefinder camera was made by Aires Camera, of Tokyo, Japan, circa 1957 through 1959. It has an H. Coral f1.9/45mm 6-element lens, with 5 aperture blades and f-stops ranging from f1.9 to f16. The shutter is a mechanical between-the-lens Seikosha-MXL with the commonly-found (for that era) speeds of B, 1, 1/2, 1/5th, 1/10th, 1/25th, 1/50th, 1/100th, 1/250th, and 1/500th of a second. The Aires V was a removeable-lens rangefinder of about the same vintage, and due to this, it gets all the attention. But the "V" is uncommon and much more expensive - lenses are practially impossible to find. The III series is available, cheap, and can produce excellent results, even if the lens cannot be removed.
Note: This stuff is boring, isn't it? if you already know what a camera is, and which end of it to point at things, you can skip right down to my results. The stuff in-between is boring camera-geek silliness. But I'm a silly camera geek, get it?
It was designed for the much-reviled "LVS" settings, wherein one sets the EV (Exposure Value) based on a number from 2 to 18. When the EV is set, one merely has to rotate the coupled aperture/speed ring at the front of the lens to adjust for either the speed or aperture desired, and any setting along that ring will (should) produce the correct exposure as well. For example, if your external meter (the IIIL is meterless) indicated an EV of "10," and you wanted a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second, you would pull the EV ring forward towards the front of the lens and rotate either left or right until "10" was matched up with "250" on the lens barrel. This would automatically have given you an aperture of f5.6. Suppose then that you wanted to use a smaller aperture, but you did not want to recalculate your exposure. You could just twist the entire LVS ring left until the first click was felt. This would give you a shutter speed of 1/10th of a second, and an aperture that was somewhat in-between f8 and f11. Supposedly, this would be the same exposure - if the first choice was correct, then the second would be as well.
This could be useful in some circumstances, and I guess it was all the rage back then, but in practice today, most find it irritating. If it all sounds too dreadful for words, trust me, it is much easier to use than to explain. If you've got the IQ of an ice cube, you might have trouble with it, but if you know what an f-stop and a shutter speed is, you'll get the idea quickly enough.
Note: If you are looking for a similar camera that does not have the dreaded LVS system of setting the aperture/speed, you probably want to look at the Aires III or the III C. The III C greatly resembles a Leica M3 if you squint a bit, the lines of the camera body are much more rounded. If you're into pretending that you have a Leica, you might enjoy this. But then again, if you're that kind of shallow person, you probably also have a fake Rolex and when cell phones were expensive, you probably had a Radio-Shack brand fake cell phone so you could pretend to get important calls while driving. Do us all a favor; tuck in your gold chains and button up your shirt. Stop combing over your bald spot, move out of your mom's house, and buy a digital camera. We'll all be much happier.
If you want to change your f-stop setting without changing your shutter speed, you must pull the LVS ring forward and rotate the entire assembly to your desired f-stop. Since 'forward' is towards the front of the camera, and you are probably holding it facing away from you, this is an awkward motion. However, it does work, and one can get used to it.
Camera Specifics - Body and Fittings
The body is solid steel, with a matte or brushed finish. The lens barrel is chromed and appears to be made of steel as well. There are three windows in front: the extreme left window (as you hold the camera) is the viewfinder. The center window is frosted glass, and it is the brightline framing. The extreme right window is smaller, and it is the rangefinder patch. It is a coupled rangefinder; when you rotate the focusing ring on the lens barrel, the rangefinder patch (centered in the viewfinder) creates a co-incident image. You focus by moving the focusing ring until the co-incident rangefinder image is correctly overlapping the viewfinder image. If the rangefinder is properly adjusted, the lens is now in focus for the distance you have chosen.
The body is covered in what appears to be pebbled leather, but upon closer inspection, it turns out to be rather cheap vinyl. The camera body has two strap holders, on either side of the front of the camera. It has a frame counter on top, which counts in the normal manner (ie, from S to 1 to either 24 or 36). Some rangefinders of this vintage count down instead of up. There is a flash shoe, on top of the camera body, but (also common for this era), it is cold, meaning that it has no electrical connection to a flash unit. If you wish to use a flash, there is a PC connection at the 2 o'clock position on the barrel of the lens, so your flash will have to have a PC cord for you to use it on this camera. There is a standard mark (a circle with a line drawn through it) on the top of the camera to indicate the film plane.
Camera Specifics - Operating the Camera
The camera is wound in the standard lever-wind manner. The throw is rather short (unusual), but it does not ratchet, so you cannot inch the winder along, it takes one complete lever wind. As is common, the winding lever does not return to its original flush position with the camera body on its own, you have to manually push it in. This is for ease of rapid-fire and wind, and again, it is quite common. Some people think this means the winder return spring is damaged in some way, but it is by design. The shutter release is standard, and it is threaded to take a modern remote shutter cable-release. I did note that my example was a bit touchy about how far the cable could be threaded in before it refused to work - your milage may vary. Also, when I had mounted my Vivitar 285HV flash on top of the camera, the body of the flash blocked the shutter - I could operate it by hand, but not by remote cable shutter release. Not a big deal, just something to be aware of.
The rewind knob is in the traditional location, and it works in the normal way - one flips up the lever, revealing a handle to turn (there is an arrow indicating the proper direction to rewind the film). However, instead of the standard film-release button that one normally finds on the bottom of the camera, there is a rewind switch, which one pushes to the indicated side, instead of pushing it down. Next to the rewind knob on top of the camera, there is a handy little scale for setting your ASA (now known as ISO) film speed, from ASA 25 to ASA 800. However, it does nothing - it is just to remind you what speed film you have in the camera. When the camera is empty, you can flip the scale all the way to one side, and it then reads 'empty' to let you know that there is no film inside and you can open the camera back. However, this is only as good as your own memory, so I always like to try turning the rewind knob once or twice to see if I can feel any film inside before opening the back.
Most Japanese cameras of this vintage had a flip-open style back for loading film that is very similar to the method used today; with one exception. Instead of pulling up on the rewind knob to open the back, one opens a spring clip on the side of the camera, which causes the back to spring open. In many cases, this clip is spring-loaded, and to close the camera, one merely has to push it closed, just like cameras of today. However, this camera does not have a spring-loaded clip, so you must close the back and then push the retaining clip down while holding the back closed. The back is ever so slightly spring-loaded, so it wants to pop open! However, this is not difficult to control or master and at least one is sure that the back of the camera is secure - it is not likely to pop open at the wrong time! Once the back is open, the rewind knob can be lifted to release the spent film cartridge or to insert a new one.
The Camera in Use & Test Results
I loaded this camera with Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 400 (consumer-grade color print film). I believe that this particular camera had never before been used - imagine that! Waiting over 40 years to be put to your intended use. Sad, really. In any case, I put the camera on a tripod, attached my Vivitar 285HV flash with a flash-diffuser, and pointed it menacingly at my wife. She reacted in her typical fashion by continuing to knit. I seem to have lost the ability to be menacing. Hmmm. Time to duct-tape the cat again.
This photo was taken at 1/125th @ f5.6, for reasonable depth-of-field. I notice that the frame is evenly lit, frame edge to frame edge. Yes, normally I would crop this, but it is reproduced here en toto for the purpose of illustration.
The photograph of one of our three cats ("Fiona") was taken hand-held, 1/60th @ f2.8, no flash. My purpose was to determine if the rangefinder was correct, and examining the shallow depth-of-field effect in this case showed me that the rangefinder is off very slightly at short distances. In this case, I focused on Fiona's eyes, but the point of sharpest focus appears to be on her fur, about two inches behind her eyes and down her body. This image is produced on this web page very small, so it may be hard to see, but the image is complete if you wish to right-click on it and download it into your own graphics viewer (approximately 800x600, file size 352k). This image, like all my photographs, is copyrighted, so don't do anything to it or distribute it in any way. Like you'd really do that. But I have to say it, right?
This last image was taken hand-held, 1/60th @ f1.9, wide-open for this lens. Here, I wanted the abolute minimum depth-of-field that this lens could produce, to observe both rangefinder accuracy and out-of-focus effects (also known as bokeh to the camera geeks like me). I tried to take another photo with the focus on the cat, but the rotten thing ran away from me right after this, she must remember me duct-taping her brother. I will have my revenge!
I found this camera very easy to use, and quite fun as well. It has a solid feel to it, which many modern cameras do not. Unlike the classic fixed-lens rangefinders of the 1970s (think Minolta Hi-Matic, Canonet QL-17 GIII, Yashica Electro GSN, etc), this camera is more solidly built. The lens is probably not up to the standard of the great 1970s rangefinders, but so far, I have found it to be quite acceptable in terms of clarity & sharpness. I have not tried it outdoors yet, but I expect that the results will be quite acceptable to me.
It has no light-meter, which I prefer in many cases. Most light-meters on vintage cameras are either non-functioning or not really trustworthy at this point. Unless you're very confident in your meter (or your ability to guess exposure), you're constantly wondering if you should pull your external meter out and match it against what the camera is telling you. Some of these vintage cameras can't even be used if their meters don't work, or if they think that the exposure is not acceptable. Don't get me wrong, I love my Yashicas, Minoltas, Canons, and so on from the 1970s, but I also have a special soft spot in my head for these true classics of the 1950s and early 1960s. They were built like tanks, and this one is no exeption. Because cameras like these have leaf shutters instead of focal-plane shutters (most modern SLRs), they synch-flash at any shutter speed (nice) and they are very, very, quiet! This is a good 'stealth' camera.
When I bought it, the shutter was sticking slightly on the first shot or two - then it would start working more-or-less normally. I am by no means mechanically inclined, but I did not find it difficult to remove the front lens elements and apply a couple of drops of liquid lighter fluid (Zippo or Ronsonol) to the shutter blades, then button it back up again. Works perfectly now. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique & Classic Cameras says that stuck shutters are common in this model - but I've found that they are common in many older cameras. This is a repair that the enthusiast should get used to doing for themselves.
The tools I used were a very small bladed jeweler's screwdriver (available at any Home Depot, etc), a can of Zippo liquid lighter fluid, a couple of Q-Tips, and a small amount of gaffer's tape (available at any good photo shop) to get a good grip on the lens assembly to turn it and unscrew it. If I can do it, anyone can. Or perhaps I'm just not as much of a monkey with a brick as I thought I was. Your call.
Note: No, you fool! Do not try this yourself! Do not do so! If you do, you did not read it here. I did not tell you to do it. You will not drag me into your crispy-skinned hellish court battle, you human torch! This was all in your imagination.
Links to Webpages that have something to do with Aires Rangefinders (or maybe I just like 'em)
Here are some links which you might find more entertaining than you did this sad excuse for a webpage:
RangefinderForum: This is my favorite place to hang out and read about rangefinder
cameras. Membership is free, and the people are nice. If you go there, don't screw it up, ok?
eBay Search for Aires III Cameras: This is a canned search for Aires 35 rangefinders. If you see one you want, and you see me bidding
on it, don't snipe me, or I'll become quite cross. Argh!
Aires Camera Webpage: This is written in some language I can't read, but here it
is anyway. Nice pictures, in any case.
Aires III Webpage: This one is a fan-page written in Japanese. Again, I
can't read it, but the pictures are cool. I spent a year in Japan (actually, Okinawa) back in the 1980s. Cool place, nice people.
A Gutted Aires III C: Ooh, Feng Shui on an innocent Aires!
This page is in Japanese as well. But it shows an Aires III C that has had the top off. Personally, that's a bit more than
I can manage myself. I'm such a klutz! Every camera that I have taken the top off of has died a horrible and degrading death.
If you're a camera, fear me!
Mick Feuerbacher: Mick has a lot of nice cameras.
Like me, he hasn't written about all of them yet, but he has some pictures of his Aires III L online here.
Steven Gandy's CameraQuest: The Main Man himself. This man's lovely web page started me
down the road to camera-collecting ruin. I blame him. You should, too.
Karen Nakamura's Photoethnography: Karen is also an amazing and prolific
collector and user of classic cameras. Like Steven Gandy, she has much to answer for - having lured me down the dark path of
rangefinder madness. Click on the 'Equipment' link to see her amazing collection.
Matt's Classic Camera Collection: Matt has a very fine
collection of cameras, and he writes well about them. He also apparently seeks PayPal donations - I'm not going to tell you what
to do, but since I'm linking to his page, I thought I'd tell you about this. There is no charge to visit or see anything he has
online, as far as I know.
All text & images, © 2004, Bill Mattocks. All rights reserved. All rites reversed. All wrongs righted. Do not make me come after you.
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