There's Something in the Air Here

<p>This is a 1956 Aires 35-III fixed lens rangefinder camera. I bought this several years ago in semi-working condition. The shutter was sticky and the rangefinder didn’t work. Since I already had several good working Aires rangefinders, I stuck it in a drawer as a future project. Well, I got busy and never got around to it until a few months ago when I decided it was too nice a camera to have my lobster mitts hacking away at it so I sent it to Clarence Gass, in Mission, Kansas, for repair. I’m glad I did because it has turned into one of my most favorite shooters.</p><div></div>

Introduced in 1956, the 35-III was offered as an improvement to the 35-II by a complete body redesign that adding a rapid film advance lever, a newly designed, high speed Coral-H 45mm f/1.9 lens and an especially bright viewfinder that let you see a considerable amount of space around the frame. The idea was to design a camera suited for action photography at a mid-level price point. The camera originally sold for $99.50, plus $12.50 for the case.<div></div>

<p >One of reasons this camera caught my attention was the fact I already had experience with two other Aires cameras and was familiar with the high build quality and excellent optics AND it came with several interesting documents. One was the Modern Camera Guide Series-Aires Guide by Robert Simmons (1958) and the other was a Popular Photography Reprint of an article/review on the 35-III (Jan-1957). On the back of this reprint, the Aires 35-III is heralded as Popular Photography’s 1957 “Camera of the Year”. The article declares the lens on Aires 35-III to be, “exceptionally fine, as good as any lens, of similar focal length, in existence today. Very few high-speed lenses are capable of cutting sharply at very close distances like 20 inches, and at this distance the little Coral lens draws blood. That a lens contained with a $99.50 unit can compete on equal terms with the most highly renowned optical thoroughbreds in 35mm photography today must be counted as remarkable”.</p><div></div>

<p >Holding the Aires 35-III you are immediately surprised by its compact size yet hefty (30.1 oz) weight. Small cameras don’t fit my hands well, and full sized ones can be a pain to carry around. The size of the Aires is the perfect in-between size. The Seikosha-MX shutter offered non-LV shutter speeds from B, 1-1/500. The viewfinder is incredibly bright and shows objects/scenes at about 2/3 life-sized. The center-focusing patch is good but not a strongly delineated as some other cameras I own. This is true in my other Aires cameras as well. Still, no problems focusing in low light. In use, the viewfinder shows a strong resistance to flare. Of special note, due to the configuration of the viewfinder, the active frame area is very easy to see and focus with eyeglasses without having to grind the camera into my face/glasses to see what’s going on. Sweet.</p><div></div>

<p>To my eye, this camera is the paragon of simple, eloquent, and effective camera design. The top deck speaks of old school simplicity and quality. The film advance lever is beautifully designed and quite beefy. My thumb loves it and it tucks neatly against the camera when not in use. The back pops open via a side latch – film loading is easy breezy. This is a classic, completely all-manual camera with no automation, no meter and no batteries. </p><div></div>

<p >Now we get to the heart of the beast. Let’s face it; most normal lenses on quality cameras are pretty good so I try to be conservative and reserved in their assessment. That said, the Aires Coral-H 45mm f1.9 lens is not just good. It’s not excellent. It’s positively brilliant! I’m going out on a limb by saying that out of the dozen or so quality fixed lens rangefinders I own, this lens is the best of the lot. The resolution and micro contrast amazed me as I louped my negatives. While difficult to assess and appreciate on the web, the images on my prints leapt from the sheet with 3-D effect. The resolution and contrast easily match my Konica Auto S2 Hexanon 45mm f/1.8, but with much smoother OOF areas. This is, perhaps, aided by the round 10-bladed aperture. Some corner light falloff is seen at f/1.9 but clear by f/2.8. Between f/4 and f/11 it stuns with f/5.6 as the sweet spot. Better yet, it focuses down to 20 inches! Great for a close-up hound like me. It takes 43mm screw-in filters.</p><div></div>

<p>Aires used letter designations to describe the number of elements in the design. The Coral-H has six elements in four groups with an aperture range from f/1.9 to f/16. </p><div></div>

<p >I have two other Aires with the same fine lens, a Viscount and the very Leica M3-like 35-IIIC. Both are newer models. The Viscount is a couple of ounces lighter and offers an additional set of framing lines for a screw-in aux 80mm lens, a slightly shorter film advance throw and a rewind crank while the 35-IIIC, which weighs in about the same as the 35-III, adds a self timer. The bottom plate needs to be removed for the back to open. Both of these newer models have the Light Value feature on the shutters with five bladed apertures. Both are very good cameras but I prefer the 35-III for it’s more compact size, ten bladed aperture, no LV system and close focusing abilities. </p>

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<p >Compared to my two current favorites, the Konica Auto S2 and the Canon Canonet 17 GIII, the Aires 35-III is Spartan by comparison. Both are newer, lighter cameras with modern features like meters (don’t need it) and auto-exposure (don’t use it). The Konica is quite a bit larger and the Canon a bit smaller. Optically, the Aires tops them both. For a more classic, pure shooting experience in a compact fixed-lens camera, the Aires edges to the top.</p>

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Speaking of shooting here are a few frames taken with the Aires 35-III on Fuji Superia 400 film. Exposures determined by eye.</p><div></div>

<p>#1 Texture-Peeling Paint</p><div></div>

<p>#2 My Dog – Coco</p><div></div>

<p>#3 Wet Feet</p><div></div>

<p>#4 Purple flowers</p><div></div>

<p>#5 Three Blue Chairs – Osage Beach, Missouri</p><div></div>

<p>#6 Wooden Flag on a Fence - Clinton, Missouri</p><div></div>

<p>#7 Portrait of Clarence Gass in his Shop– Mission, Kansas</p><div></div>

<p>#8 Portrait of Sandy – Clinton, Missouri</p><div></div>

<p>#9 Portrait of Kevin in the Cabin - Clinton, Missouri</p><div></div>

<p >#10 Portrait of Robert, The Custodian </p>

<p >I had just met Robert while browsing the stacks at the Kansas City Art Institute library. He told me he has been the custodian there for the last 31 years. What looks like lens light fall off is actually the lighting in the hall where I photographed him. </p>

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<p >The camera handled beautifully in all situations. It combines pure simplicity, whisper quiet operation and stunning optics into a solid, compact package. It does everything I need and nothing I don’t. It performs, with eloquence, the most important function that I need from any camera…it stays out of my way. The only real problem that I have discovered is the fact that I now have difficulty putting it down.</p><div></div>

<p>Lovely sharp B&W pictures. Thanks for sharing. Regards, sp.</p>

<p>Nice narrative, nice photo's and nice cameras. I had heard of Aires, but now off to you-know-where to see how many are up for sale, LOL.</p>

<p>Excellent narrative. The way the Aires is packaged, it is a full decade ahead of my former Retina IIIc from the same era and the Retina was no slouch with regards to image quality.</p>

<p>You have a knack for portraiture. Your posted examples are extremely well done. They're all excellent, but I favor the use of side lighting with Clarence and the phenomenonal shot with Kevin.</p>

<p>Dammit Louis, now you've let another genie out of the bottle. I just passed an Aires at a Valu Village yesterday, and the price will probably triple. ;-P</p>

<p>Great pictures Luis. Espessialy wooden flag. I like it very very much.</p>

<p>I agree with all the other comments, it looks like a very solid and sharp shooter with not get-in-the-way-frills.<br>

Great review and pictures.</p>

<p>Wow, great little rangefinder...and your portraits with it are superb. This is an excellent post. Thanks for sharing.</p>