Airesflex
The Aires Reflex, Airesflex and Aires Automat are 6×6 TLRs made by Aires in the early 1950s.
All have 75mm f/3.5 lenses, focus by moving the entire lens assembly, and have some degree of automation for film advance.
The Aires Reflex Y was released in 1951. It has Excelsior lenses and a Prontor type shutter (B, 1–200) with self-timer and flash synchronization.
The Aires Reflex YII (1951) has an NKK shutter (same specifications as before, but with Kodak-style flash terminal) and a magnifying glass in the hood.
The Aires Reflex YIII (1951/2) has semi-automatic film advance (align the "start" arrow with a marker; thereafter wind, cock and fire). Early examples have the Excelsior lenses; later ones Coral lenses.
The Aires Reflex Z (1952) has a Seikosha shutter (B, 1–500, synchronized), and, for the most part, four-element Nikkor lenses, Variants have Zuiko and Coral lenses
Models
Later models, in approximately chronological order:
- Aires Reflex (later, Airesflex) U
- Airesflex IV
- Aires Automat
Sources /further reading
In Japanese:
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. 347–53.
- Hagiya Takeshi (萩谷剛). "Airesu no kamera: Yarūfurekkusu soshite 6×6han niganrefu, 35mm kamera e (アイレスのカメラ：ヤルーフレックスそして6×6判二眼レフ、35mmカメラへ, The Aires cameras: From the Yallu Flex to 6×6 TLRs and 35mm cameras). Chapter 5 of Zunō kamera tanjō: Sengo kokusan kamera jū monogatari (ズノーカメラ誕生：戦後国産カメラ10物語, The birth of the Zunow camera: Ten stories of postwar Japanese camera makers). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1999. ISBN 4-257-12023-1 In Japanese only. First published in issue 22 (September 1992) of Kamera rebyū: Kurashikku kamera senka (カメラレビュー・クラシックカメラ専科).
Links
In Japanese:
- Airesflex IV from this page of old advertisements
- Takasaki Motohiro's repair/maintenance pages (text in Japanese, plus pictures):
- Airesflex, in particular detail, by Hiura Shinsaku (also in Japanese)
- Airesflex specifications (in Japanese)
- Airesflex Z repair, by H. Arai (in Japanese, pictures)
- Airesflex cameras text in Japanese, pictures
- Airesflex at Bob Monaghan's site
- Aya's camera (text in Japanese, and pictures):
- Sample photos from an Airesflex U
- Tests of the Nikkor-Q.C. lens on an Airesflex
- Sample photos from an Airesflex Automat
