Shutter: Seikosha-SLV leaf
Shutter speeds: 1 sec to 1/500 sec plus B
Lens: Six element 45mm f1.9 H Coral
I think this is one of the most beautiful cameras that I have. Surprisingly to me at least it may have been a fairly inexpensive camera in its day. I have seen some info in various forums that indicate that the Aires Viscount sold for around $60 back in the 1950's. The one that I have works well with the exception of one critical flaw. The focusing ring appears loose. So far I haven't been able to find any info on how to fix it. Someday I plan to make some time to spend on the camera repair forum to see if I can get headed in the right direction.
So right now the Aires Viscount is mostly just to look at. I did notice that the rangefinder spot comes into focus on objects that are around 15 feet. So I figured I could take some pictures using f/16 and get a reasonable focus. I loaded about ten exposures of bulk HP5 and things worked out well enough. At least it did let me have a taste of what the camera would be like to use. And I would say that the actual use was enjoyable enough to give me some motivation to get the Aires Viscount working. It is a very smooth camera with a quiet shutter. So hopefully 2013 will be the year when this camera is restored. Below are a couple of the photos from my experiment.
Mild specs on this one until you see "f/1.9" on that lens. That makes it worth investing some repair time into, I think.
ReplyDeleteThat is my thinking also. I would like to see how it does wide open.
Deletelooks like a cool camera good luck on your restoration.
ReplyDeleteThanks Josh. I hope I can get it working this winter.
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