C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Aires Reflex L is a 6x6cm twin-lens reflex camera produced by Aires Camera Industry Co. of Japan, introduced around 1957. It is a refined version of the Aires Reflex line, adding a built-in selenium exposure meter as its defining upgrade over the base model. The meter is non-coupled and requires the photographer to read the indicated value and set exposure manually.
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C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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About this camera
A 1957 Japanese 6x6 TLR distinguished by its built-in selenium light meter and the Aires Coral 75mm f/3.5 lens.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 120 film, 6x6cm (12 exposures) |
| Mount | Fixed |
| Taking lens | Aires Coral 75mm f/3.5 |
| Viewing lens | ~Aires 75mm f/3.5 |
| Year introduced | ~1957 |
| Shutter | Leaf: 1s - ~1/300s + B |
| Flash sync | ~ |
| Meter | Selenium cell, non-coupled |
| Film advance | Side knob, red-window frame count |
| Viewfinder | Waist-level, ground glass + sports finder |
| Battery | None (selenium cell) |
Aires Camera Industry produced cameras from the early 1950s until the company's closure in 1960. The company marketed a range of 35mm viewfinder cameras alongside a smaller line of medium-format TLRs under the Reflex designation. The Reflex L arrived in 1957, during the period when Japanese camera makers were adding selenium meters to their lineups to compete with European models and meet growing expectations from export markets, particularly in the United States.
The addition of the selenium cell meter differentiated the Reflex L from the base Aires Reflex and placed it in the middle tier of the Japanese TLR market, alongside metered versions from Yashica and Ricoh. The Coral lens had been used across multiple Aires models and was considered a competent if not exceptional performer relative to Yashinon and Rokkor glass on competing cameras.
Aires ceased camera production around 1960, making the Reflex L a relatively late product in the company's brief history. The brand is now largely forgotten, though the 35mm rangefinder models retain a small collector following.
The Aires Reflex L illustrates the rapid adoption of built-in metering across the Japanese TLR market in the late 1950s. By 1957, even mid-tier producers were fielding metered models, and the non-coupled selenium meter on the Reflex L was a practical compromise: it added metering capability without the mechanical complexity of a coupled system.
The Coral 75mm f/3.5 lens delivers results broadly comparable to the Tri-Lausar and similar budget four-element designs of the era -- adequate for moderate enlargements and well-suited to the 6x6 negative. At its price point it competed credibly against the Ricohflex with meter and the Yashica LM.
For collectors, the Reflex L is of interest as a representative of a largely disappeared brand. Working examples with functioning selenium cells are uncommon; the cell degrades with age and light exposure and often reads low or not at all on surviving cameras.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
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