Review: Aires 35-III L

bmattock · 01-20-2004

Hey Folks:

This is my first webpage devoted to a rangefinder camera review. I hope it will be the first of many. But I need your help - could you please take a moment and review it and tell me what you think?

I've written it in straight HTML and CSS, no frames, no tables, no JavaScript, no ActiveX, no cookies.

I've tested it with Windows Internet Explorer and Netscape 7.2, both under Windows XP, and it looks ok (I had to make some compromises to make it show up even reasonably well under both). Under Linux Netscape, it looks screwy still - I'll work on that, but for now if you could just let me know your opinions, I'd appreciate it!

Bill Mattocks' Camera Reviews: Aires 35-III L

Thanks!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

wierdcollector · 01-21-2004

Bill, that is one of the better camera review pages I've read. I like the layout, the pictures and the bit about duct taping your cat. Ha Ha. Keep up the good work, those computer challenged souls among us really appreciate your efforts. Now if only I can find an Aires...

taffer · 01-21-2004

Yes, a very nice review Bill, the design is clean and clear as I think it should be, and it's also very well written and with good humour touches.

I think Aires prices will go higher than usual after that

bmattock · 01-21-2004

Thanks for the kind words, guys! I appreciate it very much! I doubt that my little webpage will have any effect on Aires camera prices, though; I'm no Steven Gandy or Karen Nakamura!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

oftheherd · 01-21-2004

Bill, good review for sure. However, in the paragraph starting "This last image was taken hand-held, 1/60th @ f1.9, wide-open for this lens. Here, I wanted the abolute," you will notice that the last word, absolute, is not spelled correctly. Minor, but I am sure you would prefer to correct it.

Thanks for the review.

bmattock · 01-21-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by oftheherd
Bill, good review for sure. However, in the paragraph starting "This last image was taken hand-held, 1/60th @ f1.9, wide-open for this lens. Here, I wanted the abolute," you will notice that the last word, absolute, is not spelled correctly. Minor, but I am sure you would prefer to correct it.

Thanks for the review.

Abolutely! (grin)

Thanks, I'll fix it!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Maccabi92 · 01-21-2004

Great work. I'm with rsilfverberg, I now have to have one! Thanks.

back alley · 01-21-2004

bill, great site, no doubt!

i am amazed at how you find the time and energy to do the things you do. and am very jealous of your abilities on the computer to boot!

i also noticed the kind words about our little forum in your links section, that was very nice.

as a small aside, i too like the people and the most appropriate behaviours of our membership. when jorge asked me to moderate this forum i immediately thought about the other forums i visit and the troubles and problems that happen when members get a little testy. however, we have had none of that here and i am very grateful for it.

your input and the friendliness of all the members is most appreciated.

joe

bmattock · 01-21-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by backalley photo
bill, great site, no doubt!

Thanks very much! It was a lot of hard work, I was up very late last night...yawn...

Quote:

i am amazed at how you find the time and energy to do the things you do. and am very jealous of your abilities on the computer to boot!

Well, I usually travel for a living and don't have time to do this sort of thing. It's just an unusual situation for me this week - my company has no assignment for me, so I'm sitting at home. And I'm not that good on the computer, I just read a lot of books and follow the instructions.

Quote:

i also noticed the kind words about our little forum in your links section, that was very nice.

Well, it's always a gamble - one wants a favorite web forum to become popular, to have more people to offer more dialogue, opinions, and so forth, but one also does not want the flamers, idiots, and so on that often come with a successful site. What to do?

Quote:

as a small aside, i too like the people and the most appropriate behaviours of our membership. when jorge asked me to moderate this forum i immediately thought about the other forums i visit and the troubles and problems that happen when members get a little testy. however, we have had none of that here and i am very grateful for it.

Yep, everybody here is aces in my book. I surely hope it stays that way!

Quote:

your input and the friendliness of all the members is most appreciated.

You're very welcome! I look forward to be a useful contributing member for some time to come...

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Flinor · 01-21-2004

Bill, thank you. Very good effort and introduction to Aires. Have you ever clicked the "Home" button on that first Aires website in your links? It's a shame that I can't read a lot of it, but this guy rivals Cameraquest for volume and variety.

Thanks again, Gerry

bmattock · 01-21-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Flinor
Bill, thank you. Very good effort and introduction to Aires. Have you ever clicked the "Home" button on that first Aires website in your links? It's a shame that I can't read a lot of it, but this guy rivals Cameraquest for volume and variety.

Thanks again, Gerry

Yes, it is quite a site, isn't it? There is a lot of english available, but some of it is in Korean (I think).

I have found that sometimes Babelfish works well:

Babelfish Translation

You can put in a block of text or a URL and choose the language - they now have Korean to English translation. It's free, too!

Thanks for the kind words!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Doug · 01-21-2004

Hi Bill --- It looks pretty nice to me! Clean layout. The only unusual thing I noticed was text and rules overlapping all the pictures on the left column, never on the right. I'll try to attach a pic...

FWIW, this is on Netscape 7.1 on the Mac OSX "Panther" OS, not sure if its UNIX roots tie in with the UNIX Netscape oddness you mentioned.

Just checked using Apple's Safari browser that comes with the new Mac OSX, and while the spacing is a little different it still has essentially the same kind of overlapping problem there too.

bmattock · 01-21-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Doug
Hi Bill --- It looks pretty nice to me! Clean layout. The only unusual thing I noticed was text and rules overlapping all the pictures on the left column, never on the right. I'll try to attach a pic...

FWIW, this is on Netscape 7.1 on the Mac OSX "Panther" OS, not sure if its UNIX roots tie in with the UNIX Netscape oddness you mentioned.

Just checked using Apple's Safari browser that comes with the new Mac OSX, and while the spacing is a little different it still has essentially the same kind of overlapping problem there too.

Doug, thanks! This is exactly the same problem I was having with Netscape under Linux last night - it has to do with CSS, which it appears that Netscape 7.1 under Linux (and I guess MaxOS) is ignoring. I tried to fiddle with the settings, and it ignored me, although I could see my incremental changes on the PC under Netscape 7.2 and IE.

I could have avoided all this trouble by using tables, but I wanted to use the latest greatest XHTML and CSS standards. Sigh. Technology bites me in the butt again. Argh!

Thanks for the feedback - I will work on it and may call upon you again to check it out later (if you don't mind).

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Doug · 01-22-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by bmattock
Thanks for the feedback - I will work on it and may call upon you again to check it out later (if you don't mind).

Glad to help any time, Bill!

Maccabi92 · 02-11-2004

I think you have driven the average price on Ebay over $50. McKeown's has it at $60 - 90. I still want one!

Brian Sweeney · 02-11-2004

You know, Jorge needs to approach EBay to add Search links after these reviews. Like what the Nikon Historical Society does. The Search could be tailored to the camera being reviewed.

Of course he should put in a one-month delay for insider's... That does not break any Anti-Trust thing...