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ALPA 12 SWA -The Ultimate Hand-Held Medium Format (Shift) Camera The name ALPA already reminds the camera enthusiast to the golden ages of European camera manufacturing - the time when Europe was the leading force in designing, building and selling film based cameras. It was the time when Zeiss and other manufacturers throughout Europe built cameras of top quality and when Switzerland was home of several very important optics and camera manufacturers - Wild, Kern, Bolex - to name a few and of course ALPA. The ALPA was the Mount Everest of precision and quality, for most photographers just unaffordable but nevertheless for many a dream to own one.
The first ALPA 35mm SLR was produced from 1944 onwards and used mostly Angenieux lenses. What you see here is the first version, the ALPA-Reflex:
The Best of the Best was the famous ALPA 11si, which at that time was comparable regarding its status to a Rolls-Royce. Only the best was good enough for that ALPA and the camera body itself was a Swiss masterpiece of precision mechanics. Still today, if a well maintained second hand ALPA 11si is sold, its price usually surpasses all other top-end cameras of that period with the possible exception of Zeiss' Contarex Super Electronic. Here is the ALPA 11si:
As most European camera manufacturers long before in the 60's and 70's, in 1990 also ALPA went out of business - to a good part due to the dramatic changes which the Japanese manufacturers had caused to the global camera market - they eliminated most, almost all European camera manufacturers by successfully marketing and selling their increasingly attractive portfolios to the consumers and professionals. Another reason for their failure might have been that their attempt to compete successfully against the Japanese brands by OEM-ing from a not very highly regarded Japanese manufacturer - Cosina - and branding that camera ALPA (2000 and 3000 series) was a serious mistake and ruined the image of this highly regarded Swiss manufacturer. Leica and Hasselblad were among the very few European survivors, even world famous names like Carl Zeiss had already discontinued their camera production quite some time before. In 1990, the year of ALPA's bankruptcy, two Swiss entrepreneurs, not photographers, who read about that bankruptcy of ALPA, started to bid and after 6 years of legal fighting, they in 1996, finally got ALPA plus all rights and returned the famous brand to life. Already during this period of 6 years of legal battles, so even before the name and all rights of ALPA were secured, it was clear, that it would be more reasonable to develop a top-end medium format camera than another 35mm SLR again - that market was just too crowded and too competitive in price and performance - and to incorporate modern electronics would have required to secure unjustifiable and unobtainable R&D funds as well. Additionally, the 35mm marketplace for top-exclusive cameras was well watched and guarded by Leica in Wetzlar, who would have been able to destroy any serious competitor from their beginnings. The initial concept - a fully mechanical high-end medium format SLR in the style of the famous Ermanox, had to be abandoned due to potential legal disputes and actual threats by Hasselblad - it would have been far too risky and dangerous to design an SLR which most likely would have turned out as a technically serious competition to the mechanical Hasselblad. The first model of the "new" ALPA12 looked quite different from what was later to become the ALPA12WA (Wide-Angle) and ALPA12SWA (Shift-Wide-Angle). Here is the first model, a medium format camera with a modified Zeiss 80mm Planar and interchangeable film holder:
The concept was reconsidered and together with the Swiss precision panorama camera manufacturer, Seitz, the first model of the ALPA 12 was developed and presented to the market in 1998. The success was on the horizon - the best optics one can buy for money was combined with the highest precision in mechanics, this was the recipe for success. And the success came - the camera was bought by renown photographers and celebrities, it became slowly a camera for all those who can't be impressed with gimmicks but want perfection and durability. As of today, end of 2004, the ALPA 12 is well established with professional photographers and all those who prefer to have no electronics, no programs, no electrics, just peak performance, precision, durability and reliability.
When you unpack the camera, the first impression is - wow, that's a camera? You see a frame with a strange shape, some pieces here and there, a camera lens on a pedestal like support and a very heavy rock-solid roll film holder. Then a very strange looking viewfinder and some other small parts which all together look expensive but do not look like camera parts - at least very different from what you know from Nikon, Olympus, Canon or Minolta. OK it is a medium format camera, so how about the similarities to other manufacturers like Mamiya, Hasselblad, Pentax or Linhof? Well, there are parts which look alike - yes, some parts come from these manufacturers, but these OEM parts are customized to meet the very stringent specifications and tolerances which ALPA requires. The Camera Body - The Main Frame Let us talk first about the camera body, the main frame. It is a high precision part, machined out of one block of fighter jet material with tolerances in the 2/100 mm range ( for the non-metric community - 1/100mm equals 4/10,000inch). Two very ergonomic wooden grips are mounted on either side and can be exchanged by the user. The grips of my camera are rosewood - very elegant, but maybe some photographers prefer black grips or grips made out of lighter wood - of course, the grips are machined out of a block of solid old and well dried wood - what else did you expect for this camera? Screws on the frame - yes, there are screws but only the most expensive and most precise ones you can buy and some of them are gold-plated. My goodness, this looks elegant! My ALPA 12 is the SWA ( shift-wide-angle) version, which means the frame incorporates the shift mechanism - and this is another masterpiece of precision. The shifting can be done by rotating a round knob with a gold-plated inlay on the bottom of the frame and it rotates so smooth that one can do it with the smallest finger on your hand. Its movement is spanning 25mm upwards - an absolutely smooth and super-precise movement on ball bearings. If you ever have used shift lenses from other manufacturers or view cameras, you appreciate this smoothness and ease of operation.
The front- and back side supports are perfectly square - the back side accepts the film holders and the front side the camera lenses. These lenses ( I will later talk about them ) are mounted on a square support which as well is precision-machined out of a solid block of aircraft aluminum to the same tight tolerances as all parts are - all mechanical tolerances in direction the optical axis not exceeding 2/100mm in total. This is the only way to ensure that a wide angle shift (and non-shift as well) medium format camera is delivering the image quality you expect for this class of camera. On top of the main frame are four levers, two on each side, which lock the camera lens and the film holder in place. Their movement is precise, well defined and smooth as well. A very appealing feature can be found as well on top of the main frame - two spirit levels.
One is East-West and the other is North-South oriented to ensure the easy and quick horizontal alignment of the camera, which is especially important when on uses is for architectural photography with the built-in shift mechanism.
In the middle of the top side of the main frame is a raised part with two screw holes and two orientation holes - this is the place where the optical viewfinder is mounted. Just to repeat the blinking obvious - the attachment of the viewfinder works like all other parts - precise and smooth - and the screws, they are gold-plated as well. I know, it is not necessary to gold plate screws, but it does not only look elegant, it also functions better and smoother....right? On the bottom side of the main frame is the tripod mount - placed not in the middle of the frame but protruding about an inch towards the front, the side of the camera lens. This stabilizes the camera very well on the tripod and without tripod, the camera stands nicely and stable on a flat surface as well. The Film holders The roll film holders are OEM products from renown manufacturers. As with most larger volume manufacturing, their standard tolerances do not meet the very stringent specifications of ALPA and so they are customized for ALPA. Adapter plates allow to use standard Mamiya roll film backs, including the very practical motorized 6x8 back of the RB 67 ProSD. But the highest degree of precision comes from the modified Linhof backs - they are re-machined at Linhof to meet ALPA's even more stringent tolerance specifications compared to Linhof's standard specs. One key reason why ALPA's mechanical tolerances are that tight is that the photographer can use the ALPA cameras lenses with fully open aperture, which is usually not a done deal with large format cameras. For almost any thinkable format, you can get a roll film holder - from 42x56mm to 56x84mm, for 120 and for 220 roll film. Some film formats are worth mentioning specifically like the format 44x66mm. This format is designed for the famous Carl Zeiss Biogon 4,5/38mm Superwideangle and uses the available image circle better than the standard 6x6cm ( actually 56x56mm) format of the Hasselblad SWC. Or the very attractive 6x8cm (actually 56x76mm) format of the motorized Mamiya 6x8 film holder, which can be switched within seconds from 120 to 220 film. But to be fully consistent with ALPA's philosophy of a fully mechanical camera, one should use the modified Linhof Super-Rollex film cassettes, which bear the name ALPA. They are available for negative formats from 44x66mm to 56x84mm (6x9) and are as solid as heavy they are (and expensive of course). Other manufacturer's film holders can be used as well, like Horseman, but this option does bear some risk - taking pictures with fully open super-wide-angle lenses requires a perfectly matched and defined focus plane and off-the-shelf roll film holders might be within the tolerances but might also be slightly outside of them. Of course, using an off-the-shelf roll film holder like the very common Horseman 6x7 holder, can save quite a lot of money for those who are aware of the potential problems inherent to their choice. What do I use - I use the Mamiya 6x8 motorized film back and the ALPA (Linhof) 6x7 back.
The ALPA back is rock solid and works great (it is also very suitable to defend against mountain lions and black bears), just a bit heavy and bulky, but I presume that this is the price for its durability and precision mechanics. On the other hand, the motorized Mamiya 6x8 back is lighter and less bulky but some purists would call it a metal box. I do like it - it is powered by four AA batteries, which you can get everywhere on the world and if the batteries fail, you can wind the film manually. I like the film format 56x76mm and especially the option to switch between 220 and 120 film without changing the insert. This film holder allows to shoot at approximately 1 frame per second and this is fast enough for me and my applications.
The Viewfinder This viewfinder is quite different from anything you have seen before - it is large, round and long. Long, because it needs to protrude enough backwards to allow the photographer to comfortably use it with the rather bulky roll film holders attached to the main frame. Round because it is a 120degree panoramic viewfinder - one for all wide-angle lenses which can be used and since the angle of view of the camera lenses exceed 90 degrees, it makes sense to show much more in the viewfinder to allow an easy orientation. And - here comes another feature, which I like very much - you can see the spirit level simultaneously to the frame mask which makes it possible to easily align the hand held camera perfectly straight during taking a picture.
This spirit level is placed on the lower left side of the viewfinder assembly and is such a practical and important device - you realize it as soon as you use another camera which does not provide it. The frame masks are interchangeable of course, the exchange mechanism is easy to use - unscrew the front ring, take the mask out and place another in. The masks can be rotated from horizontal to vertical position with a very smooth and precise movement ( what else..). Here you see the viewfinder - different, very different, right?
The lenses A long list of available wide and super-wide angle lenses fills the brochures and since recently that list has got expanded into macro, standard angle and tele lenses. Let me explain the various options in detail. First of all, the ALPA 12 was designed primarily as wide-angle and super-wide angle camera, not as macro and tele-camera. This needs to be kept in mind when one looks at the available optics. Two main manufacturers of top-end optics are supplying most of the available lenses: Schneider-Kreuznach and Linos(Rodenstock). Carl Zeiss provides one of the most famous lenses in camera optics, the 4,5/38mm Biogon in an exclusive version for the ALPA. Schneider Kreuznach, the main supplier of top-end optics for ALPA, modifies their series of Super-Angulon XL lenses according to ALPA's specifications and mounts them in selected helicoidal focusing mounts. The available focal lengths for film based photography as of December 2004 include the XL 5,6/38mm - here its picture:
, the Aspheric Super Symmar XL 4,5/80mm, the Macro Symmar 5,6/120mm and two apochromatic tele lenses, the Apo Symmar L 5,6/180mm and the Apo Tele-Xenar 5,6/250mm. For digital photography, which I will cover later, the full range of Apo-Digitar lenses starting with the Apo-Digitar 5,6/24mm over the available focal range up to the Apo-Digitar 4,5/90mm is made available - in the same or similar focusing mounts as all other Schneider-Kreuznach lenses. A very special wide-angle lens should be mentioned separately - the newly released Apo-Helvetar 5,6/48mm.
This apochromatic corrected lens is based upon the Super-Angulon 5,6/47mm and was especially optimized for ALPA and film photography. But due to its high level of color correction and its practically distortion free imaging properties, it is also a very suitable lens for digital imaging, especially with DALSA-chip based digital backs (will explain later the benefits and advantages of the DALSA chip).
The other main supplier of top-end optics is the former Rodenstock Optics Group, called Linos. Their lenses, still branded as Rodenstock, include the Apo-Grandagon 4,5/35mm, Apo-Grandagon 4,5/45mm, Apo-Grandagon 4,5/55mm and the Grandagon N 4,5/65mm, furthermore the Apo-Sironar N 5,6/150mm. ALPA offers a pretty rare specialty as well - the Linhof/Rodenstock Technikar 3.5/95mm. This lens was originally used for the famous Linhof 220 camera, which was discontinued many years ago and was probably the main reason for this camera to be still highly sought after. This lens is customized for ALPA, made interchangeable and mounted focusable like the other lenses. Due to its design, it can only be used with a Copal Press shutter, not with the standard Copal shutters. Its main application is reported to be portrait photography, but my own experience with it tells me that it is also an outstanding general purpose lens, especially for B&W photography. Carl Zeiss is the supplier of another very special lens, the famous Biogon 4,5/38mm. This lens, which is also used for the Hasselblad SWC, does not cover the entire range of available film formats of the ALPA, but to get the most out of it, ALPA's design team created a special format for this lens, a format which is regarding its side ratio comparable to the 35mm film and allowing to use the largest possible image circle - 44x66mm. This format covers about 8% less area overall than Hasselblads own 56x56mm (6x6) film format but due to its side ratio of 2:3, it allows a larger net usage of the available film format for many photographic applications. But if you prefer to use the standard 56x56mm format, you of course can do it - ALPA provides a full range of roll film holders for this format as well. I have taken the ALPA with the 5,6/68mm Super Angulon XL and the 3,5/95mm Technikar out into the field, into the real life to test its optical quality and handling. After several weeks of shooting with the ALPA, I can only say, that I love that camera and its optics. Yes it is a fact, that handling the ALPA requires to start thinking before acting, but is this not better than just shooting hundreds of photos and hoping that the electronics and AF system will provide some of them not only properly exposed but also in focus - the focus being there where I wanted it to be and not where the camera set it? The 5,6/58mm Super Angulon XL is very sharp, tack-sharp as one can say. Even at fully open aperture, it can be used with very good results. But me, being a fan of super sharp shots, I prefer to use it stopped down to about 1:8 - then it is not only super-sharp but also reveals and very attractive contrast. ALPA recommends to use a center filter (the IIIb) if one uses the shift function ( 10mm and more) - I concluded that the centerfilter is not really always necessary. As soon as you stop down to 1:11 or more, the unavoidable intensity vignetting disappears, but yes, for open aperture and shifting 10mm and more, I would recommend to use it as well. Just to make it clear - the centerfilter, as all centerfilters, takes away light - otherwise it would not be a centerfilter, right? The amount of light reduction is about 2 stops, so if you use the centerfilter, your lens changes from a 1:5,6 to a 1:11 lens - now with that opening, you can shoot most shifted images also without center filter. But if you like to be perfect, you should use it - even at 1:11, one can see a slightly reduced exposure time at the corners of the image. This is eliminated completely as soon as you use that centerfilter (which must be placed directly in front of the camera to work properly). Of course, there is another difference - the exposure time might be the same with center filter and 1:5,6 opening or without center filter and 1:11 but the different opening of the aperture does change the appearance of the image - think about depth of field and related characteristics. The ALPA is a camera which needs some thinking before shooting (and during, and after as well). The camera does neither have a built-in exposure meter nor any device to measure the distance - so everything you do, you have to do consciously. There are no batteries to die on you, there is no electronics, no chips nothing - just high-precision mechanics and top-end optics. But this camera works - at temperatures where others die or stop working. This camera does not let you down as it does not require "refueling" with batteries (I remember very well how my Nikon needed batteries in the middle of the Florida Everglades and there was absolutely no way to get new ones without driving about 100 miles). It is a camera which requires a photographer to think - it is not a camera for occasional shooters of quick memories. It is also not a camera for those who make only 4x6 enlargements for their albums. It is a companion for good and bad days - 33 years ago, I spent about 5 weeks in Uzbekistan, at that time with an Exakta Varex IIb - no batteries, no electronics as well and there would have been at that time no shops to get batteries for a camera as there were no shops for these items anywhere. Today, I would take the ALPA to the same locations, because I do not need to think about legions of spare batteries for a longer trip, I want a camera which I can rely on - always, no exceptions. And I want a camera which delivers top quality images, not but's and if's. Something else the photographer needs to keep in mind - before changing the lens, you need to insert and close the dark slide of the roll film holder, but this is the same with all other cameras which provide interchangeable film cassettes or holders. If you change the lens, then as well you need first to insert and close the dark slide of the roll film holder because the shutter is part of the lens and not part of the body and the body does not have an auxiliary shutter which would increase the depth of the main frame and therefore reduces its super-wide-angle suitability. Well, thinking about first closing the roll film holder and then taking the lens off is a process which needs to be remembered - it takes a couple of wasted images but then you do not forget it anymore (my own experience). Talking about the camera lens usage - well like with my Linhof Master Technika, you also need first to cock the shutter to be able to take a picture. Overall, if you are used to work with a large format camera, be it a full featured optical bench type one or a field camera, you get used quickly to the ALPA - not too much difference regarding handling at all, just very much lighter in weight. And believe me, if you are hiking or out in the middle of nowhere, you appreciate every single pound which the equipment weights less! My Linhof Master Technika equipment is so heavy to carry that the ALPA12SWA feels more like a compact snapshot camera than a medium format shift camera and the difference in weight also compared to other medium format cameras with interchangeable lenses is quite a lot - just think about the weight of a RZ67 equipment with a couple of lenses. During the time I have got this camera with me, I was asked quite often, if there is a comparable camera on the market - after some thinking, I came to the conclusion, No, there is no comparable camera available. Let me explain why I come to this conclusion: There are a few medium format cameras available which are not SLR's - one of them, which is not built anymore is, or better, was, the Makina 67 in its two versions - with an standard 80mm Nikon lens and the W version with a 65mm Nikon wide angle optics. Both cameras have a fixed lens, both are very nice and compact foldable cameras, no question but they are neither representing a camera system nor do they offer exchangeable lenses, shift and other important features. Another series of medium format rangefinder cameras are the large Fuji GS and GSW cameras, but they are not any more offered, so if you want to buy one, you have to look at the second hand marketplace. The GS690 got a 90mm fixed lens, the GSW690 a 65mm fixed lens - similar restrictions to the previously mentioned Makina cameras. But these Fuji cameras are very large and heavy - somehow enlarged 35mm rangefinder cameras. Nice optics, but - again - no shift, no interchangeability of neither optics nor film holders - just one lens and one film format. Horseman (A brand of the Komamura Corporation) manufactures a camera system, which could perhaps be regarded as competition - the Horseman SW 6x9 Professional and the wider model, the SW 6x12 Professional. The SW6x9 offers shift as well - even horizontal shift (vertical 17mm up and 17mm down and 20mm horizontal in each direction) and two film formats - 6x7cm and 6x9cm. This camera uses the same optics from Rodenstock as the ALPA 12SWA does - from 35mm to 90mm focal length. Three spirit levels on the camera (two for horizontal orientation and one for vertical orientation) allow the precise orientation and the viewfinder looks pretty similar to the one of the ALPA but does not provide the direct view of the all-direction 360degree spirit level for real-time alignment during hand-held photography. Instead it allows to see the distance setting of the lens which is quite nice plus the horizontal lateral spirit level (left-right tilt) but in my opinion, more important is definitely the precise alignment aid for all directions provided by the visible 360degree spirit level of the ALPA. The Horseman SW 6x12 can accept three different film formats - 6x7 and 6x9 like the SW6x9 but also 6x12, which is of particular interest for landscape photographers. Overall that camera looks quite square and mechanical and definitely not as sleek and elegant as the ALPA. Regarding its imaging (are they using the optics as they get it without specially tightened tolerances?) and handling performance, I cannot comment (yet) as I have no life experience with it - but I will try to get on loan and compare the two of them in a later review. I once owned a Horseman VHR field camera which was fine but not outstanding regarding its overall quality and performance - so it would be interesting the make a direct comparison between the Horseman SW6x9(6x12) and the ALPA12SWA. One specific camera was quite often mentioned to me as a competitor and despite my honest opinion, that this camera is not a competition for the ALPA12SWA, I shall explain it and why I consider it not to be competing with the ALPA. This camera is the Mamiya 7 Mark II. This 6x7cm film format camera is the newest of a well established series of rangefinder cameras from Mamiya Corporation in Japan. It can accommodate interchangeable lenses from 43mm super-wide-angle to 210mm tele. Its shutter system is a battery operated electromagnetic electronic shutter, and the body incorporates an aperture priority exposure measurement system which AE automatic exposure or completely manual operation with LED's for setting the correct exposure. The lenses are interchangeable and an automatic dark-slide curtain closes the film chamber light-tight before the lens can be removed. The film format is 6x7cm with an optional 35mm panorama insert (24x65mm) and an optional fiber-optics Polaroid back. Both cannot be interchanged during having a film loaded. This Mamiya 7 is certainly an attractive camera which incorporates several of the general advantages of large format viewfinder cameras - no bouncing mirror, no mirror caused vibrations, low noise shutter release, flash synchronization at all speeds, lenses not requiring the more sophisticated and less desirable retro-focus design to bridge the large distance between lens and film plane with the intermediate mirror housing etc. But one has to keep in mind that all lenses for the Mamiya 7 have been designed for that film format and not for a large format like the lenses for the ALPA series. This means that the ALPA lenses, being designed for at least 4x5inch film format, are used at their best part, their center part and therefore can claim to deliver sharper and better results, especially towards the outer limits of the film formats than other lenses which have been designed for a much small film format. In addition, the Mamiya 7 does not allow shift movement nor has it got interchangeable roll film backs. The Mamiya 7 series is a very attractive camera for those who are used to an (automatic) 35mm viewfinder camera but prefer the larger film format for increased definition and color rendition of their images plus less visible grain compared to 35mm film. All these before mentioned cameras lack one important feature which is getting more and more a deciding factor in these days - a properly integrated digital imaging back. Yes, the ALPA12SWA is also a fully functional digital high-end shift camera with fully integrated digital back. Not only one back, you can choose among several backs from various providers and select the best one for your specific application and budget allowance. Within a few seconds, the ALPA can be changed from a roll film camera to a high resolution digital camera, capable as well of digital super wide angle photography. The digital backs from Imacon, Jenoptik, Leaf, Phase One and Sinar can be fully integrated for single- and multi-pass shots with the maximum resolution the back provides. ALPA's high eyepoint 120degree viewfinder, which protrudes far enough to the back of the camera to extend over the usually pretty bulky digital backs can be equipped with the appropriate format mask and thus allows again to compose the image in real time. Among the selected ALPA certified digital lenses is the Apo-Digitar series of lenses made by Schneider-Kreuznach. Their range includes the super-wide-angle Apo-Digitar XL 5,6/24mm, the Apo-Digitar L 5,6/35mm, the two Apo-Digitar 4.0/60mm and 80mm and last but not least the Apo-Digitar N 4.5/90mm. Other lenses, if the certify according to the ALPA specifications, can be adapted as well on special order. The resulting image quality depends for digital photography not only on the performance of the optics and the imaging chip but as the sensor surface is perfectly flat, there is no room for excessive tolerances - to be perfect in focus, it must be a given to be always in the middle of the depth of field and of course with fully opened aperture. The tight tolerances, which ALPA applies for all parts and components, ensure this and therefore, ALPA can also claim that it is one of the best digital shift cameras for professional photography on the world market.
Working with the ALPA12SWA - handling, performance, selecting lenses and image quality: Before I talk about my impressions, I would like to show how the ALPA12SWA is assembled - first comes the frame with the handgrips, then the film holder, then the viewfinder and then the camera lens. The final picture is a multi-exposure of all steps...looks quite interesting, right?
Well, when you get an ALPA12SWA into your hands, the very first impression is: Oh, what a wonderful camera and how well it feels in my hands! But this is just one aspect of such a rather expensive camera - how does it perform under real life conditions, how good are the pictures taken with it, how fast can it be operated, how reliable will it be, etc If have used this camera now under several environmental conditions - rain, snow, cold, sun and heat etc. and I keep using it - I am almost sleeping with it! It worked always, no exceptions, period. No batteries, no electronics - that is certainly an attractive guarantee for 365/24/7 readiness and operability. The two handgrips make its weight become a featherweight and its operation very comfortable as well. As I mentioned before, the lens changing procedure requires some thinking before acting, otherwise you loose an image on the film - do not forget to close the roll film holder's front with the dark-slide - other than that, it is easy and quick to change a lens. Changing lenses - this brings me to another point which I experienced with the ALPA - you should consider to use less lenses than you might be used to with a medium format SLR. Why do I state this? Well, it is not only the price of the lenses (and there is no EBay market for second hand ALPA12 lenses), it is also the fact that you are using a viewfinder camera and not an SLR - so that means that you either have to live with quite a lot of frames on your viewfinder reticle or you need to change not only the lens but also the reticle. I decided for the first way to go and I think that three lenses should be enough for almost all occasions. Don't think this is something very special, it is the same approach as if you would work with a Leica M7 - just a bit larger and a bit heavier. But this self-limitation to maybe three lenses max. includes many advantages - much less weight and the necessity to concentrate more on the act of photography than on the technical features and options of a camera. I think I know what I am talking about - I also own a Rollei SL66SE and a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II equipment with several lenses. Backpacking a Rollei SL66 SE is manageable, but if I put the RZ67 with the lenses, the auto-exposure prism and a couple of magazines into my camera rucksack, I can tell you, it is like at fitness training under adverse circumstances - 25pounds are easily reached. I know, there are outdoor photographers (and some of them are very well know) who carry 40 and more pounds through the Rockies, but would less weight not be a tremendous advantage? It is for me, and therefore I do enjoy the ALPA also for this advantage - less weight! What would I recommend - this depends to 100% on what your main area of interest is - I am interested primarily in outdoor photography and as the ALPA12SWA by definition excels as wide-angle camera, my favorite lenses are between 35 and 65mm - like the 38mm Super Angulon XL, the 48mm Apo Helvetar and the 58mm Super Angulon XL. As standard lens, I have a problem to decide between the Aspheric 80mm Symmar and the 95mm Technikar - probably my set of choice for outdoor activities would include the 48mm Apo Helvetar and the 80mm Aspheric Super Symmar XL as basic set to carry the least amount of weight plus a small lens with longer focal length like the Macro Symmar HM 5,6/120mm. This 120mm lens is not only using ultra low dispersion (ULD) glass, it is also very highly corrected - at standards which are applied for APO lenses. I think that these three focal lengths 48mm-80mm-120mm are a nice all-round combination for most of my areas of interest. A lens with a focal length longer than 180mm is probably not very comfortable to use at the ALPA - the viewfinder has too wide an angle of view for focal lengths like 250mm to frame properly. For the mentioned 180mm, I would choose the Apo Symmar L 1:5,6/180mm as longest lens. And going into super-wide angle, well, I think that for my applications, I do see 35mm or 38mm as a very attractive option for architectural photography and interiors - so if I would have enough money, I would get one of these super-wide angle lenses as well. But maybe then the combination 38mm-58mm-80mm-120mm is the best set with four lenses. If you like to compare the ALPA lenses regarding their focal lengths with the 35mm format - here is the appropriate link: 35mm vs. ALPA I am in the very lucky position to be able to try all these lenses, except the 120mm Macro Symmar HM, so over the coming months, I shall use them and then write more about their performance and my experiences with them. Working with the ALPA12SWA is a really attractive experience - first of all, the images are so wonderfully sharp - from edge to edge and from corner to corner. Here is just one example - this handheld shot was taken on the Gold Camp Road, Southwest of Colorado Springs. It was a sunny winter late afternoon shot and the film was a Kodak Ektachrome 100. I had to resize the scanned image for the web and for the detail, I used the original scan and enlarged a small part, which you can find on the lower right side where the tree trunk is leaning on the rocks.
Here is the mentioned detail:
Another very impressive example is a handheld shot with 10mm shift, which I took at Cripple Creek - a former gold mining town in Colorado. When the gold rush faded, this town became a well known gambling town, of several in Colorado. Its Main Street is still mostly original and pretty photogenic. The film was Kodak Ektachrome 100 and the ALPA was equipped with the Super Angulon XL 58mm. The original slide was scanned at 4000 dpi with a Nikon Super Coolscan 8000ED and then cropped to a panorama like image. As before, I had to drastically reduce the size of the scan to meet the requirements for websites.
You can see in the image above a circled area on the right side - this is the area which I enlarged below to demonstrate the optical performance of the ALPA lenses - what you can see in the enlarged detail are the scanned pixels but no limit of resolution yet. If I had a scanner with a higher optical resolution like one of the Heidelberg drum scanners, I could have shown even more details in this minute cut-out.
What one should keep in mind is that this shot was a handheld shot, exposure time about 1/60sec at 1:11-16 with 10mm shift (no centerfilter)! The camera is very easy to operate once you made yourself familiar with its basics (and once you have understood that you need to think a bit before acting) and quite fast. When I got the camera, I made myself familiar with it by practicing all necessary activities like shutter cocking, film winding, darkslide operation etc - not that I would not know what to do, but just to become so familiar with everything that I could do all actions blindfolded and completely automatic. It did not take me long and now, everything is done automatically. Some thoughts on what makes this camera so unique? There are many 6x7 cameras out in the marketplace and even some more expensive ones, believe it or not. But this camera is so different - first it is a masterpiece of precision mechanics. I always wanted to use a camera where every single movement, lever, knob, scale etc is precise as much as it can be done - maybe that is the reason why I also like my old Leica M2 so much. Then its optical performance - it is using optics which was designed for a much larger film format, so what you are using on 120 and 220 film is the center of the image circle - the best part of the image. Even with a large shift of 15mm, you are still not using the outer parts of the optical image circle. One example, the image circle of the Super Angulon XL 5,6/58mm is quoted to be 166mm at f=22 and 129mm at 1:5,6 - the image diagonal of ALPA's largest film format, 6x9cm (56x84 actually) is about 101mm - this means that with 15mm shift at this wide angle and even at fully open aperture, you are still well inside the main area of the image circle. Here is the link to the list of maximum recommended shift in mm for the more common ALPA lenses: List of max. Shift in mm This leads me to another key feature - shifting, as explained before. The ALPA12SWA is one of the very few medium format cameras with which one can take shift images without tripod. I tried it myself and it works fine - no problem. Just a bit of experience is required to judge the base line of the shifted image in relation to the entire image - but this you learn very easily - and you need not anymore to live with perspective distortion. Another feature I like is that it does not use any electronics nor batteries for operation. I know, all modern cameras are more electronic super systems than cameras and contain more electronics than it was inside most computers several years ago - not that I am against electronics in general, but this huge amount of electronics not only makes the user completely relying on what it decides and tells you, you need to carry tons of batteries and it often replaced the brain of the photographer so that the camera takes the picture - just the motive finder is missing, then it would be a complete robotic system. I probably will have many people disagreeing, but my personal perception of photography is still that the person behind the camera viewfinder is the decision taker and engages his or her experience, knowledge and preferences to set the parameters of a picture - exposure, aperture etc. And speed - yes one can be fast with the ALPA as well - I most recently heard that some of the best pictures shot during Jasser Arafat's funeral were taken with an ALPA - certainly not an event where photographers can waste much time. But one might say - I am praising this camera quite a lot, what are its shortcomings? Where and what are the weaknesses as every technical product has got weaknesses. I shall be open and what I list is my personal opinion of course. It does not change my degree of liking for the ALPA at all - so here are its subjective weak points: I would like to see, at least as an option, a zoom viewfinder similar to the one of the Linhof Master Technika. It is definitely feasible to design a super wide angle zoom viewfinder with visible spirit level. I can live well with its current viewfinder and I even started to like it (a bit) but a zoom viewfinder would be probably an attractive alternative as it would more or less eliminate the requirement for using either a rather busy viewfinder mask or changing the masks together with the camera lenses. Next one - I would like to see some mechanical device which, if a film holder dark slide is still inserted, makes the user aware of it. Yes, this dark slide is taken out easily, but in the beginning, I bet, you forget to take it out - no question. Same with the film advance - you need to think about it, otherwise you end up with all your photos taken on one single slide or negative...happened to me many years ago, when I was working with a Horseman VHR...so, again, be prepared to switch on your brain before pressing any button - but this is not a bad precaution for most activities, right? Anything else to criticize? Not really, no - and these few subjective weaknesses are not detrimental to the overall very positive impression this camera makes. Its price - well, what do you expect - to pay a bargain for top precision and quality? Yes it is expensive and some other professional cameras using roll film are much cheaper, but think back to my initial comments about ALPA's philosophy, name and fame - your camera will maintain its value and at some time in the future will even appreciate in value, that's for sure. In all my years of browsing the internet I have found only one single ALPA12 for sale - at a very high price. The ALPA is certainly not the appropriate camera for those who want to use it for one year only and then get a more modern one with even more electronics and gimmicks - it is a camera which remains your companion for the rest of your (photographic) life. You buy it once and work with it until your photographic life has ended and it won't disappoint you during the lifetime. The ALPA12 as high-end medium format digital camera Digital imaging - another one of the hot topics in these days. Yes, the ALPA is also a brilliant digital high-end professional camera. Believe it or not - this is also one of the best available digital cameras. Why do I say this? Because its concept and optics makes it possible to use not only any available high-end digital camera back from any manufacturer but also because its fully interchangeable (non-retrofocus) optics guarantees best results from super wide angle to telefocus. As it is common knowledge, there are two different types of professional digital camera backs on the market - the one is using a "Kodak" sensor and the other type is using the "DALSA" sensor. There are several pro's and con's for either one type but in my opinion, the DALSA sensor type is just better for digital photography. It would exceed the framework for this review to explain the technological differences, but to make it short, the DALSA sensor is less sensitive to the angle of incidence at wide angle lenses and thus the images show much less to almost no color fringes towards the edge of the image circle and the corner of the image. But all sensors require a very high degree of precision regarding the mechanical distances between back focal plane and sensor plane to produce sharp images corner to corner. Many medium format cameras ( and also 35mm cameras ) apply mechanical tolerances which are just to loose to guarantee perfect and 100% sharp images at full aperture opening. What you see here as a couple of professional digital backs (Imacon left, Leaf right) mounted on the ALPA12 - just as example to demonstrate it's versatility:
The ALPA12 is the exception - its very tight mechanical tolerances make sure that all digital wide-angle and super-wide-angle photographs are 100% sharp from edge to edge even at full aperture opening. This is one of the reasons, why the ALPA is more expensive than other medium format cameras - to obtain these 100% sharp images (especially with the non-forgiving absolutely flat digital high-end sensors) it is necessary to stay with all mechanical tolerances well within the worst case scenario for the depth of field like super-wide-angle lens, full field and fully open aperture. These tight mechanical tolerances of course reveal also all optical flaws and shortcomings of lenses - those which are not optimized for digital photography show their relative weaknesses. I do not want to state, that you cannot or should not take digital pictures with those lenses but there are better ones, almost perfect ones, which are optimized for digital backs. And for most professional photographers, only the best is good enough as their clients only accept the best and not average quality. This image below was taken with the currently widest wide angle for digital photography, the Schneider-Kreuznach Apo Digitar 5,6/24mm.
It is clear, that it is not possible to show the resolution and details of an image taken with a 22MegaPx Leaf back by a fellow photographer, Andre Oldani, - I have taken out a small part of the left side where the windows are and enlarged it - on the full size, the pixels are slightly visible already but no optical imperfections.
As you can see clearly, no color fringes, no lateral color visible on the very detailed enlargement of a small part of the left side of the previous image.
To show even more the details, I further enlarged the left part with the two windows - just keep in mind what enlargement this is compared to the initial complete image! All you can see now is the JPEG compression artifacts, some pixilation but no color flaws. That is digital imaging performance at its best, I presume. Similar results of course with the other Schneider-Kreuznach Apo Digitar lenses adapted and customized for the ALPA12- the 5,6/35mm, the 4,0/60mm and 4,0/80mm.
Under the bottom-line, ALPA is certainly one of the most precise manufactured cameras for roll film which you can buy, own and (the best mode) of course use. As ALPA is not at all a mass manufactured camera, you can own an even more unique camera - one of the special edition models like the ALPA Silver/Platinum finish - currently sold out, but as almost everything is possible, I am sure, that ALPA's owners can make one for you.....just ask them! If you like to see how it would look like - here it is:
You could add another very unique item to this exclusive model - like one of the exclusive Carl Zeiss 38mm Biogon lenses. Be sure, you would own something which most likely you do not see with anyone else....or how about a solid titanium ALPA...or would you not rather prefer to add some lenses to your personal ALPA? Some photographs which I took with the ALPA12SWA, you can find here: ALPA Landscapes Are you located on the East Coast of the USA, maybe even in the New York area? You have got two professional camera stores, which can show you the ALPA portfolio - Jeff Hirsch's FotoCare and the PHOTOVILLAGE, both are fully authorized ALPA representations for the USA.
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My first impression of this viewfinder was not too excited
because the viewfinder is so different from others -its 120degree field of view
makes it necessary to apply a geometrical barrel distortion like you get it from
a fisheye lens. That means, that all frame masks are designed with the same
barrel distortion and not with perpendicular, straight lines (on the photograph
you see a customized frame mask with several rectangular frames - a special
order). It is pretty
different but after a short time, you get very used to this kind of viewfinder
and start appreciating the wide field of view. If more than one camera lenses
are used frequently, one can get a viewfinder insert with more frames than just
for one lens - but my solution was easy as well, I just took two masks and put
both into the viewfinder - one over the other and it works as well and saves a
special order. For the shift version of the ALPA 12WA, the ALPA 12SWA, the masks
can be outfitted with small horizontal lines to indicate the amount of shift in
mm - very practical to determine the necessary upwards shifting in mm on the
lens. The eyepiece is adjustable in a wide range - I would have liked to see a
lock screw for the +/- adjustment somewhere on the eyepiece, but it is not a
major problem and maybe it is added one day. 
,
the XL 5,6/47mm and the XL 5,6/58mm - here it is:
