Photographic equipment problems of Swiss ALPA (Alpa) medium format camera

I shared an article before. I hope this helps you.

Mid-range side shaft: one end of Alpa.

Alpa is the most expensive production camera, the most beautiful camera, the simplest camera, and the camera with the highest imaging quality among 69 films. Having Alpa is the ultimate dream of many photographers.

If you hold Alpa in your hand, you will have a new understanding of top equipment, and you will find that other equipment is not exquisite enough in front of it. My overall feeling about Alpa is: it is particularly delicate, particularly strong, particularly beautiful, particularly high quality, and a little hard to use.

1, great:

1), the viewfinder is too bright, directly brighter than the eyes! I don't know how to do it. It's from Quan Jingshen. You can see the scene of border line, focus ratio, aperture ratio and 120 degrees at the same time.

2) The handle feels good, and the camera feels stable with both hands. The shutter vibration between the No.0 mirror is extremely light, which can basically last 1/2 seconds. 1/4 seconds is in the bag, you can rest assured that115 seconds is not high.

3) Alpa's back is specially made in Lin Hafu. Different from the back of other brands, there is no pressure plate on the rubber plane, so the film is straightened by precision machining. More importantly, the back can be installed horizontally or vertically, and the viewfinder can also rotate horizontally or vertically, which is especially convenient for shooting vertical pictures without distorting the camera.

Alpa chose the shots before Schneider, Rodenster and Chase. At present, Schneider lenses mainly use bayonet and focusing ring, and the quality is better than that of Schneider lenses on the market.

5) It's so beautiful that it can be said to be the most beautiful camera so far.

2. Defects and inconveniences:

1), the back is too heavy, and loading the film is also troublesome and time-consuming. ALPA's body and lens are light, but its back is too heavy, which makes it very tired to use it for half a day. I hope I can slim down in the back. That viewfinder is also heavy.

2) The barrel distortion of the viewfinder is serious. Although it does not affect the use after getting used to it, it is better than not deforming. Perhaps in order to achieve that super brightness and super wide viewing angle, we have to keep this defect.

3) The damping of the focusing ring is not as good as that of Leica, which is a bit astringent.

4), too beautiful, not conducive to human photography. Being too beautiful is both an advantage and a disadvantage of Alpa.

5) The aperture of the lens is too small, and it is helpless in low light.

6) The image is not as wet as Leica and the color is not as good as Zeiss. This problem may need comprehensive analysis. Leica and Zeiss have small movies. If there is no special embellishment or color, it will not be very attractive. Alpa's film size is as high as 6X9, and its true and heavy imaging style may not be a problem, but it is more in line with the authenticity of human shooting.

3. If we can overcome the difficulties in use, Alpa is the highest quality humanistic photographic equipment.

1) The reason why imaging is strong in HD.

Choose the best lens, choose the best material, adopt the highest assembly accuracy, and become the camera with the highest accuracy and the smallest tolerance. The result is a solid image, not loose at all. In the medium format, its imaging quality is the highest, and it can even challenge 4X5 cameras. I have compared the film of Alpa 1/30 seconds with the film of Lin Hafu 4X5. The power consumption scores of both films are100M, and the output is 30 inches. I don't see any difference. You know, Alpa is only 69 pieces, and it is still hand-held, while Lin Hafu is 4X5 pieces, which is 2.42 times its area and is on the shelf.

2) Excellent hand-held performance and large size of 69 are suitable for the highest requirements of humanistic photography.

"Hand-held snapshot" can be said to be the premise of humanistic photography. Although some people insist on getting on a tripod and shooting humanities with 4X5 or even 8X 10, it is a shooting after communicating with the object, not a "decisive moment".

Alpa is very suitable for hand-held, and the imaging speed above 1/8 seconds is clear enough to be used safely. Just use it as an enlarged Leica camera.

3) How to make use of it?

The structure of Alpa camera is the simplest. There is no linkage between all components, no autofocus, no metering, no automatic film-passing, no device to prevent re-shooting and no manual operation. To use it well, you really need a solid basic skill in photography. The simple steps to make a movie are as follows:

(1) exposure preset. Observe and analyze the scene to be shot, measure the light with an exposure meter or set the aperture and shutter according to experience.

(2) Estimate the focus position. Because I use a wide-angle lens, generally speaking, the focus position should not exceed 2 meters, and it is best to be around 1.5 meters. Sometimes I set the focus at 1 meter.

(3) close. Ultra-wide-angle composition is not easy, so it is very important to approach or even walk into the scene. You must approach within 1.5 meters, so that the film will have a strong sense of scene, so that it will not feel scattered and highlight the main body.

(4) When the "decisive moment" appears, take immediate action. Shoot up or shoot blindly.

4. How to configure the Alpa system? It is suggested that one machine and one mirror are enough.

Alpa is a wide-angle system. Although a medium telephoto lens is also provided, it is not easy to use. The operation mode of focus estimation determines that wide-angle lens is the best choice. The telephoto lens installed on the Alpa camera can't focus accurately, and it's not easy to operate and beautiful. The most important thing is to lose the advantage of hand-held shooting. An Alpa camera with a wide-angle lens is enough.

1) There are three models of fuselage: 12SWA, 12WA, 12TC. Which one should I choose?

This choice is also difficult. The appearance of 12SWA and 12WA are basically the same, and they are both Shuang Mu handles. The difference is that 12SWA has vertical axis shift function, while 12WA does not. The appearance of 12TC is obviously different, smaller, without wooden handle, and can be equipped with single-sided plastic handle.

All things considered, I suggest 12WA. Of the three airframes, I believe 12WA is the most accurate, and 12WA may have a slight impact on its accuracy because of its axis shifting device. In addition, taking pictures of humanities generally does not require moving axes. After the lens moves, it depends on the back view of the camera to be accurate, and it is not easy to judge directly by looking at the viewfinder.

If you need to be absolutely low-key, then 12TC is better and cheaper, but the handheld performance drops a lot, which is not beautiful enough.

If you still need to shoot architecture, just choose 12SWA, and the axis shifting function is essential in architectural photography. Of course, if there is another big camera, you don't have to consider 12SWA.

2) Which lens should I match?

ALPAApo-Helvetar is recommended to be 5.6/48 mm Schneider is specially produced for ALPA, and it is the only lens marked "Alpa" in the matching lenses at present. 2 1mm lens is equivalent to 135, and the film and digital are excellent.

Judging from the actual shooting effect, each aperture is a working aperture, from F5.6 to F32, which is as firm and clear, with real imaging and pure color. It is slightly thicker than the ordinary Schneider lens, and the super-high image quality makes people unforgettable. There is obvious dark angle under large aperture, and F 16 begins to improve gradually.

3) Which one should I wear on the back?

It is suggested to use ALPA/ Rienhoff Super-Rollex 6×9 back. 120 can take eight shots, and the actual imaging area is 56× 84 mm This kind of back is expensive and heavy, but it can stretch the film to the flattest compared with other brands, so it is recommended to choose it.

4) Which viewfinder should I choose?

Although it can be replaced by other manufacturers' viewfinder, the ALPA viewfinder is too bright, and you will definitely regret not choosing it.