Alpa repair

[EdColorado]

I've recently been given a bunch of old camera gear amongst which was this Alpa Mod. 4b. Its not working, the shutter is stuck half open, and it needs a few parts. Anyone know of a shop that can be recommended to take this on? I'm thinking its probably beyond my current skill level and the camera is I think worth a bit of an investment.

 

[sjeffg]

Radu Lesaru at 3R Camera in Flushing, NY is the only Alpa repairman I know of. He's done great work on my Alpa 11si—very conscientious guy, very reasonable prices.

 

[EdColorado]

Excellent, thanks sjeffg, that's just the kind of recommendation I was looking for!

 

[EdColorado]

Damn, that's at least an $1800 haul.

Your saying thats what an Alpa like this is worth? In this condition or fixed and really clean? I've been looking around the web to see what I have but have only seen enough to decide the camera is probably worth fixing.

 

[EdColorado]

Links please? I've been looking and am normally a pretty good googler but so far haven't found these sites.

Thanks,

 

[John Koehrer]

Just taking a brief look at SOLD listings on the bay. Unless this thing is a very unusual set, it's not going to be worth putting much money into.
Newer cameras(9, 10, 11) with the Macro Switar lens are there under $1500.
Slightly slightly newer body only sales anywhere from ~$125-$350 ish

 

[sjeffg]

Ed, I don't want to bum your high, but $1,800 is a crazy-high estimate for your camera even in immaculate condition. More like $200-500 if you clean it up and get it working. So don't overspend on the repair.

Alpas are rare, lovely, weird, finicky and slow to operate. They were hand-built in very small numbers by a company that specialized in watch gears. In many ways their finish is extraordinary, in others it's surprisingly shoddy. And among partisans they inspire an inexplicable passion which even exceeds that for the Leica.

 

[gone]

Those are not cheap to have fixed, from what I can surmise on the web. Neat camera though, w/ some strange ergonomics. But since yours has what appears to have a simple wind knob for the film advance, it should handle pretty much like any other camera, except for that prism viewing.

 

[EdColorado]

Ed, I don't want to bum your high, but $1,800 is a crazy-high estimate for your camera even in immaculate condition. More like $200-500 if you clean it up and get it working. So don't overspend on the repair.

Alpas are rare, lovely, weird, finicky and slow to operate. They were hand-built in very small numbers by a company that specialized in watch gears. In many ways their finish is extraordinary, in others it's surprisingly shoddy. And among partisans they inspire an inexplicable passion which even exceeds that for the Leica.

Thats alright, I'm certainly not in this for the money! I like weird old cameras and I like to use them. Profit really has nothing to do with it and fixed up or not I'm not planning to sell the Alpa. I've already received a reply from Radu at 3R and his CLA price is acceptable. Once he has the body he can tell me what is wrong with it and I'll decide on whether I'll have it fixed or not. If not then it will become the only non working camera in my collection, just cause its so cool looking.

 

[EdColorado]

Those are not cheap to have fixed, from what I can surmise on the web. Neat camera though, w/ some strange ergonomics. But since yours has what appears to have a simple wind knob for the film advance, it should handle pretty much like any other camera, except for that prism viewing.

Yeah the prism is odd, and very small. I cant say what its like to view through however as the shutter is stuck open and the mirror doesn't come down. The camera also has a standard optical viewfinder. The winder should have a lever but its missing from mine. Its a weird duck too as it operates from front to rear. When at rest the tip of the lever is forward on the camera and pointing near the prism. It winds across the front and I guess around the back but I don't know how long the stroke is. Fortunately, Radu at 3R Camera has the required parts. Once this thing is back in my hands I'll shoot a few pictures and post them up, probably in the 35mm forum.

 

[John Koehrer]

See if you can find a pic of one with their motor drive, it's a chuckle.

 

[ph]

No motor made for the Alneas , but the 4b is quite rare even as Alpas go. Its numbers cannot compete with the half frames and the specials, but according to Thewes, only 352 Alpa 4were made. According to "The Alpa Production Index" 291 were made registrered as 4 , 59 registrered as 4b plus some half-frames and specials.

Your number is not listed, only 40664 and 40670, but there is a hole in the numbering of type 5 between 40663 and 40665 and the numbers listing is specifically labelled as "not complete".

The wind lever did not exist on type 4a, but was added to the 1959 type 4b. Since yours is one of the first 10 or so made it would have the clear perspex type lever and not the later angled metal lever.

The hood at the top is not a prism. Th 4 was the only Alnea with a direct view ocular and no prism.

Your Tessar is not listed among available optics at the time, so if it has a fixed or a factory mounted adapter-Alpa mount, it must be a prototype like the much later Distagons and Tele Tessars.

Conclusion, do have it serviced.

p.

 

[EdColorado]

PH, thank you very much for the information! I've been trying to find someone with that book to pass me some 4b information, thank you!

The camera is currently out for repair and hopefully will be back soon. The Tessar is on an Exakta mount and there is a removable Exacta to Alpa adapter on the camera. I would have preferred to get the Alpa with a nice Macro-Switar on it but this is OK, as I also have a couple Exakta's here and a few lenses. I'm anxious to put some film through this one.

Thanks again for the information PH,

Ed

 

[ph]

Double typo:

There is a typo in my numbers list above: it should read " ...not listed, only 40644 and 40670....",

BUT

on examining the other numbers in the production list book, it seems likely that this list itself has a typo. On page 31 It lists 4b numbers as ...40657, 40660, 40644, 40670,40674..... The rest of the list has successive numbers which indicates that your camera number should be there instead.

Looking it up in the Thewes book, -which has its entries sorted by numbers rather than model, confirms that there is a typo in the list. Counting by the Thewes numbers, your 4b is the 9th that was produced.

p.

 

[EdColorado]

Thanks for the clarification PH. It seems this is easily the rarest of the cameras in my collection, and I'm really looking forward to running some film through it!

 

[EdColorado]

PH. Have you any information on when the 4b was made? I've read late 50's but don't know if that's correct or not.

Thank you,

Ed

 

[Dan Fromm]

Possibly of interest: https://web.archive.org/web/20120801125523/http://www.alpareflex.com/

 

[EdColorado]

Very much so Dan, thank you!

 

[ph]

PH. Have you any information on when the 4b was made? I've read late 50's but don't know if that's correct or not.

Thank you,

Ed

* Dates: The Alnea (new body, new, wider bayonet, new lenses) model 4 and onwards, was launched in 1952. Yours and the other b models started production in 1959. Several modifications. On earlier models,the rapid return mirror returned when the finger was removed from the shutterbutton, now it snapped down at once.

* Numbers & fakes: Even Thewes has a few gaps in his list, but it is a wise move to look at serial numbers and examine new-looking Alpas closely, given the prices asked. The factory, and Heitz in the US, were able to furnish spares even 30years later, and just like Leica, did modernize camaras to order, but they kept records. At least the Ballaigues modification records are reflected in the lists that Thewes has published. He notes that for instance a type 4 no 30139 built in 1952 was returned to the factory in 1958 and furnished with a prisma etc.turning it into a model 5.

The fakes of the rarer versions of the Alpa 10&11 were produced by others after the spares hoard mysteriously disappeared when the facory closed. When I last visited Pignons to have an Alpa serviced, a few years before they closed, mr. Bourgeois pointed out that they also had spares and would repair their early models. In spite of this, I do not believe that any "fakes" of the Alneas were assembled. At the time of the fake assembly scam, there was not so much money to be made out of the Alnea series as from the extremely rare type 11 half- frames and microfilm bodies. The considerable cost of assembling from parts would not pay it way. Key components from the much older Alnea spares stock may also have been consumed by then. Hence even if the number of your specimen had not been revealed as the victim of a typo in the Alpa list book, it would still have been a genuine Alnea.

p.

 

[EdColorado]

Well the Alpa has returned from its trip to New York and it looks wonderful! It wasn't at all cheap to get fixed, but there was a ton of stuff wrong with it including stripped screw holes, shutter curtains, and numerous internal parts. I had a chance today to shoot a couple shots and hopefully will have time for more this week, I'll post some later.

The camera went to 3R Camera in Flushing NY. Radu did a fantastic job on this, it was a lot of work, and I wouldn't hesitate to send him another camera in the future.

Special thanks to sjeffg for recommending Radu!