Alpa Roto Help - Does anyone have experience using this camera?

Bayliss · Oct 22, 2024

I recently acquired acquired an Alpa Roto and it seems mostly to work fine. There are a couple things about the camera I can't work out though - for example I can't work out how to preselect an angle of rotation. The angle preselctor (labeled '9' in the image) on my camera doesn't move at all, and I'm unsure whether it'd be wise to try to force it.

Does anyone have experience using this camera? Thanks!

Panorider 7 · May 27, 2025

Hi this post has been a while so I'm not sure if you had any answer to your question. I have two of these old cameras and one is functioning like new. The second one is a a salvage and works sometimes or not. the camera consists of two parts. The top is the camera and the lower part the motor. They can be separated easily by three hex screws that reveal themselves in the column as you hand turn the camera round it's axe. Undo these but be sure to make a mark one you separate the head from the motorunit. The ring you are talking about is part of the motorunit and should turn easily to set your desired angle. There can be no rust as it is all aluminium but some some lubrication might be needed. Take it from there and see what can be done.

Bayliss · May 27, 2025

Panorider 7 said:
Hi this post has been a while so I'm not sure if you had any answer to your question. I have two of these old cameras and one is functioning like new. The second one is a a salvage and works sometimes or not. the camera consists of two parts. The top is the camera and the lower part the motor. They can be separated easily by three hex screws that reveal themselves in the column as you hand turn the camera round it's axe. Undo these but be sure to make a mark one you separate the head from the motorunit. The ring you are talking about is part of the motorunit and should turn easily to set your desired angle. There can be no rust as it is all aluminium but some some lubrication might be needed. Take it from there and see what can be done.

Hi - thank you very much for your response, it's great to finally talk to someone with some experience of these cameras.

I did work out how to separate the two halves of the camera, which enabled me to replace the rubber ring with several large elastic bands (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144773590500), which has worked well so far.

Thanks for your info on the angle selector ring, it's still stuck on my camera. I did try lubricating it but nothing has worked so far - I might try to use a strap wrench to get it moving.

By the way, here's a recent pic I took with the camera if you're interested:
Thanks,
Thomas

Panorider 7 · May 27, 2025

Well it works alright that's one thing. Because of that rubber part that disintegrated on the inside of the camera other problems occur. It sort of leaks in the camera and might get things stuck. Isopropanol can get things unstuck but you need to be quite frugal with applying it with a small syringe.Anything that does not roll well on the back or else should render you banding in the image. I'm surprised that you are still using the original battery because it's often defunct or not strong enough for the motor; again causing banding. be sure to get a 2.4A or a 5A battery to replace if needed. does your viewfinder still work?

Bayliss · May 27, 2025

A couple of questions - on the angle selector ring there are 3 grub screws - are these supposed to be loose or tightened down? When I received the camera they were quite loose. Anyway I'll try adding isopropanol to unstick the ring, thanks.

I did replace the battery, I used a Yuasa 12V 1.2Ah battery (https://www.yuasa.co.uk/batteries/industrial/np1-2-12.html) because I'd read the original battery was 12V 1.2Ah. It seems to work well, except for one thing - when I take a picture with the camera with the battery fully charged the "POWERPACK DISCHARGE" light comes on after just a few seconds, when the manual says the light should only come on when the battery is exhausted. Do you know why this would be?

My viewfinder is working, the focussing screen was loose when I first got the camera, so I secured it with some blu tack and now it's fine.

Thanks again!

Panorider 7 · May 28, 2025

about the ring: My earlier post about separating the head and the motor is needed to get access to the ring . So have a look at the "Neck" of the camera and rotate until you see hex screws appear through that tiny window and undo the 3 screws. This will give you the possibility to separate the head from the motor and service the angle sector ring. It will not be easy because of the weight of the head but then again there may lay the problem. So keep the camera attached to a tripod as you take the head off.
about the battery; If it works it's fine! The battery casing does probably not allow for anything bigger anyway. But I found that the camera needs more power as it ages. My first tests reveal banding and you could feel the camera "dithering" resulting in banding on the negative ; especially visible in the sky. This is not he case of the photo's I saw from your site. So I done away with the original casing and got a soft pouch with a 2.4AH battery or even bigger. Just get the polarity right and you're fine. I have no light indicator in the motor base anymore so it's fried or simply to old to work.
about the viewfinder; Well done! I had to clean that out completely and put the groundless back in with some glue. A lot of fiddling!
I saw on the photo of your camera that you miss the sunhood . I have one original one in the alpa box it came with. Let me know if you are interested and at the same time I would like to know if you have spare parts you don't use anymore.
Best Lucas

Panorider 7 · May 28, 2025

Instant Locus

What happens between these two conditions: AFTER the fact of the tabula rasa - the emptying of the existing - or after land reclaimation - the claiming or colonisation from non-productive terrains and BEFORE timely exploitation? It is a terrain between past-use and future-use: between being...

flic.kr

Panorider 7 · Jun 1, 2025

it has been a busy weekend and I'm reviewing the post I did earlier. You seem to have a fully functional camera and my advice is to not change anything. I have dissected my camera entirely and with someone who knows a thing or two about electronics digital or analogue and loves cameras . he was surprised to find the electronics so advanced for a camera from the 80's. We have opened up roundshot camera earlier and it was not so great in terms of electronics. So the Alpa is great despite of what they say.
About your problem with the stuck "angle"ring; Untighten the bolts you have screwed in too far and it will loosen the ring. Behind the screws is a spring the holds a plastic ball that rolls in a cavity. If you tighten it you will hold the ring in place . On the other hand the springs are tiny so make sure you don't go too far unscrewing. That will solve your problem.

Best

Bayliss said:
A couple of questions - on the angle selector ring there are 3 grub screws - are these supposed to be loose or tightened down? When I received the camera they were quite loose. Anyway I'll try adding isopropanol to unstick the ring, thanks.

I did replace the battery, I used a Yuasa 12V 1.2Ah battery (https://www.yuasa.co.uk/batteries/industrial/np1-2-12.html) because I'd read the original battery was 12V 1.2Ah. It seems to work well, except for one thing - when I take a picture with the camera with the battery fully charged the "POWERPACK DISCHARGE" light comes on after just a few seconds, when the manual says the light should only come on when the battery is exhausted. Do you know why this would be?

My viewfinder is working, the focussing screen was loose when I first got the camera, so I secured it with some blu tack and now it's fine.

Thanks again!

Bayliss · Jun 9, 2025

Panorider 7 said:
about the ring: My earlier post about separating the head and the motor is needed to get access to the ring . So have a look at the "Neck" of the camera and rotate until you see hex screws appear through that tiny window and undo the 3 screws. This will give you the possibility to separate the head from the motor and service the angle sector ring. It will not be easy because of the weight of the head but then again there may lay the problem. So keep the camera attached to a tripod as you take the head off.
about the battery; If it works it's fine! The battery casing does probably not allow for anything bigger anyway. But I found that the camera needs more power as it ages. My first tests reveal banding and you could feel the camera "dithering" resulting in banding on the negative ; especially visible in the sky. This is not he case of the photo's I saw from your site. So I done away with the original casing and got a soft pouch with a 2.4AH battery or even bigger. Just get the polarity right and you're fine. I have no light indicator in the motor base anymore so it's fried or simply to old to work.
about the viewfinder; Well done! I had to clean that out completely and put the groundless back in with some glue. A lot of fiddling!
I saw on the photo of your camera that you miss the sunhood . I have one original one in the alpa box it came with. Let me know if you are interested and at the same time I would like to know if you have spare parts you don't use anymore.
Best Lucas

Thanks for your response - I managed to get the ring unstuck, unfortunately the 'auto' setting still doesn't work. If I select any angle then press the 'rotation' button, the camera will just keep spinning and won't stop until I turn the camera off. Have you ever experienced this issue?

Interesting, thanks for the information - by the way I made a video about repairing my camera if you're interested:

I'm interested in your hood, where are you located? Unfortunately I don't have any spares, just my one camera.

Bayliss · Jun 9, 2025

Panorider 7 said:
Instant Locus

What happens between these two conditions: AFTER the fact of the tabula rasa - the emptying of the existing - or after land reclaimation - the claiming or colonisation from non-productive terrains and BEFORE timely exploitation? It is a terrain between past-use and future-use: between being...

flic.kr

Nice pictures!

Bayliss · Jun 9, 2025

Panorider 7 said:
it has been a busy weekend and I'm reviewing the post I did earlier. You seem to have a fully functional camera and my advice is to not change anything. I have dissected my camera entirely and with someone who knows a thing or two about electronics digital or analogue and loves cameras . he was surprised to find the electronics so advanced for a camera from the 80's. We have opened up roundshot camera earlier and it was not so great in terms of electronics. So the Alpa is great despite of what they say.
About your problem with the stuck "angle"ring; Untighten the bolts you have screwed in too far and it will loosen the ring. Behind the screws is a spring the holds a plastic ball that rolls in a cavity. If you tighten it you will hold the ring in place . On the other hand the springs are tiny so make sure you don't go too far unscrewing. That will solve your problem.

Best

Very interesting. Do you mean these grub screws? I have fully removed them in the past and there doesn't seem to be anything behind them.

Thanks again

Panorider 7 · Jun 9, 2025

Bayliss said:
Very interesting. Do you mean these grub screws? I have fully removed them in the past and there doesn't seem to be anything behind them.

Thanks again

Yes , there should be a plastic rolling ball held in place by a tiny spring. So if you want to che k on this you will have to separate the head from the motor as per earlier instructions. The ring is part of the motor. The principle of functioning is that there is a invisble to the eye magnet, worked in the ring and that serves as the reference for angle. So it cuts off as it passes this magnet.
I’m in South west France.

Panorider 7 · Tuesday at 4:18 AM

Operational note on the roto: Do not forget to set the angle before you push the button; if not your camera will continue to 360 degree. And you will have to do this every time you want to expose a frame.

Alpa Roto Help - Does anyone have experience using this camera?

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