Quirk factor: Alpa Alnea 1953
The low-volume and peculiar SLR built by Swiss watchmakers! Key feature is the separate nonreflex viewfinder (which can optionally include a coupled, coincident rangefinder with a vertical base). Of course using anyone's normal camera grasp both these will be blocked by your focusing hand. Alpa wanted you to focus with your right fingertips, which is also why the accessory rapid-wind lever points forward.
Also note that the reflex prism eyepiece is at a weird 45° angle.
I find these cameras fascinating, and they're supposed to be beautifully made; but wildly impractical considering the money they sell for. As long as we're dreaming I should probably go for a model 8b from c.1959 which has all the bells and whistles (where I believe "b" signifies the update to an instant-return mirror).
Quirk factor: Alpa Alnea 1953
The low-volume and peculiar SLR built by Swiss watchmakers! Key feature is the separate nonreflex viewfinder (which can optionally include a coupled, coincident rangefinder with a vertical base). Of course using anyone's normal camera grasp both these will be blocked by your focusing hand. Alpa wanted you to focus with your right fingertips, which is also why the accessory rapid-wind lever points forward.
Also note that the reflex prism eyepiece is at a weird 45° angle.
I find these cameras fascinating, and they're supposed to be beautifully made; but wildly impractical considering the money they sell for. As long as we're dreaming I should probably go for a model 8b from c.1959 which has all the bells and whistles (where I believe "b" signifies the update to an instant-return mirror).