Alpa Alnea 7b
When you hear the phrase "built like a Swiss watch," you know what's being implied. The item you're looking at is built to the most exacting standards available and the design is going to have no equal. When Pignons, the Swiss company that made parts for watches, bought the rights to a design from the creator of the Bolex motion picture cameras, the result was going to be a camera that looked, felt, and operated like no other instrument. The Alpa line of cameras was first introduced in 1944 and true to their reputation, the Swiss made a camera that when fired and re-cocked had almost no excess movement or unwarranted noise.
By the 1950s, the Alpa company's reputation for producing the finest made cameras was well-established. Released in 1952, the Alpa Alnea 7 represented the pinnacle of Alpa's engineering and technological advancements. It also posed a serious question for the camera community: was the Alpa Alnea 7 a rangefinder camera or a single lens reflex camera? The 45-degree prism finder left no doubt that the photographer was looking through the lens, but the focusing was achieved through two windows located to the left of the lens. This seemingly odd combination gives users the ability to accurately nail the focus, while not having the framing issues common with rangefinders.
For lenses, Alpa turned to premier glass makers. While Schneider made some of lenses for the Alpa Alnea 7, the lenses that are most desirable today were made by Angenieux. Regardless of which brand lens is fit on the Alpa 7, the results will speak for themselves.
If you come across an Alpa Alnea 7 in your travels, do yourself a favor and pick one up and prepare for a feeling unlike any other. Your eye will try to make sense of the SLR and rangefinder question while your fingers will have the sense of winding a watch - even though you're holding a camera.
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