Alfa

For the Japanese roll-film camera manufacturer, see Alfa Camera. For the Italian viewfinder camera, see Ferrania Alfa.

Alfa 2 image by Tupyce (Image rights)

The Alfa cameras are cast alloy 35mm viewfinder cameras made by WZFO in Warsaw, Poland, in the early 1960s.

The Alfa has an unconventional vertical format, with the portrait-format viewfinder in a curved, cream-coloured surround at the top, the lens barrel below that, and the film running vertically from bottom to top. There are cream plastic controls around the lens, a wind-on knob on the user's left, and an accessory shoe below that. The shutter release is a large button on the front, below the lens on the user's right. The frame counter is also on the front, below the lens opposite the release. The camera has a leaf shutter with speeds 1/30 - 1/125 + B (the top speed seems to be different on some examples), synchronised for flash with a PC socket, and a WZFO Euktar 45mm f/4.5 lens.

The Alfa seems to have been available in red, pink, dark blue, light blue, light green, cream, grey or brown, each with a striped chrome front panel.

The Alfa 2 is a slight upgrade, with parallax correction marks in the viewfinder (obvious from the front, as small points on the cream surround), a redesigned shutter release with a separate cable release socket, and an Emitar lens.

Links

• Photo of Grey Alfa 2 on PBase.com larger, image-only version

In Polish :

• Various different Alfas and instruction extracts at Moje Małe Foto-Muzeum
• Blue Alfa at Moje Małe Foto-Muzeum
• Alfa page on the Fotomuzeum.pl site