Alfa
For the Japanese roll-film camera manufacturer, see Alfa Camera. For the Italian viewfinder camera, see Ferrania Alfa.
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| Alfa 2 image by Tupyce (Image rights) |
The Alfa cameras were cast alloy 35mm viewfinder cameras made by WZFO in Warsaw, Poland, in the early 1960s.
The Alfa had 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 were cream plastic controls around the lens, and wind-on knob on the user's left, just above an accessory shoe. The shutter release was a large button on the front, below the lens on the user's right. The frame counter was also on the front, below the lens opposite the release. It had a leaf shutter with speeds 1/30 - 1/125 + B (top speed seems to be different on some examples) and a WZFO Euktar 45mm / f4.5 lens with PC flash sync socket.
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 was a slight upgrade, with parallax 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.
