Alpa Rotocamera
The Alpa Rotocamera[1] is a camera that makes panoramic views up to 360 degrees on 120, 220 or 70mm film. It was made by the Swiss company Alpa, more familiar as the maker of luxury 35mm SLR cameras, from about 1980. The body of the camera is of cast metal, with a stone-like, speckled finish.[2][3][4] It has a 75mm f/6.8 Rodenstock Grandagon lens, and the lens-mount allows up to 30mm of rise, to avoid the foreground taking up too much of the image.[5] The film is exposed via a slit between blinds in the rear, while the camera is rotated on a motorised base. Both the slit-width (apparently three settings in an early model;[5] later four settings, evident from the exposure table on the rear of the examples cited at auction) and the speed of rotation (two settings) are varied to control exposure, giving effective shutter speeds between 1/15 and 1/250 second. The top and bottom of the slit can be adjusted separately,[5] (giving less exposure to a bright sky). The camera has a reflex viewfinder in the right side of the body; clearly, this shows only the narrow view seen by the lens before rotation begins, and is for vertical adjustment of the camera and lens-movement.
A 360-degree view takes 475mm of film;[5] so a 120 roll only allows one full-width exposure (the camera can make exposures over narrower angles). A 220 roll allows three 360-degree views.
Notes
- ↑ There is evidently more than one model of the camera, probably reflecting improvements over time. The brochure shown at Pacific Rim, cited below, calls the camera the Alpa Rotocamera; the examples seen at auction are labelled as the Rotocamera 6070; and the Japanese brochure refers to the Alpa Roto SM60/70, though the power adapter in the brochure is still labelled 'Rotocamera'.
- ↑ Rotocamera 6070 sold at the 37th Leitz Photographica Auction, in November 2020.
- ↑ Rotocamera 6070 with charger and outfit case, sold at the 32nd Westlicht Auction, in March 2018.
- ↑ Rotocamera 6070 kit in fitted case, sold at the Chiswick Auctions sale Photographica in October 2020.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Brochure for the 'Rotocamera' issued by Karl Heitz, New York; at Pacific Rim. This is perhaps an early model: it is described as having three slit-width settings.
Links
- Brochure in Japanese for the Roto SM60/70, issued by Shiuriro Trading Group Ltd., at Switar's Sweet, by collector Ken'ichiro Asai
