Stephen
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Post by Stephen on Jul 17, 2014 6:20:37 GMT -5
Sorry then, I thought the Alpa II had the same mount, but with different orientation. It is however the back plate of an early standard lens..........early Alpa are rare to come across, mine is a 7. Stephen.
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Stephen
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Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
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Post by Stephen on Jul 17, 2014 6:49:12 GMT -5
The 5 seems to be the first Alnea, but I thought, and net references say, the mount remained the same as early, just sorting out the orientation. I have never actually examined early Alpas mounts, I have handled the cameras occasionally.
The back plate clearly has the flat machined away on the edge, which indicates fitting early types, the Alnea back plate of the lenses has a knurled gear style edge, and all round.
It was mainly mentioned in case the rest of the lens existed off the mount, a great pity it is gone missing over the years.
I use the Exacta extension tubes, with a back adaptor and a front Exakta to Alpa adaptor, which are rare beasts(made by Alpa). It has a rotating release collar to line up to the Alpa Release position.
Alpa made a range of special adaptors to fit other makes bodies, so that the Kern and others could be mounted on Exacta, Leica S and M, Contax, M42, Nikon, Miranda, Canon, etc, this was in addition to the adaptors to take other makes of lenses on to the Alpa body. No other maker had such a versatile range of fittings.
They also made C mount, and specialist couplings for astronomy telescopes, where they were widely used. There was even a special hood and mount combined for fitting to oscilloscopes and Xray screens. The same hood, without the side plates was used for the GPO phones meter cameras.
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Post by paulhofseth on Jul 19, 2014 1:25:07 GMT -5
the first larger diameter mount "Alnea" was Alpa 4 with a strange looking top-view bulge finder. Not that many made, which means quite rare for a series production even in Alpa terms.
Even the most common Alpa was produced in fewer copies than the low production run Leica IIIG. The least common ones were meterless varieties of meter bodies, half- frame versions and special purpose varieties, but some late microfiche and other type fakes were assembled from old parts.
The phone counter ones were bodies modified by Alos , often equipped with Asahi 35mm 3,5 lenses. Complete copies should come withe the Alos flash unit. After Alpa stopped supplying them, or when they became too expensive, Alos fitted some Canon F1s with Asahi35 3,5 optics.
p.
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Stephen
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Post by Stephen on Jul 19, 2014 7:53:41 GMT -5
I worked with the GPO, and the cameras that the meter photographer used where indeed Alpa, but he had three types, a dedicated plain black body marked "Swiss Made" & "Alpa", and two modified Mod 7 series, with the prism removed, I was told modified by AGI (Croyden) in the UK. I never noted the lens maker, it looked like an enlarger lens, rather like a Wray.
The "hood" and flash unit were marked "For Alpa", but he had a Leica that fitted by an adaptor, a plain body M series, as backup.
The films were security sealed, and the meter room shut off to casual engineers visits, as it was important no queries could ever be raised about the circumstances of taking the readings. Large commercial accounts almost always queried everything, and apart from operator calls the meters were the only source of evidence of phone usage. The GPO keep it secret that if any thing failed an estimate could be resorted to, and if the customer howled they were forced to give in, a fact some users knew well and exploited on every bill.
When multiple complaints came in, a special meter unit was attached to the line, with an automatic Bering Robot camera, with a roll back, to take daily, or even hourly, photos, run on the 50 volt supply in the exchange. Both the meter and the camera were sealed and locked.
Later whilst working in the photographic trade I saw other specials using Alpa bodies, being made by Williamson's, the aerial cameras specialist. They were half Frames for Police use, later replaced by Practica on cost grounds as Williamson discovered the Practica design suited half frame perfectly. He said his company had made some of the GPO Meters Alpas, and supplied other users like the scientific users for uses on Scopes and Indicators.
Stephen.
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Post by John Farrell on Jul 19, 2014 15:24:07 GMT -5
That's interesting, Stephen. I worked as a technician with the New Zealand Post Office back in the 70's. We didn't meter local calls, and toll calls were handled by manual operators, who had a time stamp to record calling times.
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Stephen
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Post by Stephen on Jul 19, 2014 16:59:13 GMT -5
Each call was metered in the UK, free calls or included in the charge were unknown back then, the metering was so primitive compared to now. The Strowger Auto Exchanges generated pulses from a master clock to feed to each meter at the correct rate for the call.
The Operator calls were recorded separately, and the highest rate pulses came from US or international calls. But it became known to some customers that the meters were not 100% reliable, so they deliberately queried every bill, and of course a broken meter gave no evidence, so old records were consulted and a suitable estimate made.
The Robot meter camera, and even operator call monitoring, was used in cases of very serious dispute, it could even go to all calls being handled by an operator. Such monitoring was controlled by law, court orders might be needed in case of a customer actually claiming not to have made calls, and requiring the robot camera to gather evidence.
Stephen.
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Post by John Farrell on Jul 19, 2014 20:22:29 GMT -5
Most of the exchanges in New Zealand then were Strowger type, but we had some older Western Electric exchanges which were a primitive form of central control. The switches were powered by drive shafts from centrally placed motors, and activated by clutches. In the late 1970s we started installing NEC crossbar exchanges. I spent a year installing one of these in Dunedin hospital. The space where this exchange used to be is now a café!
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Post by paulhofseth on Jul 26, 2014 16:45:43 GMT -5
I believe that the Swiss patriotic instinct surfaced by having Telefonbau und Normalzeit installing Swiss Alpa cameras in their phone exchanges.
When Alos followed up with Canon F1 they may have had other customers. Also, the TN supplied phone-company Alpas often had Japanese Asahi optics, so the switch made by Alos to the Japanese mechanical rear end may not have been too traumatic for them.
p.
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Post by belgiumreporter on Jul 29, 2014 3:56:25 GMT -5
The comparison between Alpa and Leica arises often in articles about Alpa, i've found some old catalogues (1960) in wich both makes were presented. Prices are in Belgium francs( in those days you needed 50 francs for one dollar) I hope you enjoy these old ads as much as i do...
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hansz
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Hans
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Post by hansz on Jul 29, 2014 12:50:09 GMT -5
Hallo buurman, Nice to see the Contarex sitting between the Alpa and the Leica... From which product magazine were your photos taken? As a Zeiss fan I'd like a copy of the pages for history purposes. (and for ciao, Hans
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Post by belgiumreporter on Jul 31, 2014 14:44:47 GMT -5
Hans, i've sent you a PM.
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