New Alpa Products being announced

[Joseph Woodland]

Never heard of the lens brand thing before - what was the reason?

 

[Christopher]

can't thing of one, my phase backs loves both Schneider and Rodenstock

 

[anGy]

Reason is: Rodenstock gives a bit crisper images (more local contrast) than Schneider and Phase one also gives more crisper Raw images than Leaf backs (coming from the Sensor or from the signal management).
So Phase One + Rodenstock could bring a sense of unpleasant sharpening in the Raw file that could not be to the taste of everybody.
Leaf and Schneider are a bit softer, and Leaf + Schneider could look a bit too soft, meaning sharpening level in C1 have to be pushed a bit more.
More balanced files are obtained with a combination of Phase + Schneider or Leaf + Rodenstock.

Just reporting the opinion of an Alpa engineer here (that is using an SWA with a Leaf back and Rodenstock lenses...).

 

[jotloob]

I received an E-mail from ALPA today confirming my order for the HPF rings for all my lenses . They are hopeful that they can produce and ship a big number of HPF rings still this year . There will be a minor design change to the rings , which delays production .

 

[jotloob]

The ALPA 12 STC is available now and can be delivered immediately . For details see the ALPA home page .

 

[jotloob]

Thomas

You might like this image more than the previous one .

View attachment 35562

The little markers 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 would still be on the new scale ring and of course would correspond to the other little markers .

Now the final design of the HPF rings seems to be available .

Thomas , please have a look . The ring design is now as I suggested in my above image .

View attachment 40143

For those guys , who are interested in these rings , have a look to the little video on the ALPA homepage .
http://www.alpa.ch/en/home.html

If everthing works out fine now , my rings will arrive by tomorrow .

 

[darr]

Why does the Schneider lenses need a rubber band?

 

[Anders_HK]

Pardon, but frankly... I complete fail to see the point of these rings. The numbers are odd numbers with decimals, then how can one know what the intermediate ticks translates to???

It seems with a trained eye one would with no less accuracy be able to use the standard helical scales. Perhaps addition of tick marks at numbers to those standard helical scales would enable to better use eye measure for what in increments of 1/5th or 1/10th are points between them, thus would seem superior to these new Alpa rings?

Regards
Anders

 

[dchew]

It's a logarithmic scale too, so good luck doing that interpolation calculation in your head.

But I think it still might be worth it for those who rely heavily on the focus scale, since at least the numbers are more accurate.

Dave

 

[goesbang]

Pardon, but frankly... I complete fail to see the point of these rings. The numbers are odd numbers with decimals, then how can one know what the intermediate ticks translates to???

It seems with a trained eye one would with no less accuracy be able to use the standard helical scales. Perhaps addition of tick marks at numbers to those standard helical scales would enable to better use eye measure for what in increments of 1/5th or 1/10th are points between them, thus would seem superior to these new Alpa rings?

Regards
Anders

Frankly, I think these rings are one of the most valuable additions to the tech-cam arsenal. They resolve the biggest problem with tech cam use. It's all well and good to use a disto to measure focal distance, but how can you quickly and accurately transfer that to the lens? Viola! Alpa offer us a solution.

 

[cmb_]

Why does the Schneider lenses need a rubber band?

The focusing rings on the Schneider lenses are different diameters. Apparently, the HPF rings are all the same size so the O-ring (rubber band) fills the gap between the HPF ring and the focusing ring depending on where it is placed.

 

[cmb_]

. . . then how can one know what the intermediate ticks translates to???

Alpa has published a reference guide with the figures for all the intermediate ticks.

 

[jotloob]

Alpa has published a reference guide with the figures for all the intermediate ticks.

My rings have arrived today . Mounting the first one , was quite tricky , but to mount the others , it just took me five minutes per ring .

You only need to download those figure tables , you need for your lenses .
You can find them at the bottom of the ring description on the ALPA homepage .
They are in pdf format and you can load them onto an iPHONE . I have already done so .

 

[jotloob]

Here a crop image of STC + DIGARON-W + HPF .

View attachment 40196

Mounting the rings is really no problem .

 

[cmb_]

Jürgen, does it change the feel of turning the focusing ring much?

 

[jotloob]

Jürgen, does it change the feel of turning the focusing ring much?

The original ring of the focus mount is made of rubber .
The HPF ring is smaller and has a metal surface .
Therefore focusing will not be as easy as it used to be . But you get used to
that .