Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Some thirty-five and more years ago I was taught photography by an old woman named Litze Von Miklos. Litze was a professional and made much of her income illustrating garden and nature books and articles. She used Alpa for all of her small format work because, she said, they were always "there" when she needed them and the lenses were the best available (in 1966) for single lens reflex cameras. In particular, she needed a macro to take flower "portraits." I had the privilege of free use of Litze's kit and took many fine pictures with the Kern Macro-Switar. I can't put my hands on any of those images right now, but I recall they had a bokeh which made macro-photographs of individual flowers just "pop," which was the quality Litze sought for her published work. When I bought a very early Nikon macro (55mm/f3.5 me thinks?), Litze said, "...those are very nice pictures, Buzz, but they show no heart." She was right; the Macro-Switar was a very soulful lens, indeed. I hope you can find a body on which to mount your Macro-Switar, if you don't expect the edge carving sharpness and contrast of modern lenses, you should find the results very pleasing and impossible to reproduce with contemporary units. Too bad all of the late - -Sixties-oh-so-nearly-pastel Ektachrome is gone. Buzz Hausner - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of animal Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2003 6:23 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: [Leica] Alpa question This question : > Does anyone remember the 35mm-SLR ALPA? from Jean-Michel Tomaschett made me realize that i had an Alpa lens somewhere which was my fathers. Eventually i found it it in a box in the furthest corner of my basement where i have stored the radioactive lenses recently after advice from Michael Briggs, http://home.earthlink.net/~michaelbriggs/aeroektar/aeroektar.html Anyhow the lens is rather unusual in that the focusing scale is very long ,a few turns and it also states the magnification factor. It is marked Kern macro switar 1:1,9/50 AR made for alpa. Does anyone have experience wih this lens? Thanks simon jessurun amsterdam - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html