Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Alpa 6c

Pignons · Alpa mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1960

Also known as: Alpa Alpa Reflex 6c · Alpa Alpa 6c · Alpa 6c · Alpa Reflex Mod.6c · Alpa Alpa Reflex Mod.6c · Alpa Mod.6c · Alpa Alpa Mod. 6c · Alpa Reflex 6c · Alpa 6c · 6c · Reflex Mod.6c · Alpa Reflex Mod.6c · Mod.6c · Alpa Mod. 6c

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Alpa 6c Alpa 1960–1967 — 3,620 grey, 418 black, 84 in green leather with black trim (Pacific Rim Camera)
  1. No review of substance exists for the 6c; the Alpa literature jumps from the Alnea 7 to the 9d and 10d. The entry says what the records say and stops.
  2. The green 6c — 84 made — is the rarest regular finish of any Alpa before the 11 series specials.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The first metered Alpa and the first with a level eyepiece — the two changes that mark the third generation
  • Grey, black or green: the green-leather body is the collector's 6c

Alpa 6c:

  • A selenium meter cell on the front of the body where the 6 and 6b carried their eye-level finder window
  • A 90° prism: for the first time an Alpa finder looks straight ahead
  • Uncoupled match-needle indicator beside the prism; the photographer transfers the reading to the lens and shutter
  • Instant-return mirror; lenses still stop down through the PAD external coupling arm

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film
Finder
90° pentaprism reflex finder with split-image spot · no rangefinder image
Shutter
Horizontal cloth focal-plane · 1 s – 1/1000 and B · self-timer
Meter
Uncoupled selenium cell on the front plate, match-needle indicator beside the prism
Weight
680 g
Country
Switzerland

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The 6c of 1960 changed the two things people had complained about for a decade. The prism now looks straight ahead — a 90° eyepiece like every other SLR’s, ending the tilted finder that had defined the marque since the Prisma Reflex — and where the model 6 had a separate eye-level window there is now a selenium meter cell, the first meter on any Alpa. It is uncoupled: a match-needle indicator beside the prism gives a reading that the photographer transfers by hand to the shutter and the lens, which still stops down through Alpa’s external coupling arm. The mirror returns instantly.

Pignons built 3,620 in grey, 418 in black and 84 in green leather with black trim between 1960 and 1967, by the records the dealers transcribe. No extended review of the 6c has been found; camera-wiki’s page is a stub and the magazine histories treat it as the step before the 9d, which is what it was.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $380 across 9 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $19–$700). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 4 days: up 1660% from $22.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$380$19–$7009
2026-09-09$380$19–$7009
2026-09-08$22$22–$40013
2026-09-06$22$19–$38014

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 3 more listings

eBay links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Glass Bodies earns a small commission from eBay at no cost to you. It does not change which listings appear, their prices or their order — those come from the search and the sort described above.

Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Alpa 9d · Alpa Alnea / Reflex 4–8

Lenses for this body: Angénieux Alfitar 90mm f/2.5 · Angénieux Alitar 180mm f/4.5 · Angénieux Alitar 50mm f/1.8 · Angénieux Alpar 50mm f/2.9 · Angénieux Retrofocus 24mm f/3.5 (Type R61) · Angénieux Retrofocus 28mm f/3.5 (Type R11) · Angénieux Retrofocus 35mm f/2.5 (Type R1) · Kern Macro-Switar 50mm f/1.9 AR · Kern Switar 50mm f/1.8 AR (and Macro-Switar f/1.8) · Kinoptik Apochromat 100mm f/2 (Alpa) · Kinoptik Apochromat 150mm f/2.8 (Alpa) · Old Delft Alefar 180mm f/4.5 · Old Delft Alfinar 38mm f/3.5 (and 35mm f/3.5) · Old Delft Alfinon 50mm f/2.8 · Old Delft Algular 135mm f/3.2 · Schacht Alpagon 35mm f/3.5 · Schacht Alpa-Altelar 90mm f/2.8 · Schneider Alpa-Curtagon 35mm f/2.8 · Schneider Alpa PA-Curtagon 35mm f/4 · Schneider Alpa Tele-Xenar 135mm f/3.5 · Schneider Alpa Tele-Xenar 360mm f/5.5 · Schneider Alpa Tele-Xenar 90mm f/3.5 · Schneider Alpa-Xenar 75mm f/3.5 · Schneider Alpa-Xenon 50mm f/1.9 · Spectros Alorar 50mm f/3.5

Sources (4)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.