Alpa Reflex

Pignons · Alpa mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1944

Also known as: Alpa Alpa Reflex · Alpa Alpa Standard · Alpa Alpa Prisma Reflex · Alpa Prisma Reflex · Alpa Bolca · Alpa Bolca Reflex · Alpa Alpa Reflex I · Alpa Alpa Reflex II · Alpa Reflex · Alpa Standard · Alpa Prisma Reflex · Prisma Reflex · Bolca · Bolca Reflex · Alpa Reflex I · Alpa Reflex II

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Alpa Reflex I (Series C, 1944–46)	Alpa	1944–1946	—	571 (Pacific Rim Camera); 115 in 1944 and 434 in 1945 by the factory's year counts (Digital Camera World)
Alpa Reflex II (Series D and E, 1946–52)	Alpa	1946–1952	—	4,570, of which 519 with flash sync and 53 in lizard skin (Pacific Rim Camera). Series D 1945–47 about 1,350 at 13000–15020; Series E 1947–51 at 20000–25032 (Wikipedia)
Alpa Standard	Alpa	1944	—	466 (Igor Camera's tally of Pignons' records)
Alpa Prisma Reflex (1949–52)	Alpa	1949–1952	—	935, of which 305 with a two-pin flash sync on the lower front (Pacific Rim Camera)

The first-generation total is disputed below: about 5,000 (Wikipedia, counting Series C to E) against about 8,000 (Mike Eckman, counting every series including prototypes). The per-series figures come from Pacific Rim Camera's transcription of Pignons' records and from Igor Camera's; they are the numbers the trade uses.
Serial numbering is the tell: Series C carries six digits beginning 120001 by a factory error; D and E return to five digits at 13000 and 20000. A camera dates itself.
The Standard is on this page because it shares body, shutter, bayonet and years with the Reflex and differs only in having no mirror. It is a rangefinder camera; the family name is the Reflex because that is what Pignons called the line.

How to tell them apart (expand)

A reflex camera with a rangefinder: two focusing systems on one 35mm body, which almost nobody else ever built
A body the size of a Leica, 558 g (Mike Eckman), cast and hand-finished in bright chrome
The Alpa bayonet, introduced with Series C in 1944 and unchanged to 1990

Alpa Reflex I (Series C, 1944–46):

Six-digit serials 120001–120700 — a numbering mistake, corrected in the next series
Waist-level reflex hood and a separate horizontal coupled rangefinder, its coupler at the top of the lens mount
Cloth focal-plane shutter 1 s – 1/1000; knob wind; bright chrome; a lever lifts and lowers the non-return mirror
Angénieux Alpar 50mm f/2.9 collapsible or Alitar 50mm f/1.8

Alpa Reflex II (Series D and E, 1946–52):

Rangefinder coupler moved to the bottom of the mount
Serials 13000–15020 and 20000–25148

Alpa Standard:

The rangefinder camera without the reflex: a coupled rangefinder and an eye-level finder, no mirror, the same bayonet and shutter

Alpa Prisma Reflex (1949–52):

A roof prism over the reflex screen, its eyepiece angled at 45° — the first Alpa you could hold to the eye and the origin of the tilted finder the next generation kept
Serials between 22000 and 25000; horizontal rangefinder retained

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 35mm film
Finder (main): Waist-level reflex hood over the ground glass (Reflex I and II); a 45° roof-prism eyepiece on the Prisma Reflex · no rangefinder image
Finder (rangefinder): Separate coupled coincident-image rangefinder, horizontal, with its own eyepiece
Shutter: Horizontal cloth focal-plane · 1 s – 1/1000 and B · flash sync None on early bodies; two-pin sync on 519 Reflex II and 305 Prisma Reflex
Meter: None
Designed by: Jacques Bolsky — designer of the Bolca prototype that became the Alpa Reflex; born Yakov Bogopolsky in Kiev, 1895, and the designer of the Bolex cine camera before it
Weight: 558 g
Country: Switzerland
Original price: US$269.50 in 1948 (Mike Eckman) — about a Leica's price; no Swiss list price located.

Where sources disagree

First-generation production

About 5,000 by 1952, Series C to E (English Wikipedia)
About 8,000 across five series through the mid-1950s (Mike Eckman)
571 + 4,570 + 466 + 935 = 6,542 by the per-model figures (Pacific Rim Camera, Igor Camera)

Better supported: The per-model figures

They come from the factory's records as transcribed by the dealers who handle these cameras; the round numbers are estimates around them.

What reviewers say

Mike Eckman, a 1948 Series E Alpa Reflex (blog) — "Built with the precision and reputation of a Swiss watchmaker": 558 g, handbag-sized, with a waist-level reflex screen and a horizontal split-image rangefinder to choose between. The speed dial is squeezed between rewind knob and hood, and the two eyepieces are far enough apart to slow focus-and-compose.
David S. Young (Digital Camera World), the Alpa story (blog) — A history rather than a roll: 115 cameras in 1944, 434 in 1945, a peak near 1,300 in 1965 and about 45,000 in all. "Pignons preferred quality over quantity and even accepted special-order modifications"; the dual focusing and the 45° eyepiece are the eccentricities of the title. single source, unconfirmed

History

Jacques Bolsky — Yakov Bogopolsky of Kiev, who had already designed the Bolex cine camera — drew a 35mm reflex with a coupled rangefinder in the late 1930s, and Pignons S.A. of Ballaigues, a maker of watch parts in the Jura, bought the rights in 1942. Twenty Series A prototypes by 1941, a small Series B in 1942, and in April 1944 at the Basel trade fair the Alpa Reflex: a waist-level reflex finder over the ground glass, a separate horizontal rangefinder coupled to the lens, a cloth shutter from 1 second to 1/1000, and a new bayonet whose first cameras were numbered 120001 by mistake. Pignons built 115 that year and 434 the next. The Angénieux Alpar 50mm f/2.9 collapsed into the body when the mirror was up.

The Reflex II of 1946 moved the rangefinder coupler below the mount and ran to 4,570 cameras by 1952, 519 of them with flash sync and 53 covered in lizard. The Standard was the same camera without the mirror, a plain rangefinder, 466 made. The Prisma Reflex of 1949 put a roof prism over the screen with its eyepiece angled at 45°, so that for the first time an Alpa could be held to the eye; 935 were built, and the tilted eyepiece became the family’s signature for the next fifteen years. In America the Reflex cost $269.50 in 1948, about a Leica’s price.

The first generation totals about 5,000 cameras by Wikipedia’s count and about 8,000 by Mike Eckman’s, which is the difference between counting from Series C and counting from the prototypes. Eckman’s is the only extended review; he found a compact, beautifully finished pioneer whose speed dial is jammed between the rewind knob and the hood and whose two eyepieces sit far enough apart to slow the hand.

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.

Photographs

Alpa Reflex, first generation — Rama, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0 fr)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $300 across 24 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $69–$800). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: up 100% from $150.

By day

Date	Median	Middle half	Listings
2026-09-11	$300	$69–$800	24
2026-09-06	$150	$69–$640	21

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

Alpa Reflex Ecrana 615 — $20.00 · eBay
Vintage Alpa Reflex Tube Set #G148 — $23.70 · eBay
Very Clean Macro- and Micro Photography with the Alpa Reflex 35mm #P4384 — $38.25 · eBay
ALPA Reflex Swiss Film Camera Microfix Mount, 25mm Norm Lens — $40.00 · eBay
Alpa Reflex Switzerland Tubset Pignons in box — $50.00 · eBay
✅ ALPA REFLEX ORIGINAL LEATHER CASE 135MM, 180MM & 200MM TELE, PORTRAIT LENSES — $69.30 · eBay
ALPA Reflex TUBSET w/ Box — $75.00 · eBay
✅ ALPA REFLEX ORIGINAL LEATHER CASE 135MM, 180MM & 200MM TELE, PORTRAIT LENSES — $84.70 · eBay
Vintage ALPA REFLEX SLR 35mm FILM CAMERA LENS TUBSET BOXED MACRO — $89.00 · eBay
ALPA REFLEX SLR 35mm FILM CAMERA LENS TUBSET BOXED MACRO CLOSE UP 4x ADAPTERS — $119.00 · eBay
Orginal Casse for Alpa Reflex — $150.00 · eBay
Alpa 135mm f3.5 Tele Xenar Schnieder Alpa Reflex Lens, ESTATE — $300.00 · eBay
Alpa Mercure 3.54/35mm Multi Coated Black Lens Alpa Reflex Camera — $355.00 · eBay
Schacht Alpa Alteral 2.8/90mm Black Lens Alpa Reflex Camera — $500.00 · eBay
Alpa Reflex Rare Prism — $630.00 · eBay
Alpa-Reflex Model II body 35mm SLR Rangefinder camera NOTTESTED — $636.12 · eBay
Alpa Reflex Camera — $745.00 · eBay
Alpa Prisma Reflex Camera Switzerland — $800.00 · eBay
ALPA Reflex 35mm SLR Film Camera Body Vintage Swiss Camera from Japan E0522 — $954.55 · eBay
Very rare Alpa Reflex (II) with ALPA-XENON 50mm/1.9 in Ex+++ condition — $1,850.00 · eBay

Show 8 more listings

Alpa Reflex II Silver Camera — $1,895.00 · Classic Connection
Alpa Prisma Reflex III Ex+ Rare — $1,895.00 · Classic Connection
Alpa Reflex I Camera Silver Ex+ — $1,895.00 · Classic Connection
Alpa Prisma Reflex with Xenon 1.9/50mm Shutter needs Service — $1,912.19 · eBay
Ritzel Alpa Prisma Reflex Alfinon 5cm zum reparieren seltenes Modell, Sync und Prisma — €1,100.00 · eBay
Alpa Prisma Reflex with Xenon 1.9/50mm Shutter need Service — €1,500.00 · eBay
Alpa Prisma Reflex with Xenon 1.9/50mm Shutter need Service — €1,500.00 · Arsenal Photo
Alpa Prisma Reflex with Xenon 1.9/50mm Shutter needs Service — £1,411.91 · eBay

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.