Alsaphot Cyclope
John Wade reveals a strangely designed rollfilm camera
One of the joys of collecting classic cameras is finding one that totally ignores traditional design concepts. If the camera is still usable, it’s even better. The Cyclope ticks both boxes.
In conventional camera design there must always be a space, equivalent at least to the lens’s focal length, between the lens and the film. The Cyclope reduces that space considerably by the use of mirrors. Placed at the back of the body, the first mirror reflects the image from the lens downwards to a second mirror that reflects it back to the film, which runs along the front rather than the back of the body.
The result is threefold: a slimmer-than-normal body for a rollfilm camera; the positioning of the lens at the top, rather than at the more common centre of the body; and the red window through which the film numbers are read being located below
and to the right of the lens on the front of the body, instead of the expected place on the back.
Apertures of f/4.5-f/22 and shutter speeds of 1–1/175sec are set around the top rim of the Boyer Saphir 105mm lens, beside which a direct-vision viewfinder sits on the top plate.
Further peculiarities emerge when loading the 120-size rollfilm on a carrier which is withdrawn from the base of the body. In this way, film can be loaded outside the camera before being inserted back through the base and locked into position. And, of course, the film is loaded with the backing paper facing the front of the camera and the film’s emulsion side facing the back!
All in all, the Alsaphot Cyclope is a very weird and strangely wonderful camera to use.