Alex Optics · Est. 1973

The Alex SLR,
taken apart.

A 1973 all-mechanical 35 mm reflex, rebuilt in light and geometry. Watch it open itself — then take it apart yourself.

Drag to rotate · click the camera to open it

Shot on Alex Optics

Four frames from one roll.

Every picture below was “taken” through an Alex SLR and a 50 mm f/1.4 — and drawn, not photographed: gradients, light leaks, grain and all.

Mira, north window Alex SLR · 50 mm f/1.4 · 1/500 s

Seven spots, one leaf Alex SLR · 50 mm f/1.4 · 1/320 s

Bridge at 1/60th Alex SLR · 135 mm f/2.8 · 1/60 s

Combe Lake, 05:40 Alex SLR · 50 mm f/8 · 1/125 s

The collection

Two cameras, two lenses, no compromise.

Everything we sell is serviced by hand in the workroom above the shop and comes with a twelve-month warranty.

Why film?

Thirty-six frames, and you have to mean each one.

A roll of film is a small, finite thing. You meter the light, you set the dial, you wait for the moment — and then you wait again to see whether you were right. That pause is the whole point.

We have been selling, servicing and arguing about film cameras on the same street corner since 1973. Bring us anything with a wound spring in it and we will make it work again.

“A photograph you have to wait for is a photograph you keep.”

1973The year the first Alex SLR left the workroom, and the year we opened the shop.
36Frames to a roll. Fewer than your phone, and somehow enough.
0Batteries required to release the shutter of the camera above.

The Alex SLR,taken apart.

Four frames from one roll.

Two cameras, two lenses, no compromise.

Thirty-six frames, and you have to mean each one.

The Alex SLR,
taken apart.