Alpa Si 20001976

History

By the early-to-mid 1970s, the Swiss camera industry was under severe pressure from Japanese manufacturers who had mastered mass production of precision optical instruments at far lower cost. Pignons had always operated at low volumes — total Alpa production across all Pignons-era models is estimated at fewer than 30,000 cameras — and the economics of Swiss-made mechanical shutter bodies were increasingly difficult to sustain.

The Alpa 11ei (introduced in the early 1970s) was the last fully Swiss-made Alpa SLR to reach significant production. The Si 2000 followed as the final Pignons offering, using a Chinon body — reportedly related to the Chinon CS or a closely contemporary Chinon platform — fitted with the Alpa bayonet mount and sold under the Alpa name.

Pignons ceased camera production around 1990. The Alpa brand was subsequently acquired and revived for the modular technical camera system produced from the 1990s onward, which is a completely different product line bearing no architectural relationship to the Pignons SLR cameras.

The Si 2000 is therefore doubly terminal: it is the last camera in the Pignons manufacturing sequence, and it is the point at which Pignons acknowledged that Swiss in-house production of the camera body was no longer viable.

Why It Matters

The Si 2000 matters primarily as a historical document of the late Pignons era and as a pragmatic solution for photographers who wanted Alpa mount compatibility in a modern (for 1976) electronic body. Its silicon metering and electronic shutter were genuine advances over the selenium-cell and mechanical-shutter designs of earlier Alpa models.

For collectors, the Si 2000 represents the end of an era. It is also, paradoxically, one of the more practically usable Alpa bodies: the electronic shutter and silicon meter reflect 1970s standards that remain functional today with correct battery substitution, and the Alpa mount means the full Kern lens range is available. Photographers who want to shoot Kern Switar glass without paying a premium for a pristine mechanical Alpa 11ei sometimes choose the Si 2000 as an economical entry point.

The OEM relationship with Chinon is not unique to Alpa in this period — Chinon produced bodies for multiple European brands during the 1970s, including Revueflex and Porst — but it is notable within the Alpa lineage given the brand's prior emphasis on Swiss manufacturing quality.

Lenses & Accessories

The Alpa mount is retained in full, giving the Si 2000 access to all Kern and compatible third-party Alpa-mount optics:

• Kern-Switar 50mm f/1.8 — standard lens; as capable on the Si 2000 as on any earlier Alpa body
• Kern-Switar 25mm f/1.8 — wide-angle retrofocus; benefits from the pentaprism finder as on prior Alpa bodies
• Kern-Switar 75mm f/1.9 — portrait telephoto
• Kern-Switar 35mm f/3.5 — compact wide-angle
• Kern Macro-Switar 50mm f/1.8 — macro-optimised variant
• Schneider Curtagon 35mm f/2.8 (Alpa mount) — German wide-angle alternative

Because the body is Chinon-derived, some accessories from the equivalent Chinon body may be compatible (winders, data backs), but this should be verified per accessory.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Alpa Si 2000 — primary reference for the Si 2000's history and Chinon OEM relationship