Macro-Switar 50mm f1.8 for Alpa, manufactured by Kern of Switzerland, a company specializing in cine lenses, and one of the few photographic lenses they produced. It is a 5-group 7-element apochromat lens. The distance scale is in feet. Its excellent rendering capabilities are truly all-encompassing, suitable for everything from macro photography to snapshot photography, making it a lens synonymous with high performance. Despite its age, it remains popular today for its gentle and enchanting rendering. In the 1990s, an adapter that allowed the Macro-Switar to be used with Leica rangefinder coupling was sold by Aoyama Retina House, creating a significant movement. Today, its superb rendering continues to find use not only in Alpa and Leica cameras but also in mirrorless cameras, expanding its range of applications. Comes with original front and back caps, and a filter. The filter is a modern MC filter fitted into an original frame.
There are some scuffs and paint wear on the hood attachment area, but it is quite clean. It underwent a full overhaul in 2024. The aperture blades are clean, and the operation of the aperture ring and helicoid is very smooth. There is a minor dirt visible only under strong LED light inside the lens, but it does not affect actual shooting. There are no scratches or haze, and the lens clarity is excellent. The test shooting results were also good. I hope you can see the characteristic beautiful bokeh of the Switar in close-up shots at the test gallery.
