Any Bronica C owners? Just received mine. LOUD!

Dusty Negative

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Just received a Bronica C. It's a very lovely camera.

I had read the odd review or two (don't seem to be many for the "C") that mentioned the loud shutter mech and the need to 'push through' the winder, but boy oh boy, is this thing LOUD! The shutter rivals my Pentax 6x7 in ground-shaking might.

Perhaps even more surprising was how much force it took to fully wind and cock the shutter. I wasted two rolls of film thinking there was a jam in the film roller that was preventing the shutter from opening; turns out you *really* have to push through the winding to get to that final 'clack' that evidently indicates ... well, I'm not fully sure what it indicates. In any event, the winder will come to a complete, but relatively quiet, stop after otherwise smooth winding. However, you then need to force it further, at which point it will scatter wildlife with some kind of pin-activation/wrenching/grinding sound. Then you're cooking with gas.

Now, having said all that, maybe mine is suffering some kind of malfunction or degeneration, and it needs a good greasing.

Anyone else have a "C" and can speak to this?
 

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All I will say is that C and S are indeed loud as hell, even though great looking & capable cameras. In the end I took the EC route due to superior shutter and mirror mechanism, and even more so, the film advance system.
 

itsdoable

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I have the S2a, and although it is loud, I don't find it bad. But that may be because I used/use a Hasselblad 2000fc, which is actually louder (!) and has a sharp metallic clang rather than the more satisfying "clump" of the S2.

There are recorded and measured intensity of several MF cameras on the 3rd page of this old thread: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/most-satisfying-shutter-sound.159556/page-3
 

reddesert

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It's like that as far as I can tell. If you fire the camera at a slow speed or B you can tell that some of the loud noise comes from the mirror return (and/or second shutter curtain), so happens after the exposure. It's possible that there are mirror bumpers that are deteriorated, but I don't know how the bumpers work on a C / S2.

The smooth wind with a final forceful clack appears to be normal. If you wind with the back open you can see that the shutter curtains are being wound in the smooth phase, and presumably the last clack tensions the spring. Re lubing, generally, cameras should use as little oil as possible, and grease belongs nowhere near a shutter.
 
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Dusty Negative

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reddesert said:
The smooth wind with a final forceful clack appears to be normal. If you wind with the back open you can see that the shutter curtains are being wound in the smooth phase, and presumably the last clack tensions the spring
Click to expand...

Just shot two rolls of Tri-X. Everything came out fine, so no major failures. I got used to the !!CLACK!! fairly quickly, but it's a bit disconcerting the first few times. It just seems like you're stripping a gear and then bursting something mechanical!
 

itsdoable

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Dusty Negative said:
J...but it's a bit disconcerting the first few times. It just seems like you're stripping a gear and then bursting something mechanical!
Click to expand...
Ya, the first time I wound the camera (4 and 1/2 turns!), and hit the last hard detent, which required significant force to complete, which resulted in that loud snapping sound..... I thought I'd just broken it.

Mechanically, the body uses a standard differential gear to drive the back wind and shutter wind, and both need a hard detent to transfer the drive to the other mechanism so both can complete their cycle before the gear stop.
 

guangong

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If you want quiet in MF, get a rangefinder camera with leaf shutter. Otherwise, enjoy the virtues of SLR. That’s a big mirror that has to flap up in fractions of a second.
 

Sirius Glass

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A loud shutter tells the world that you have arrived. Enjoy.
 

PFGS

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Former owner of a C, S2, and S2a - all sounds perfectly normal to me. You have to embrace it as part of the fun.
 

GRHazelton

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Yes, when I fire my S2a women quake, children run screaming, and horses rear and shy. BTW, is your C free of the infinity focus problem? A group for focal plane Bronicas on flikr disusses it, and cures for it.
 
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Dusty Negative

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GRHazelton said:
Yes, when I fire my S2a women quake, children run screaming, and horses rear and shy. BTW, is your C free of the infinity focus problem? A group for focal plane Bronicas on flikr disusses it, and cures for it.
Click to expand...

Not sure about infinity focus problem, but I do note the exposure is not centered on the acetate. Off by a millimeter or two. It’s going to leave a black stripe in the enlarger. Bummer.
 

flavio81

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Dusty Negative said:
but boy oh boy, is this thing LOUD! The shutter rivals my Pentax 6x7 in ground-shaking might.
Click to expand...

This was the "japanese hasselblad" so it needs to have the characteristics of the hasselblad 500C: Loud mirror action and strong camera vibrations. Very swedish, think about a Volvo 240: beautiful in its utilitarian looks, reliable, useful, well made, will last a lifetime, yet technologically unrefined.

This post is dedicated to Sirius Glass.
 

Neil Grant

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...there's only one thing worse than the noise a vintage focal-plane Bronica makes when you press the button. NO noise at all.
 

Alan Gales

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When I shot my first EC It made such a loud noise that I thought I broke it.

I heard of a photographer shooting a wedding in a Catholic Church years ago with an early Bronica. The Priest made him stop because the sound of the camera was interrupting the wedding. Some churches do echo a lot!

Mamiya TLR's used to be popular because you could still change the lenses and the leaf shutters were quiet for weddings.
 

Sirius Glass

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Many religious institution did not allow photography because of the shutter noise during the mid 20th century.
 
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