Bronica GS-1 Panoramic film back ?

Zenzanon Fan · Jan 27, 2022

From what I can see Bronica never developed a panoramic back for the GS-1 although it is listed in some catalogues etc with " under development " in brackets.

Just wondering if any one has ever seen one as my GS-1 has a focusing screen with the 35mm panoramic lines etched in similar to my SQA panoramic screen. Seems strange they would make a screen for a non existent film back ?

Oren Grad · Jan 27, 2022

Bronica brochure EI700438F shows 135-N and 135-SW backs for the GS-1, with the latter specified as 24x69 mm. No "under development" flag - they're just listed straight, as though they were current products. But I can't recall ever seeing either.

wiltw · Jan 27, 2022

Oren Grad said:
Bronica brochure EI700438F shows 135-N and 135-SW backs for the GS-1, with the latter specified as 24x69 mm. No "under development" flag - they're just listed straight, as though they were current products. But I can't recall ever seeing either.

More about 135SW here
https://www.heritagecameras.co.uk/b...the-gs-1-6x7cm-medium-format-camera-139-c.asp

Why not simply shoot with normal back, and crop in darkroom? You can relatively easily make a simple mask for finder.

When I learned the ETR 135W back was same 56mm width as standard 120 back, I discarded any idea of buying that back, although I did buy the ordinary 135 back to be able to shoot 135 format with the camera.

moto-uno · Jan 27, 2022

And not to forget how astronomically priced those 135W backs are for the Etr's, scary ! There's someone on the Bronica Etrs Flickr site
that was modifying the 135 back to be a 135W back . Peter

moto-uno · Jan 27, 2022

I just checked that site you suggested and I'm really suspicious , for the life of me that looks like an Etr camera and backs and winder ! Peter

itsdoable · Jan 27, 2022

To the best of my knowledge, the GS1 panoramic back for 135 film never went into production - at best, there may be a prototype floating around. I've stopped looking for one.

The picture at the heritagecameras.co.uk site is a ETR (as moto-uno deduced), and the pano back shown is a 135W. It is not a GS1.

The presence of the screen with the etched panoramic guide was probably used with 120 film, so you could pre-visualize the panoramic crop on 120 film. Back in the day, 120 film was not more expensive than 135, the only reason to use 135 was to use emulsions not available in 120 films.

Tony-S · Jan 28, 2022

Here's how I do it with my GS-1. Example shots.

Snake River Overlook, Grand Teton National Park by Tony, on Flickr

Mormon Row Barn, Grand Teton National Park by Tony, on Flickr

wiltw · Jan 28, 2022

I just consulted a book by Cheung The Bronica Manual and in it he mentions that 135 backs were made only for ETR and SQ bodies. The GS-1 only had 120, 220, and Polaroid dedicated backs.

itsdoable · Jan 28, 2022

Tony-S said:
Here's how I do it with my GS-1....

Exceptionally nice! What is the purpose of the yellow tape on the take-up spool?

I did something very similar with a Pentax 67 so I could shoot panoramic Kodachrome 200 (then unavailable in 120) . The advantage of the Pentax is that you can advance the counter by hand on the top dial before closing the back, which meant you did not have to attach a paper leader to prevent the loss of the start of the film. I also fed the film into an unused cassette, that way I could change the film in the field, and re-wind the cassettes when I got back to the darkroom.

Tony-S · Jan 29, 2022

It's just a guide to help center the 35mm film.

Zenzanon Fan · Jan 29, 2022

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, so it would seem the GS-1 35mm backs were never made. They probably would have been easier to produce as the film moves across the back horizontally unlike the SQ etc and they already had the 35mm insert developed.

I will give it a go like Tony-S has done.........much cheaper then a dedicated back too !

c t b · Jan 31, 2022

those are some crisp scans!

Bronica GS-1 Panoramic film back ?

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