After picking up a GS-1 body fairly cheap, I ordered a 110mm macro lens, plain prism finder, 6X7 back and the speed grip from KEH. KEH came through again and gets a 5-star rating from me on speedy shipping and their conservative rating system. A hardy two thumbs up
1. Interchangeable backs (one of the main reasons I would switch to the GS-1)
2. Handling seems as good and maybe just a little better.
3. Film loading is much easier, at least for me anyway. I think it easier than the Hasselblad also.
4. Higher flash sync, not that important to me. Yes, I have the 90mm and 165mm for the Pentax, but the Bronica is much simpler to use with a flash.
5. Very sharp lens. At least the 110mm Macro is, anyway. Probably not any better than my Pentax lenses, but I think just as good.
6. Nice, big 6X7cm negative are so nice. Again, same at the Pentax and one up on the Hasselblad.
Things I don't really care for:
1. Still pretty noisy.
2. Heavy. I don't know if it's heavier than my 555ELX or the Pentax 67 w/wood grip, since they are both at my cottage at the moment.
3. Being totally dependent on a battery, but so is the Hasselblad 555ELX and the Pentax 67 to some extent.
4. No rotating back.
One little note and that is about KEH. I order a bargain (BGN) 110mm Macro and it was near mint except for a small ding on the filter ring. I can remove the dent with a special tool I have just for that purpose. The 6X7 back was a BGN again and it too looks like mint. The speed grip was BGN and said to be inoperable, but for $27.00 I took a chance. It turned out that all that was wrong with it was the threaded collar the 1/4x20 screw onto the base of the grip had worked its way up the screw and prevented the camera from being mounted to the grip. A 3-minute repair and it's like new. I had ordered a plain prism finder because it was dirt cheap, but KEH sent me an AE finder instead and it looks and works perfectly. That's why I gave them the two thumbs up. In fact, I'll probably be looking to get my 65mm and 150mm from them also since their prices are no worse than eBay. Oh, and the risk of getting the Royal Screw seems much, much less than from eBay.
I have eye surgery tomorrow, so it will be a while before the GS-1 and I can get out for some more tests.
1. Interchangeable backs (one of the main reasons I would switch to the GS-1)
2. Handling seems as good and maybe just a little better.
3. Film loading is much easier, at least for me anyway. I think it easier than the Hasselblad also.
4. Higher flash sync, not that important to me. Yes, I have the 90mm and 165mm for the Pentax, but the Bronica is much simpler to use with a flash.
5. Very sharp lens. At least the 110mm Macro is, anyway. Probably not any better than my Pentax lenses, but I think just as good.
6. Nice, big 6X7cm negative are so nice. Again, same at the Pentax and one up on the Hasselblad.
Things I don't really care for:
1. Still pretty noisy.
2. Heavy. I don't know if it's heavier than my 555ELX or the Pentax 67 w/wood grip, since they are both at my cottage at the moment.
3. Being totally dependent on a battery, but so is the Hasselblad 555ELX and the Pentax 67 to some extent.
4. No rotating back.
One little note and that is about KEH. I order a bargain (BGN) 110mm Macro and it was near mint except for a small ding on the filter ring. I can remove the dent with a special tool I have just for that purpose. The 6X7 back was a BGN again and it too looks like mint. The speed grip was BGN and said to be inoperable, but for $27.00 I took a chance. It turned out that all that was wrong with it was the threaded collar the 1/4x20 screw onto the base of the grip had worked its way up the screw and prevented the camera from being mounted to the grip. A 3-minute repair and it's like new. I had ordered a plain prism finder because it was dirt cheap, but KEH sent me an AE finder instead and it looks and works perfectly. That's why I gave them the two thumbs up. In fact, I'll probably be looking to get my 65mm and 150mm from them also since their prices are no worse than eBay. Oh, and the risk of getting the Royal Screw seems much, much less than from eBay.
I have eye surgery tomorrow, so it will be a while before the GS-1 and I can get out for some more tests.