Bronica S - Bellows Attachment 2

[hoffy]

Greetings all,

A few months ago, I got my hands on a pretty decent Bronica S2a Setup, including 50mm and 75mm Nikkor lenses and a Bellows Attachment 2.

As the camera needed a small repair (wouldn't infinity focus. Fixed by replacing the foam that pushes down the focus screen), it had sat in my cupboard until last weekend when I bit the bullet and gave it some TLC.

Anyhow, as I was going through the gear, I noticed the that Bellows Attachment 2 has full frontal movements! Happy Days! What I am curious to know, will either the 50mm or 75mm have sufficient coverage to make this useful? Has anyone here had experience using this bellows attachment?

Cheers

 

[jspillane]

Wow, that is very interesting!
Here is a little discussion I turned up on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/ishootfilm/discuss/72157622522484519/
Coverage looks limited but the testing isn't especially systematic.

I'd be very interested to know the exact details on this and coverage from different lenses. Could be a much cheaper alternative to getting a FlexBody.

Any brave owners willing to do the tests and post results?

 

[hoffy]

I have yet to put any film through it, so I'll give it a go at some point soon.

 

[Alan Gales]

S2a's and older Bronica's came from the factory with focussing screens out of alignment. At first people thought the Nikkor lenses were soft.

I have only seen pictures of the bellows used with the 75mm lens but there is nothing stopping you from trying other focal lengths.

Enjoy it Hoffy, the S2a is a fine camera. Pick up a Bronica 150mm for peanuts. It's a great portrait lens. I used to shoot EC's. The cameras focus very close with the helical focussing and the lenses have great bokeh! I owned the 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 135mm, and 200mm Nikkor and the 150mm Bronica lenses. All the lenses were great except the 135mm Nikkor was soft. You can pick one up for next to nothing so you might want to try a 135 for portraits only.

 

[Steve Smith]

I am curious to know, will either the 50mm or 75mm have sufficient coverage to make this useful?

There's only one way to find out!

And please let us know as I now own an S2 and would be interested too.

However - you don't need to limit yourself to Bronica lenses. With a bit of ingenuity, large format lenses (including old brass barrel lenses) could be fitted to the adaptor.


Steve.

 

[Trond]

What I am curious to know, will either the 50mm or 75mm have sufficient coverage to make this useful? Has anyone here had experience using this bellows attachment?

I have the bellows attachment, and have used it occasionally. I don't think the lenses have enough coverage at infinity, but then the bellows will be too compressed to allow for any movements anyway. But, it's indeed useful for macro work. Try it out!

Trond

 

[hoffy]

OK. Weather permitting, I will this weekend.

Now I have to work out how to Exposure factor compensate......