Bronica S2 film advance

[Gerry M]

I am looking for input from owners, present or past, with hands on experience with a Bronica S2. I just recently bought one on ebay. It appears in good condition and after running a couple of rolls thru it, I resealed the back, film door and dark slide slot. The film advance gear train "feels" kind of rough. Sort of like rough cut gears. Not real bad, but not real smooth either. No noise and the film advances and shutter cocks OK. I have had Mamiya RB67, M645 and Bronica SQAi. These were smooth operating for the film advance. My question : Is this a trademark of the S2? I have read about the brass gear shearing from the drive assy from abuse. This camera appears to have been properly treated. I really like it and would like to get a 50mm lens, but don't want to invest further if this is a failure waiting to happen. Thanks for any input.
Gerry

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

The thing that surprises most new classic Bronica users is the overwind clutch--it seems to wind normally, and then there's this clunky release at the end, and then it comes to a stop. If that's what it's doing, it's perfectly normal. The danger is attempting to continue to wind beyond the final stop.

 

[Gerry M]

David,
Thanks for the info. On the clutch issue: The first time I wound the advance, I almost dropped the camera when the clutch disengaged the gears. I thought it was broken. My question is the "feeling the gear train" sensation prior to the clutch disengaging. Do the gears normally have a little rough feeling, or maybe I am reading something into this.
Gerry

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

That's probably normal. The S2 is doing a lot more when it winds than other MF SLRs, because of the falling mirror design. On a normal SLR, the mirror flips up and blacks out the viewfinder screen during the exposure. On an early Bronica (up to the S2a), the mirror is hinged at the front and drops down, so in addition to the shutter curtain, there is another curtain to black out the viewfinder that you're winding, and the mirror drops into a black metal sheath, so that stray light isn't reflected from the mirror back to the film. This is also why the early Bronicas are notoriously loud. The purpose of all this complication is to make room for lenses inside the mirror box, so that wide to normal lenses don't need as much retrofocus correction as they would on a camera with a mirror that flips up.

 

[Gerry M]

Thanks again, David. It does feel like there is a lot of motion going on during the wind process. I feel better about that now. Maybe it's time for a WA lens. I appreciate your input.
Gerry