Bronica SQ-a?

DWThomas · Dec 18, 2015

I have the 50 and don't actually use it a lot, although it is a nice piece of glass. Just the way I see things, I guess, but I would likely use a 40 even less. I might add, in the PS series at least, even the 50 needs a really wide lens hood and has little tolerance for sticking stuff on the front without vignetting (and takes 77mm filters too).

I have the 50, 65, 80, 110 1:1 macro, and 150, all of PS flavor. (Had I known I would wind up with a 50, I might have skipped the 65.) A while back I acquired an S series 2x tel-extender that jumped in front of me. I've verified it works, but again, haven't done much with it. There were a couple of zooms made, however it's been eons since I saw one go by, and the pricing was not for the faint of heart -- especially considering they were only 2:1 zoom ratio!

I admit to having 45º and 90º prism finders, although 98% of the time I use the WLF. The prisms are handy if you put the camera up high to look over something. Of course with the square format one can sometimes work around that by tilting the camera 90º and "looking in the side" as it were (I've done both).

ChristopherCoy · Dec 19, 2015

DWThomas said:
There were a couple of zooms made, however it's been eons since I saw one go by, and the pricing was not for the faint of heart -- especially considering they were only 2:1 zoom ratio!

These ended yesterday with no bids...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bronica-SQ-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bronica-SQ-...266676?hash=item4af59cb0b4:g:fzAAAOSwo0JWGY8k

DWThomas · Dec 19, 2015

ChristopherCoy said:
These ended yesterday with no bids...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bronica-SQ-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bronica-SQ-...266676?hash=item4af59cb0b4:g:fzAAAOSwo0JWGY8k

Hmm -- guess that proves I haven't been looking lately! But that is a chunk of change. Those focal lengths are new to me too, the ones (I think) I remember were 50 - 100 and 100 - 200. Back a few years, KEH used to show maybe one of each and the tab for the longer was something like $1400. At the time, that would have bought Canon L-series glass for -- uh -- something else!

Most of my Bronica "fine art" shooting is slow paced measured work that allows interchanging lenses and/or moving forward or backward -- sneaker zooming -- so I've managed to restrain my GAS on zooms -- there are plenty of other areas to exercise it!

mweintraub · Dec 21, 2015

DWThomas said:
I have the 50 and don't actually use it a lot, although it is a nice piece of glass. Just the way I see things, I guess, but I would likely use a 40 even less. I might add, in the PS series at least, even the 50 needs a really wide lens hood and has little tolerance for sticking stuff on the front without vignetting (and takes 77mm filters too).

I have the 50, 65, 80, 110 1:1 macro, and 150, all of PS flavor. (Had I known I would wind up with a 50, I might have skipped the 65.) A while back I acquired an S series 2x tel-extender that jumped in front of me. I've verified it works, but again, haven't done much with it. There were a couple of zooms made, however it's been eons since I saw one go by, and the pricing was not for the faint of heart -- especially considering they were only 2:1 zoom ratio!

I admit to having 45º and 90º prism finders, although 98% of the time I use the WLF. The prisms are handy if you put the camera up high to look over something. Of course with the square format one can sometimes work around that by tilting the camera 90º and "looking in the side" as it were (I've done both).

I had the 40 S, 50 S, 65 PS, and other lenses, and decided to keep the 40 and sell the 50mm. Even though the 40 is huge, it's a cool FL.

Alan Gales · Dec 21, 2015

frank said:
I've got an old version 40 for my Hasselblad. It's a fun focal length on 6x6.

You said it! I had a 40mm Nikkor for the Bronica EC that I had. It was big but a great lens. I preferred the 40 over the 50.

Nice shot by the way!

frank · Dec 21, 2015

Alan Gales said:
You said it! I had a 40mm Nikkor for the Bronica EC that I had. It was big but a great lens. I preferred the 40 over the 50.

Nice shot by the way!

Thanks. From the first roll, taken on the day I received this lens.

ChristopherCoy · Dec 21, 2015

Someone told me that if I find an AE or AE-I metered prism, that I can do TTL metering???

I thought that was only available on the SQ-ai??

Can someone shed some light on this for me?

jimjm · Dec 21, 2015

I have the AE Prism Finder S for my SQ-A, which has the electrical contacts needed for this meter. Provides TTL average-weighted metering with an LED readout in the finder. Operates in aperture-priority automatic or manual modes.

I don't use mine a lot as I usually use a hand-held meter with my Bronica, but it's worked great when I've needed it. It runs off the battery in the body, so I suspect frequent use may impact your battery life.

ChristopherCoy · Dec 21, 2015

jimjm said:
I have the AE Prism Finder S for my SQ-A, which has the electrical contacts needed for this meter. Provides TTL average-weighted metering with an LED readout in the finder. Operates in aperture-priority automatic or manual modes.

I don't use mine a lot as I usually use a hand-held meter with my Bronica, but it's worked great when I've needed it. It runs off the battery in the body, so I suspect frequent use may impact your battery life.

Wanna sell it? LOL

I just found this thread (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

houstonphotographics · Dec 22, 2015

hoffy said:
What battery problem did you have?

The 4x button cells in the carrier made intermittent non contact because the door didnt close tightly enough a lot of times. I put a small piece of paper in between and helped once in a while. It failed me on several candid shots of people and I got tired of it. Just a poor design at the time.

houstonphotographics · Dec 22, 2015

I brought the SQ-am with me today.. may test it out. Shooting with WLF , will be kind of strange holding at that level with a motor drive, but I can get used to it.

wiltw · Dec 22, 2015

Alan Gales said:
Sorry, I didn't explain myself well. I'm talking about a bracket that locates the flash above the camera and just to the side like a Speed Graphic instead of directly over the camera like my Stroboframe did with my Hasselblad.

But a couple of inches lateral deviation from directly over the optical axis of the lens will cause side shadowing, and WL finder use with any flash will almost always need for some lateral offset, side shadowing is inherent to WL finder use.

For example, a 4" lateral offset at camera which is 20' from the subject, will result in a 3" lateral shadow offset projected on a wall 15' behind the subject.

frank · Dec 22, 2015

I have a Jones flash bracket that moves the flash forward while maintaining its location above the lens.

MrBrowning · Dec 22, 2015

houstonphotographics said:
The 4x button cells in the carrier made intermittent non contact because the door didnt close tightly enough a lot of times. I put a small piece of paper in between and helped once in a while. It failed me on several candid shots of people and I got tired of it. Just a poor design at the time.

I have the same problem with mine. My fix was to put 3 layers of gaffes tape over the edge of the door and put my tripod plate so it coveres it. No more problems.

Alan Gales · Dec 22, 2015

wiltw said:
But a couple of inches lateral deviation from directly over the optical axis of the lens will cause side shadowing, and WL finder use with any flash will almost always need for some lateral offset, side shadowing is inherent to WL finder use.

For example, a 4" lateral offset at camera which is 20' from the subject, will result in a 3" lateral shadow offset projected on a wall 15' behind the subject.

Ok. I gotcha. You are talking about using a flash with the waist level finder.

I didn't have that trouble with my Hasselblad because I had to use a prism finder with the flash bracket. With my RZ67 I only used a waist level finder but I always used studio strobes.

ChristopherCoy · Dec 22, 2015

houstonphotographics said:
The 4x button cells in the carrier made intermittent non contact because the door didnt close tightly enough a lot of times. I put a small piece of paper in between and helped once in a while. It failed me on several candid shots of people and I got tired of it. Just a poor design at the time.

MrBrowning said:
I have the same problem with mine. My fix was to put 3 layers of gaffes tape over the edge of the door and put my tripod plate so it coveres it. No more problems.

Mine doesn't have multiple batteries in it. It has a single short, stubby, cylindrical battery.

hoffy · Dec 22, 2015

houstonphotographics said:
The 4x button cells in the carrier made intermittent non contact because the door didnt close tightly enough a lot of times. I put a small piece of paper in between and helped once in a while. It failed me on several candid shots of people and I got tired of it. Just a poor design at the time.

OK, no problems. I've never had that issue.

What batteries does the SQ-A use?

paul_c5x4 · Dec 22, 2015

hoffy said:
What batteries does the SQ-A use?

The SQ, SQ-A, SQ-B, and the SQ-AM use a 4LR44 or PX-28 battery (the AM also requires 6 AA batteries for the motor winder). The SQ-Ai on the other hand, uses four separate LR44 cells in a small holder.

ChristopherCoy · Dec 23, 2015

OOOOHHHHHH!!! This is Niiiiiiiiccccceeee!!!

My WLF and extra back came in today. The WLF is SO much nicer than the prism finder. It's nice and bright, and makes it very easy to focus.

I can't wait to put this camera through the paces.

Bronica SQ-a?

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