Bronica Stops Production

[david b]

Holy Moly!!!

http://www.tamron.com/news/corp/bronica_discontinuation.asp

 

[Helen B]

Goodness me.

I hope that Rollei don't stop making the SL 66!

Oh, they did?

Best,
Helen

 

[bmac]

The sky is falling folks. The lesser players are going to be bighting the dust over the next couple of years.

 

[TPPhotog]

The good news is that kit currently available or at least the quality items are built to last a lifetime and with the move to digital there's going to be plenty if kit to pick up at basement prices.

The bad news of course is that we have to hope we have the consumables such as film, chemicals and papers. But that's already been discussed here at length and there are alternative suppliers to fill the void.

For once bad news isn't the end of the world.

My thoughts and best wishes of course do go out to any of the staff who may find themselves out of a job due to this discision.

Tony

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

All my Bronica stuff is old S-series, so it doesn't affect me, but it's unfortunate to see the alternatives diminishing.

They are keeping the Bronica 645 rangefinder on line though, since there really isn't a direct alternative to that system, and it's a relatively new product, though not a terribly successful one. The Fuji 645's are fixed/zoom lens point-and-shoots, and the Mamiya 7II is a significantly bulkier camera.

 

[mark]

:confused:

 

[Aggie]

and the Mamiya 7II is a significantly bulkier camera.

Bulkier? it is like a 35mm on steriods. It's not bulkier just a tad bigger than a 35.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I like the 7II, and it is just a tad bigger than a 35mm professional SLR, but compared to a 35mm rangefinder like a Leica/Contax/Bessa or 645 rangefinder like the Bronica, it strikes me as much larger. Personally, I'd prefer the 7II if I were in the market for a new rangefinder camera, but it doesn't have the kind of "stealth" quality that a small rangefinder has.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Does anyone have an idea about availabiltity of Bronica accessories now that production has been stopped?