Bronica's underrated?

[brianentz]

Anyone care to comment? It seems to me that Bronica's never get their due. 2nd always to mamiya, hassle, pentax.... They seem to me to be a pretty friendly system with optics just shy of hassle. Even the Bronica RF645 gets no respect. I'm just perplexed at why they never get praised for being anything other than a workhorse.

Why does this be?

I love my etrsi system.

 

[doughowk]

I have an SQ-A and its become my primary camera for a long term project I'm working on. I'd prefer something with less "moving parts" - less electronic and more manual. But that's probably because of my preference for view cameras. I've been shooting alot of dark interiors (churches) of late, and its max shutter of 8 seconds can be a pain. For longer times, it has a jury-rigged solution that is prone to mistakes. My first SQ-A was from eBay, and it had inconsistent problems which the local camera repair shop could not diagnose. I wound up replacing the various parts thru KEH, and the system is now more reliable. But I still hesitate to solely rely on it for critical images.

 

[ozphoto]

I love my GS1 system; for me it was a no-brainer.

6x7 systems are not as prolific as 6x6 & 6x4.5, so didn't have a great deal of choice.

Whilst the RB/RZ has the nice "rotating-back" feature, it's too bulky for my taste (and I do love shooting the GS1 hand-held); the Pentax 6x7 is useless for shooting anything that requires Polaroids or multiple film types and the Mamiya 7 has the same limitations as the Pentax.

On the plus side of being not so loved by the masses - they're cheap as chips these days!

 

[andrew.roos]

I'm also a Bronica lover. I shoot an ETRSi and the lenses I have (40mm, 75mm and 135mm, all PE) are all excellent. I like the electronic exposure system because it gives me up to 8s timed exposure, which I often need for landscapes, while most mechanically timed shutters only go to 1s. For anything longer I just use T, which allows manually timed exposures for as long as I want without draining the battery. I like the leaf shutters, because when shooting mirror-up there is essentially no vibration, which means a light tripod is sufficient. And because I live in Darkest Africa, I love the fact that it's a full system camera and the components are quite inexpensive, so if I had a failure (none yet) I could simply replace the failed component at fairly low cost. And I appreciate the fact that Bronica uses consistent filter sizes (62mm for almost all ETRSi lenses) so I can a single set of circular filters with all my lenses. Occasionally I get size envy when a friend develops film from his RB-67 in my darkroom and hangs them to dry next to my 6x4.5 negs. But then I remember that I can comfortably carry the body, three lenses and hiking essentials in a small day-pack....

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

I had an ETRSi for a long time and loved it. With the speed grip it handled almost as well as a 135 format camera, IMO. It was completely reliable and the lenses were razor sharp. It was a shear joy to use.

 

[Toffle]

My GS-1 is a fantastic camera, and I really should shoot more with it. The Bronicas have beautiful, sharp lenses. Mine came with a speed grip and prism, but I immediately stripped it down to just a WLF. It is much more compact in that arrangement, comfortable to compose and shoot, and very easy on the shoulder if I'm walking around all day with it hanging on a strap.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[TheToadMen]

My first MF camera was a Bronica SQ-B. I bought it as a kit with the 80 mm lens in 2003 or so. I still love using this camera. No need for Hasselblad 500 series (although I got me a Hasselblad SWC (from 1964) this summer for it being compact, wide angle (Biogon 38 mm) and a beauty).

I also got me the Bronica RF-645 with 3 lenses in 2005. I was amazed how easy it handles and how good the light meter and rangefinder is. It's a nice compact camera for 120 roll film.

And the Bronica glass is outstanding!! So: "Bronica underrated"? Yes, but therefor a lot cheaper than Hasselblad

 

[MrBrowning]

I have a Bronica SQ-Ai that I use for the majority of my shooting. I absolutely love the results I get from it.

It could use a CLA though can anyone one recommend a good place here in the US?

 

[wiltw]

Unfortunately, Bronica was purchased by Tamron, then put out of business by them. So the amateur of today does not hear the name except by testimony...no current offerings in the film or digital realm. Kinda like asking about handheld meters today, almost everyone chimes in about Sekonic, Minolta (who was once king in the meter business until early 2000's) never gets mentioned simply because so few are aware of their existence!

I recally attending a wedding show put on by PPA, and having lunch with a fellow Bronica wedding shooter. He commented to others at the table that in his general locale in FL, wedding pros mostly shot with Bronica...it left more money to buy food after paying for gear, than buying Hasselblad. The leaf shutters were like shooting Hasselblad whenever flash was in use, rather than the slow X-synch of the focal plane shutter cameras or putting up with the double-shutter action when using the few leaf shutters made for focal plane shuttered cameras like Mamiya and Pentax.

 

[craigclu]

I've accumulated an embarrassing amount of MF gear over the years, planning to test/try and then sell what I don't use.... The sell part hasn't happened as planned. I tend to grab my RF645 Bronica (with 45/65/100) more than the others. I never tire of of the gratifying tactile feel of the camera and the results are always predictable and superb. I have a Mamiya 7 (with 50, 80 and 150) that gives great results but I'm always reaching for the RF645, it seems.

I've got a pretty full GS-1 kit (with 50, 65, 100, 110, 150, 200 and 250 [blush]) that I frankly haven't wrung out as much as I should and find that it is easily the equal to my Pentax 67 gear for results quality but gives me the interchangeable film back advantage. I can use the P67 lenses on my Pentax 645 with the adapter and like the results but I just don't seem to use the Pentax gear very much. The GS-1 seems to have better mirror slap control and even in MLU mode, the Bronica seems smoother but I haven't done any critical testing to verify any difference. I think that you'll find that people who own and use Bronica have become fans but to the Hassy crowd, you become part of the great, unwashed masses! My single foray into Hasselblad left me frustrated with breakdowns (and I'm a very careful character) some years back. It always happened at the wrong moment and I just got to not trust it. It is now being fondled but not used by a friend who is only doing digital these days.

 

[mooseontheloose]

I love my Bronica SQAi, bought it to replace my TLR for medium format since I wanted more options, but am now going back to the TLR due to weight issues (when travelling). However, I rarely have problems with it and it is my preferred system.

However, it also doesn't have any kind of love here in Japan, the country of its origin. Most photographers here (generally older, retired Japanese men) are sometimes interested in what I am shooting, especially when it's obviously film, but they get confused when they see the Bronica name plate. "Is it Japanese? Can I see where it was made?" (in Japan of course). It always seems to take them by surprise. Which takes me by surprise. Now I'm sure there are Bronica users here, but I've never see a Bronica in any camera store (Hassies, Mamiyas, and Pentaxes: lots) so maybe it never really got a lot of traction here either.

 

[TheToadMen]

However, it also doesn't have any kind of love here in Japan, the country of its origin. Most photographers here (generally older, retired Japanese men) are sometimes interested in what I am shooting, especially when it's obviously film, but they get confused when they see the Bronica name plate. "Is it Japanese? Can I see where it was made?" (in Japan of course). It always seems to take them by surprise. Which takes me by surprise. Now I'm sure there are Bronica users here, but I've never see a Bronica in any camera store (Hassies, Mamiyas, and Pentaxes: lots) so maybe it never really got a lot of traction here either.

Same here in Holland. Everyone knows Hasselblad, but almost no attention to Bronica. When I started with photography seriously in 2001, I met a guy running a camera store, who also sold darkroom stuff and good used equipment (Nikon, Canon, Leica, ...). Since I started out with my old Nikon EL2, I bought me a Nikon F4s and a F5 from a wedding photographer and went to the Photo Academy in Amsterdam.
The guy from the store then showed me the Bronica kit and made me look through the view finder in the street outside of the shop. Never before had I seen such a beauty. As he told me, if Hasselblad is the Rolls Royce, then Bronica is a decent Mercedes. It will do the job as good for half price. I bought the kit and it still gives me great pleasure.

The point of all this: if he hadn't shown me the Bronica, I would have never known.
BTW: Later I bought the Bronica RF-645 with the lens set from a Bronica representative at a convention around the time they were taken over.

 

[wilfbiffherb]

i pretty much shoot only my Bronica SQ-A and it is absolutely fantastic. Every image in this gallery except the one of the abbey was shot using my SQ-A www.twelvesmallsquares.com/landforms. I don't see the point in forking out many hundreds more for a Hasselblad. I can see the difference in the lenses but for my style of shooting the SQ-A is all i need.

 

[TheToadMen]

One of my very first MF images, I shot with my Bronica SQ-B, 80 mm, Fuji NPH400 back in 2003:

 

[jadphoto]

I will be tarred and feathered by all the Bronica lovers/users out there but Bronicas had/have a reputation as not the most reliable machines ever made. Hassy, Pentax, Mamiya were/are considerably more reliable hence they are often recommended over Bronica stuff.

My conclusions are not just speculation, but the collective experience of a community of studio photographers that I was part of for a large part of my professional life.

Having said that, and with full awareness that I'm about to be flamed big time, I will add that Bronica lenses, even from the earliest models (C, S, and S2 if memory serves) were excellent. So if you get a body that doesn't have issues, you'll have a great picture taker. The trick is to keep them working. By the way, I believe that the GS-1 is the smallest 6x7 SLR ever made.

OK...you can all have a go at me now...:munch:

JD

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

^^^ olicemanull over for a cavity search, Bronica hater...oliceman: ^^^

 

[Truzi]

I think my Bronica GS-1 is great, but can only compare it to my Holga (or old Brownie if you consider 127 medium format, lol). I'm quite happy with it, though would have loved an Hasselblad had I the budget to afford one.

"Workhorse" sounds like good praise to me. That is no small complement.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

My S2A was a great camera, and so were the Nikkor medium format optics of that era. The attraction and downfall of the early system was the falling mirror design (and split mirror with the EC system), which made it possible for wide lenses to protrude into the mirror box, so they didn't need as much retrofocus correction as lenses for other MF SLRs. The 40mm lens was a real gem, as was the 50/2.8.

Not having a mirror to block out the viewfinder, however, necessitated a system with three shutters--one for the film plane, one for the viewfinder, and one to prevent light from reflecting up from the mirror onto the film during exposure, making the camera louder, heavier, and more complex than it might otherwise be. It was also very easy to adapt large format lenses to the older system, because it could use either screwmount or its own native bayonet mount, so I had some interesting lens adaptations like a 500mm Tele-Xenar, a Heliar of around 210mm as I recall, and various macro options. I also adapted a Kiev TTL Spot finder to it, made a groundglass back, and there was a T-S bellows for macro with full view camera movements on the front standard.

When I got my Linhof 2x3 system, I found myself using the Bronica less often and sold off the system, but I never had any complaints about it, and it was very easy to build an extensive system at low cost.

 

[one90guy]

I have the EC, my only complaint is the weight It seems that the prices for the EC's have gone up since I bought, and will not come down until I want to sell.

 

[spacer]

My ETRSi runs the gamut. With one of the primes and the grip, very wieldy and not a problem to tote around.
I do have two zooms, however, which convert this darlin' into a tripod queen. I like 'em a lot, but definitely not something you'd want to carry around your neck at Disney World all day.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I tried a friend's SQ-A once, with the winder grip and a prism, and I thought this was the MF SLR that felt most like a 35mm SLR of any that I've tried, even more so than cameras like the Pentax 67 or Pentacon 6, which look more like oversized 35mm SLRs. Focus on the Bronica is quick, and the camera is surprisingly light, and the thumb wind is right where you expect it to be.

 

[sevo]

They must have been successful somewhere, but in Germany the electronic Bronicas already failed back when they were new. Dropping Nikon as their lens supplier hurt their reputation. They had the disadvantage oft being more complex and less reliable than the competing Mamiyas (which were already established and past their teething problems). Throw in that the German distributor was Linhof (which upped the price to Rollei dimensions) and that their past series was more like the Rollei SLRs in spirit - most S2 and EC users moved over to the SL66 or SLX or saved their money and went Mamiya instead.

 

[dynachrome]

I have ETR, SQ and GS-1 cameras/lenses/accessories. My addition to the collection today is a 120/645 back for the GS-1. I also have a 120/6X6 back for the GS-1 and the regular 120 and 220 6X7 backs. My last GS-1 body was $89. It came in working condition with the battery cover, crank and focusing screen. At this late stage in the history of film I am not worried that another brand is 2% sharper or might last longer. If one stops working I will just use another.

 

[Trond]

I have used Bronica S2As for several years now, and I am very happy with it. The lenses are generally very good, and that includes the Zenzanon lenses, and my favourites are the Zenzanon 80mm 2.4 and Zenzanon 100mm 2.8, in addition to the Nikkor 50mm 2.8. The system has been very reliable.

If I were to invest in a "new" 6x6 system, I would definitely consider a SQ(-Ai), because of the value for money, it's newer than the S2A, and because people I know who are actually using the system are happy with it.

When it comes to problems, I have never seen any useful statistics on fault rates comparing the different brands.

Trond

 

[J Oney]

I happened to be in Tokyo in the late 60's and lusted for an S2 is saw in a camera shop. It wasn't until the mid 80's that I had an opportunity to purchase one from a friend. The thing was heavy and built like a tank. Having used Hassy's for a number of years I found that for my purposes the glass provided excellent results and not much different than the Zeiss glass. Great Cameras, the Bronica.