First Medium Format choice help. (Bronica S2A, SQA or mamiya c330)

If OP only intends to use a normal 80mm then a Yashica, Rolliflex or cord, or Minolta Autocord is a better choice in terms of weight. What the Mamiya offers is a 2.8 rather than a 1/2 s slower 3.5, unless he can dig deep for a Rolliflex with 2.8 planar. I have both a 124 and D, the D is the model with a 2.8 viewing lens and 3.5 4 element taking lens. I carry it when I'm shooting 4X5, the 80mm is fine, sometimes I wish Yashica had made an eye level finder for it.

Old Gregg said:

The 80mm f/2.8 is fantastic.

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Second this. Four rolls into my "new" C330 and this lens is nearly perfect. Sharp, nice bokeh, and just all around great performance.

And, yes, the C330 stock is a lot easier to focus than some others I've tried. I dont' know why, but it is. I've used a GX680iii a lot, enough to be very comfortable with it, and it has a great screen but I was immediately more confident with focusing C330.

I actually haven't run a roll through the 680 since I got the Mamiya. I should break it out so it doesn't get lonely.

All of these cameras can make great photographs if the user can. There are some feature and operational differences that are well known (SLR vs TLR, leaf vs focal plane shutters, etc). For a first medium format camera, I think it's important to get one in good condition and to be prepared for some fiddle-factor. For ex, loading roll film takes more practice than 35mm; an experienced person running a roll through a camera for the first time may be able to detect whether an advance issue is the camera or just a loading issue, where an inexperienced person may not.

For each of these cameras, if it works well at the start, it should hold up under contemporary amateur use (much less than the "two weddings every weekend" they were designed for), but there are some common issues to look for. My personal opinions on common issues:

- Bronica S2/EC - Focus offsets due to foam deterioration in the focusing screen mount and/or mirror. Also look out for cracks in the bottom of the mirror due to clumsy lens mounting.
- Mamiya TLR - Mechanically simplest of the group. Watch for shutters that are sticky at slow speeds (sometimes relatively easy to fix) and haze in lenses.
- Bronica SQ - Newest. Sensitive area may be wind/shutter interlock between back and body. SQ-Ai requires a battery holder that sometimes goes missing (a replacement may be fabricated from 3D-printing).

C330 is a bit of a clunky heavy box to lug around, especially if you only ever plan to use the 80mm lens, as compared to other smaller and lighter TLRs, but the bellows focus does remove some of the limitations you'll run into with lighter options.

If I'm out framing up flowers and such with the Rolleicord I frequently hit on the camera's relatively long min focal length. This is not the case with the C330, and the framing issues of a TLR aren't that hard to compensate for, even handheld.

Also given that basically nothing moves when you take a photo, you can push your handheld speeds a little lower than you may otherwise do with an SLR - Not having to move a big mirror out of the way is nice. And it is a fun camera to do panning motion shots with I find, assuming your brain is happy with the reverse image finder if you're not using the eye level option.

Luckless said:

And it is a fun camera to do panning motion shots with I find, assuming your brain is happy with the reverse image finder if you're not using the eye level option.

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Both of these have the eye level option- the sportsfinder built into the waist level finder. Incredibly handy to have if you’re not out with a clumsy prism finder on that TLR.
I love the mechanical simplicity and low weight of TLRs. I think your choice of the versatile Mamiya is a good one. For size, low weight and portability it’s hard to beat a Rolleicord though.

reddesert said:

- Bronica S2/EC - Focus offsets due to foam deterioration in the focusing screen mount and/or mirror. Also look out for cracks in the bottom of the mirror due to clumsy lens mounting.

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And there is always the much newer and overall better IMO Bronica EC, with accurate electronic shutter that takes still current batteries, has no screen plane issues and takes all those funky yet excellent for the most part lenses. Split mirror is not perfect though and often bottom part comes damaged by mishandling of one particular lens.

You haven't said what you want to photograph? it would be good to know that before recommending a particular camera.

I had an S2a outfit that I enjoyed using for years. One thing to keep in mind about these cameras, they have a focal plane shutter. In my view, they need to be on a tripod, and they're not great for photographing anything while it moves. One can use a 1/250th shutter speed. But, it still takes 1/40th of a second for the 1/250th sec slit to move across the film plane. Note that 1/40th sec is their sync speed for flash. Nothing faster will work with flash.

One the other hand, the Bronica SQA for a Mamiya twin lens have lenses with between the lens shutters, which means that they can sync with flash even when set to their fastest speed. Back to an S2a, there was (only) one lens made for this camera that had a between the lens shutter. As I recall, it had a 105mm focal length.

To my personal insight, in medium format, a focal shutter should be preferred above the curtain shutter.
In this format, a curtain shutter is more stressed as it must cover and travel over a wider and longer distance, so the mechanical construction has to be more resistant and thus heavier and complex (and even slow), and perhaps needing more 'maintenance'.
Also, by changing a lens, the shutter is changed too, in contrary, a curtain shutter stays in the camera body and has to do the 'work' all the time.
I have to admit never used a MF camera with a curtain shutter so this is only an assumption...

You do know that waist level cameras reverse the image in the viewfinder. So when you think you have to turn the camera to the right, you actually have to turn it to the left. And vice versa. That drove me crazy. I kept turning it the wrong way. So I bought an eye-level viewfinder that allowed me to move the camera the way it should be naturally turned. I never went back to using the waist-level viewfinder.

Quote: "...in medium format a focal plane shutter should be preferred above th curtain shutter..."

..I think something has been lost in translation here. A focal plane shutter is sometime referred to a curtain shutter. This is easily understood when considering the horizontally running types with cloth blinds. I think in many users experience, a lens shutter in medium format is a good reliable combination in a way that FP in medium format can't really match. The opposite is probably true in smaller format where FP is the best arrangement where interchangeable lenses are used.

Neil Grant said:

Quote: "...in medium format a focal plane shutter should be preferred above th curtain shutter..."

..I think something has been lost in translation here. A focal plane shutter is sometime referred to a curtain shutter. This is easily understood when considering the horizontally running types with cloth blinds. I think in many users experience, a lens shutter in medium format is a good reliable combination in a way that FP in medium format can't really match. The opposite is probably true in smaller format where FP is the best arrangement where interchangeable lenses are used.

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Yes, I was wrong, it must be the English for in Flemish 'centraalsluiter', in French 'obturateur central' and in German 'Zentralverschluss', so it must be 'leaf shutter' according to my Oxford Learners Dictionary, and not "focal plane shutter" as I wrote, sorry...