Medium Format SLR: Bronica or Pentacon?

I recently picked up a Bronica ETRS body, prism, back and speedgrip for $125 off Ebay. Now I'm in the process of shopping for a lens. The most common lengths -- 75, 150, 50 -- go for a song. The less common for only a little bit more. I painstakingly compared prices between KEH (which I love and trust -- always buy BGN grade stuff from them with no complaints) and Ebay. In most cases KEH is the same or cheaper than Ebay and includes warranty; however, occasionally you can find something that turns up on Ebay for such a cheap price that it's worth taking a risk as it was in my case.

Since it's a modular system, there's no harm in buying one or two components off Ebay if you happen upon an extraordinarily good deal, and then filling out the rest of the system on KEH. I personally wouldn't bother with the older Bronica S or EC cameras to save money unless you just especially want one -- they are around the same price as the ETR series. The Bronica SQ cameras are only slightly more than the ETR series, but not quite as much to choose from in the used market. Bottom line: $300 will easily get you a kit...less if you are a little patient on Ebay.

Joseph Allen said:

I recently picked up a Bronica ETRS body, prism, back and speedgrip for $125 off Ebay. Now I'm in the process of shopping for a lens. The most common lengths -- 75, 150, 50 -- go for a song. The less common for only a little bit more. I painstakingly compared prices between KEH (which I love and trust -- always buy BGN grade stuff from them with no complaints) and Ebay. In most cases KEH is the same or cheaper than Ebay and includes warranty; however, occasionally you can find something that turns up on Ebay for such a cheap price that it's worth taking a risk as it was in my case.

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I decided to put this purchase on hold until we've moved house. In the meantime I've picked up a v. cheap Zeiss Ikon folder off ebay for 8 quid, to give me a carry-about camera.

I noticed one of the second hand dealers here in the UK (KP Professional) were selling some ETRS systems and some SQ-A ones and the SQ-A's were cheaper than the ETRS ones. Very tempting but with upcoming wedding and move (and all the finances involved there), it's currently not on. Still, those kinds of cameras will still be about when I'm ready to buy...

Euan

Theres a lens test between Bronika, Exakta, Hasselblad and the Pentacon lenses at: http://www.kievaholic.com/lenstests2.html Personally I'd say that if you want Rollei/Hasselblad lens quality you buy a Pentacon. I have two colleagues, one who mainly works on Hasselblad, and the other who mainly work on Rollei, and both have a Pentacon camera they use inbetween, and both have equal amounts of problems telling the diffrence when looking at the images.

I am using Kiev 60 and I am quite happy with it. It takes all the Carl Zeiss Jena lens, does not have the notorious film transport problem of Penacon, has much brighter and bigger focusing screen and is quite reliable. The only modification I have made is flocking the mirror chamber. The CZJ lens are beautiful and there are some Russian lens that are also very good (for example Vega-28b 120/2.8) and quite cheap.

Best regards
luben