My Bronica ETRS system making me miserable again...

In a recent post here, I was befuddled by my Bronica ETRS, which just didn't want to fire.

I then bought another camera body, since I had everything else, thinking the body was at fault.
And then I shot my first roll of 120 film with the new body - and my old lens, my old viewfinder, etc.
And the roll came back completely blank.

After further investigation, I think the lens might be the problem. Since I've shot 35mm my whole life, I've actually never encountered a faulty lens before.

When I shoot using the newly obtained ETRS body and the old lens, this is what happens: I can see through the viewfinder just fine, but when I fire, the lens closes up without letting any light through! So the roll I shot never saw the light...

When I shoot with a different lens and the older, assumed faulty body... the light comes through just fine. The body I thought didn't work actually works great...

When I put the lens I'm now assuming is faulty on the other body, something slightly different and somewhat alarming happens: the mirror doesn't come back up after firing.

So, it's the lens, right, everybody agrees? How could I have known? This is very sneaky... Everything looked fine in the viewfinder... Is there, generally speaking, an easy way to "test" a lens? If I push the pins can I see if it can fire?

sounds like the lens on your new body is faulty.

try shooting the lens on the new body at a slow shutter speed, say 1s, while looking at the front of the lens at the leaf shutter...the lens leaves initially should be open (to allow focusing), then when you fire the camera, they should initially close completely for a fraction of a second and then open back up for the 1s exposure, and then close...which step does the lens not perform?

Decades ago, I had a brand new body and back, and I purchased a used back. The behavior (with the used back) was that I would cock the camera, advancing the film. When I pressed the shutter release, the mirror would flip up, and SOMETIMES I would see the red light blink but other times it would not blink. And when the red light failed to blink, the frame would NOT BE EXPOSED. Bronica told me to send them both body and back (and no lens). The 'film advanced' pin was TOO LONG, so it would somehow not allow the reflex mirror to flip up fully, and the shutter would therefore not fire! They shortened that pin, and everything worked properly.

If you have another back, try out the body (and lens) with that second back.

Well, as it is an ETRS, the shutter is in the lens.
So it is quite likely that the problem is with that shutter.
Or with the connections between that shutter and the body.

And it pains me to suggest this , but have you tried another battery ? The lenses are operated by battery power .

Leolab said:

sounds like the lens on your new body is faulty.

try shooting the lens on the new body at a slow shutter speed, say 1s, while looking at the front of the lens at the leaf shutter...the lens leaves initially should be open (to allow focusing), then when you fire the camera, they should initially close completely for a fraction of a second and then open back up for the 1s exposure, and then close...which step does the lens not perform?

Click to expand...

I noticed one of the lenses pin's position was down and the one on the right was up.
So I pushed the pins on the "possibly faulty" lens' to match that: pin on the left is down and pin on the right is up.
Now I'm able to fire and I see the shutter behaving correctly on the old camera, but on the new body, I cannot get it to stay open for the 1s (or longer) even with the viewfinder setting on M. Just stays dark.

So I wanted to try and switch the backs to see if the lens behaved differently but the back on the new one's jammed and the little button that releases the back won't press all the way...

But the lens is the problem - I'm pretty sure now... Since I changed the body and I changed the back and I'm still having problems, gotta be the lens!
And to the commenter who asked - yes, I'm making these tests with two new batteries.

MattKing said:

Well, as it is an ETRS, the shutter is in the lens.
So it is quite likely that the problem is with that shutter.
Or with the connections between that shutter and the body.

Click to expand...

The body controls actuation of the shutter. If the relflex mirror cannot go all the way up, because the 'film advanced' pin in the film back is too long, the lens shutter will not fire...ANY lens will be affected by this issue.

fabuoulsrice said:

I cannot get it to stay open for the 1s (or longer) even with the viewfinder setting on M. Just stays dark.

Click to expand...

The shutter OPENS via the mechanical lever of the body, which does not move if the reflex mirror fails to go all the way up. Only the TIMING of the shutter is electronically controlled by the body. The viewfinder stays dark until you COCK the shutter AND advance the film to the next frame.

I've got a spare ETRS body which has the same issue as yours. When looking through the lens with the back removed I can see the shutter sometimes not opening or being significantly delayed. With the lenses on a different body they work fine.

In the bottom of the body with the panel removed (tripod base) there are 3 electrical contacts which are actuated on by the shutter-release mechanism. I suspect the problem lies there but I haven't been to bothered to check that theory seeing as I have a working body.

https://galerie-photo.com/manuels/bronica-etrsi-repair-manual.pdf

Troubleshooting guide starts on page 41. Yes, I know it's for the ETRSi, but they're going to be similar.

I have three lenses for my ETR. Only one of them actually works properly. I'd love to get at the shutters of those two to clean them out but the lenses are too difficult to take apart (which means I don't think it's really worth the effort). It's a shame since one of the lenses is a 50mm.
Anyway - the shutters are prone to the same problems all leaf shutters suffer, from age and inactivity.