Professional Bronica Photographers

mporter012 · Sep 8, 2013

Were/are there any well regarded professionals that used any Bronica's? Or were they more designed as a price point mass market box camera?

wildbill · Sep 8, 2013

wedding photographers weren't/aren't well regarded

Nathan Riehl · Sep 8, 2013

I bought mine as an alternative to buying Hassy equipment because it was far too expensive for me. I don't know anyone else that shoots Bronica. I'm a college student and there are other people that shoot film in the program I'm in, but none of them shoot medium format. The teacher for my current class, Marilyn Cook, has been shooting for years and used a Bronica setup apparently. She also apparently kept her system and uses one of her lenses on her Canon DSLR with an adapter.

ParkerSmithPhoto · Sep 8, 2013

mporter012 said:
Were/are there any well regarded professionals that used any Bronica's?

Well, there's me.

Other than that, no. But what difference does it make if I shoot Bronica and Master Photographer X shoots Haaselblad? The brain makes the photograph not the camera.

mporter012 · Sep 8, 2013

ParkerSmithPhoto said:
Well, there's me.

Other than that, no. But what difference does it make if I shoot Bronica and Master Photographer X shoots Haaselblad? The brain makes the photograph not the camera.

Well, I'm just curious is all.

MattKing · Sep 8, 2013

In most cases we know that certain professional photographers shoot with Hasselblad/Mamiya/Contax because Hasselblad/Mamiya/Contax advertised that fact.

Bronica used to advertise, but not as much.

lxdude · Sep 8, 2013

wildbill said:
wedding photographers weren't/aren't well regarded

And having attended exactly one wedding in my life, I believe they should be afforded the highest respect. I offered to wrangle semi-drunk (and very drunk) people at the reception to help him, and he was most grateful. I could not be paid enough to deal with what they deal with.

Stephen Frizza · Sep 8, 2013

Having processed thousands of rolls for many photographers in sydney I know of quite a few who have used Bronica for certain shoots at certain times in their career....

here are some links to works by some of those guys and gals I can recall off hand having at some point used this camera....

http://www.petercollie.com/
http://www.anthonyamos.com.au/ & http://www.tonyamos.com/
http://www.sammcadam.com/
http://www.russellpell.com
http://andrewcowen.com.au
http://www.helenwhitephotography.com
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http://petrinatinslay.com
http://www.houstonphoto.com/
http://www.geofflung.com/
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http://www.lynandtony.com/
http://www.annabertalli.com
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http://michelleholden.com/
http://prueruscoe.com/
http://www.johnwebberphotographer.com
http://davidmathesonphotography.com/
http://www.nicklearycollections.com/ & http://www.nickleary.com
http://www.blasiuserlinger.com/
http://fetting.com.au/
http://www.chrissearl.com/
http://www.gmphotographics.com.au/
http://brownbox.com.au[/URL
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I could go on and on with links but my point is loads of professionals used Bronica.

chriscrawfordphoto · Sep 8, 2013

Jerry Uelsmann used Bronica gear.

Robert Oliver · Sep 8, 2013

I used Bronica GS1 gear to shoot bicycle racing and triathlon for a couple of different magazines... Not that i consider myself well regarded, except for by my mom.

Legendary cycling photographer Graham Watson used to use Bronica 645 when shooting events.

I chose the gs1 system because of leaf shutter lenses throughout the system. They weren't the toughest cameras ever built, but were great for shooting flash fill from the back of a motorcycle.

lxdude · Sep 8, 2013

Bronicas were not as expensive as Hasselblad, but that doesn't mean they were inexpensive. Most amateurs used 35mm. Few were using medium format SLR's compared to professionals. The Bronicas were certainly not mass-market box cameras.

Nathan Riehl · Sep 9, 2013

I want a Bronica 135W back, but they're very expensive compared to the rest of the system.

wiltw · Sep 9, 2013

Bronicas were not cheap. When you could spend $1000-1200 to buy a top of line pro grade 135 SLR with TTL metering and a normal lens, a Bronica ETRSi 645 format body+lens+metering finder+film back was about $2500-2800.

I was attending a wedding photography symposium in the 1990's and someone at my lunch table commented that he was from Florida, and most photographers in his part of the world shot with Bronica simply because they didn't want to tie up quite so much money in paying for Hassy bodies and lenses and accessories.

Nathan Riehl · Sep 9, 2013

That still applies. I'm from Florida. I bought my Bronica system from another person here.

lxdude · Sep 9, 2013

B+H ad, Pop Photo, May 1996:

Hasselblad 503CXI with 80mm f/2.8, A-12 back---------------$4141, W.L. Focusing Hood--$240.
Bronica SQ_Ai with 80mm f/2.8, 120 or 220 back, W.L finder--$2369

Hasselblad A-24 magazine--$795
Bronica 220 back w/insert--$539.50

Hasselblad PM-5 45 degree finder--$995
Bronica 45D 45 degree finder------$699

Hasselblad 40mm f/4 with hood--$3995
Bronica 40mm f/4 PS------------$1799, lens hood--$39

Hasselblad 150mm f/4--$2756
Bronica 150mm f/4PS---$1569

The totals of what I listed:
Hasselblad--$12,922
Bronica-----$7,014.50
So this particular Bronica setup is about 55% the cost of the matching Hasselblad setup. Not to say Hasselblads aren't worth their cost- just that for a lot of professionals, it wasn't worth it for them or they just couldn't afford it.

To illustrate some of the difference between either 6X6 setup and for example, Nikon-- in the 135 format equivalent focal length to the 150mm f/4 lenses, the Nikkor AFD 85mm f/1.8 was $389.95, the AIS 85mm f/1.4 was $829.95.
The Nikkor AFD 24mm f/1.4 cost $1569.95, 95 cents more than the Bronica 150mm (though I bet they would have knocked off the difference if you pressed them ).

The medium format SLR's were used by people who needed what they could deliver, and could pay for it. They gave up numerous features which the smaller format camera systems offered.

Soeren · Sep 9, 2013

Im a little amazed that our own Cheryl Jacobs seem to have slipped under the radar

http://cheryljacobsportraits.homestead.com/biography.html
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Best regards

lxdude · Sep 9, 2013

My gosh, yes! Thanks for that, Soeren. I really enjoy her work.

Hondenbrok · Sep 9, 2013

When photographing the Bones Brigade I believe Craig Stecyk used a Bronica. In "Bones Brigade: an Autobiography" a still shows him holding one with a motorwinder or a grip.

MDR · Sep 9, 2013

Dan Wynn used a Bronica in the Sixties, Nigel Harper (Wedding photographer) used Bronicas, Cherie Steinberg-Coté (Boudoir and Wedding), Tommy Oshima (net pesonality uses a Bronica amongst other things), Robert and Suzanne Love (Portraits), Michael R. Williams (Celebs used them and switched to the bigger Mamiya), James Nader (Fashion went digital) and many more. Bronica never really used the big name advertisement that Hasselblad and Mamiya are famous for

whlogan · Sep 9, 2013

And there's me, too, of course!
Logan

wiltw · Sep 10, 2013

lxdude,
I would LOVE to have a PDF or JPGs of the pages of that 1996 B&H ad for reference! If you can provide that, send me a PM and I will reply with my personal email address. Thanks, in advance!

hoffy · Sep 10, 2013

I was under the impression that any medium format SLR, regardless of brand, was the territory of Professional photographers before the mass exodus. The only reason mere mortals like myself can afford them now is that in reality they are dirt cheap.

pasiasty · Sep 10, 2013

hoffy said:
I was under the impression that any medium format SLR, regardless of brand, was the territory of Professional photographers before the mass exodus.

Bar Soviet- and GDR-made ones. They might have been even targeted to professionals, but photographers had no enough appreciation of their superiority to products of the rotten capitalists.

MDR · Sep 10, 2013

Even them I was witness to several pro photoshoots in Cuba that used a Pentacon Six, Bernhard Grzimek a famous german Zoo Director and Documentary Filmmaker used a Pentacon Six on his Safaris.

pasiasty · Sep 10, 2013

MDR said:
in Cuba

That's why

Well, plenty of photographer had no choice...

And nowadays some art photographers use them (when they sell their pictures, they are professionals, aren't they?), but for a serious, commissioned work, you needed reliable tools, while Kievs, famous for 50% dead-on-arrival rate, were rather not.

Professional Bronica Photographers

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