Which Bronica do I have?

[el wacho]

yes, they both come to a stop but the way they come to a stop is different.

the newer gear has the clunk.
the older brass gear has no clunk.

what does your camera do at the end of the cycle?

 

[el wacho]

It was my understanding that all of these models do this. My camera certainly does.

This might not be a bad time to mention, just in case, that I'm in the market for an S2/S2a dark slide in case anyone has a spare. (The version with the curved end for magazines with the 120/220 switch.)

my previous post was for eyesage.

 

[eyesage]

I still think you have a S2A. According to Tony Hiltons book S2A serial numbers go from CB 100 000 to unknown. The book also has an image of a S2A body with serial number CB 118178 without the S2A suffix, just like your camera.

Well, could be then. One of the reasons I started the thread was that I don't know how authoritative the my sources were, web sites probably run by enthusiasts or collectors. It's easy enough for even a knowledgeable, earnest enthusiast to pass on misunderstood or incomplete information as fact. I know that there are S2As with serial numbers lower than mine but which are marked with the S2A suffix. It never made sense to me that there were S2's with higher serial numbers as I can't imagine production of the two versions overlapped. Such things happen I suppose so you never do know but it would make more sense to me that there would be a certain number after which all cameras are S2A. I still can do no better than to weigh the possibilities. It would be nice to be 100% sure but shy of pulling things apart to have a gander at the cog works I don't imagine I'll have that kind of certainty but I'm not prepared to go that far just to know.

 

[eyesage]

yes, they both come to a stop but the way they come to a stop is different.

the newer gear has the clunk.
the older brass gear has no clunk.

what does your camera do at the end of the cycle?

Hmm, it seems like more of a clack than a clunk but maybe we're both thinking of the same sound differently. I know it better by feel than by sound. As I'm winding resistance will increase at about the point I see the little advance knob on the back stop turning so I know that I'm at the shutter cocking stage. (At this point I'll stop using the handle and just turn the knob.) As I advance further the resistance seems to increase somewhat when it seems I reach a sudden stop. As I continue with a slow but certain twist it will suddenly release (here's where the clack comes in), advancing a few more millimetres as it does and it's ready for the next exposure. That release is very sharp and definite. Does that jibe with your experience with either camera?

 

[el wacho]

Hmm, it seems like more of a clack than a clunk but maybe we're both thinking of the same sound differently. I know it better by feel than by sound. As I'm winding resistance will increase at about the point I see the little advance knob on the back stop turning so I know that I'm at the shutter cocking stage. (At this point I'll stop using the handle and just turn the knob.) As I advance further the resistance seems to increase somewhat when it seems I reach a sudden stop. As I continue with a slow but certain twist it will suddenly release (here's where the clack comes in), advancing a few more millimetres as it does and it's ready for the next exposure. That release is very sharp and definite. Does that jibe with your experience with either camera?

Certainly sounds like my s2a and not my s. Yeah clack is probably more closer than clunk. You can't wind an s or s2 the way you've described it. Happy photograph making.

 

[removedacct2]

yes, they both come to a stop but the way they come to a stop is different.

the newer gear has the clunk.
the older brass gear has no clunk.

what does your camera do at the end of the cycle?

well this is an old thread, and OP seems not logged in anymore since 2017, but it popped up in a google search I have just done about serial numbers of the S2.
I found a body for sale, the seller describes it as a late S2, yet the serial is in the 160.000, the knob with the black crank and not conical. So it is in fact a S2A despite lacking the S2A mention after the serial digits (which is mentioned elsewhere as being done by Bronica for later models, past the 150.000 ones).

but reading through this thread I found very strange the comment about the older S2 making no "clank/clunk" noise winding/cocking. I have a low serial S2 (CB 7x.xxx) with conical knob and plain aluminium crank, and it definitively does "clank".

I am also surprised that the "S2=inferior brass gears" myth was still floating around couple years ago. I am new to these Bronicas but did extensive web combing, included in japanese, about their mechanism, and no, the S2 winding gears are not brass. As show for instance on Pierre Dirapon site, it's all steel but the S2A has bigger gears/teeth. Obviously. pros who were shooting these bodies aggressively had certainly caused havoc in these small gears, but that's not because brass...

S2:

S2A:

 

[moto-uno]

Amazing how many years this endless retelling of myths is put to rest with a simple side cover removal

 

[choiliefan]

Here we go again.
The gears in the S2A are nitrided steel the S2 gears were not treated.