Won a Bronica Setup on Ebay!

[David A. Goldfarb]

I think Hasselblad has dropped pretty significantly as well, at least for a basic setup with maybe a 50mm/your favorite normal/a short tele and a couple of backs. It gets expensive when you want a 40mm or 300mm lens.

With Bronica, you can get all that and more, and it's still pretty cheap. You can find a bellows with full view camera movements on the front standard for the S2a and EC-TL for around $250. Compare that to a Flexbody or Arcbody.

So if you had, say, $1200 to spend, would you make better photographs with a small Hassy kit or a more extensive Bronica kit? Would you get better results with two Hassy backs and two film speeds or five Bronica backs and Zone System control? Depends how you shoot, I suppose. In the current market, if one is shooting 6x6, it might make the most sense to get a basic V system and a Bronica for all the lenses and accessories that are unaffordable from Hassy.

 

[wiltw]

It already was so before Bronica disappeared.
(Even more so, in fact, but now Hasselblad prices have dropped hugely too.)

The reason?
Bronica is Bronica. Hasselblad is Hasselblad.

I had not done this analysis since the late 1990's, but in that time frame, the Bronica held a higher percentage of the new price on the used market, suffering a lower percentage of depreciation!

 

[Ken22485]

You got a very good deal!

I have an ETRS with the 40mm MC, 75mm MC and the 150mm MC. Excellent camera and glass - you'll be very impressed.

You can find the users manual at the Tamron site, or at butkus.org. You'll want to download a copy and read it before your camera arrives.

always make sure the lens is cocked before changing lenses (the little tabs on the back of the lens should be next to the green dots.)

You'll probably want to get a new battery for it. The size is PX-28, and the silver oxide batteries are recommended over the alkalines, both for longevity and voltage stability.

Enjoy your new camera!

 

[Q.G.]

I had not done this analysis since the late 1990's, but in that time frame, the Bronica held a higher percentage of the new price on the used market, suffering a lower percentage of depreciation!

There have been times, not long ago, that you could sell a used Hasselblad kit for more than you had paid for it years earlier.
Whether that meant making a profit or not depended on inflation during the period, but with Hasselblad raising prices for their new stuff twice yearly, dragging the prices of used equipment up too, it was tough not to beat inflation.
So even though you only paid a percentage of the current new price, you paid more for used stuff than it had cost when it had been bought new.

Nowadays, no more. Used-Hasselblad prices too have plummeted.

What has not plummeted however is the usefullness of used Hasselblad and Bronicas (and ...). As long as they are in good condition, they will be great to use for many years to come.

 

[Pupfish]

My guess as to why prices are so depressed on journeyman-level 645 gear is likely explained by nearly every pro who once shot weddings with them having bailed due to the film costs and relative turnaround times v. every newly minted professional wannabe coming in with digital. The film-based wedding pros have either retired or gone digi to survive. But up until that huge shift, the entrenched popularity of MF for weddings vs 35mm (the 90's standard for other events) had mostly to do with fast and medium speed print film having just too much grain to enlarge from 35mm beyond about 5x7. ISO 800 film or faster for no-flash-rule church interiors was often a necessity. What's telling here about this glut in Bronica 645 equipment is the metering AE-III finders are still rare enough pieces to bring $400 themselves; seems few were using these bodies with anything but print film where a large measure of exposure latitude meant metering was not very critical.

Pity, because I'm convinced that 645 format is extremely capable with modern ultra-fine grained transparency film. Too bad for the guy taking 10 cents on the dollar-- great turn of events for the rest of us who were once put off from using MF by the high-bar-to-entry prices back in the day.

 

[Nick Zentena]

Like I keep saying Bronica prices are UP over the last year. I bought bodies and WLF from KEH for $49. I want to say I even got one for a touch less. The same thing is selling for over $100 now. So even the common stuff is up. But the rare stuff was going up even last year.


The metering prism is good for more then slides. Couple it with the TTL flash module. Let the prism meter for you. The flash will get the foreground right. The prism will get the rest right. But for general use the thing is a pretty heavy blob to lug around. It's alot easier to bring a handheld meter of some type.

 

[Sirius Glass]

merelyok,

I forgot to mention that Bronica was my first love when I started in photography. Alas as a teenager, it was unrequited due to lack of money. Now with the digital revolution, I can buy the camera and lenses that I lust for!

Steve

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Sounds like there's a fortune to be made in daytrading Bronicas, if you know how to time the market.

 

[RPippin]

I have a Bronica SQ-A with a metered view finder and a 50mm and 180mm lens and wouldn't trade them for anything. Light weight, solid as a rock, and just as dependable. I've thown it in my sidecar and ridden around the Blue Ridge to shoot, as well as dragging it through the marshes to shoot Cypress trees in Eastern Virginia. Never lets me down. I also own some TLR's and a Mamiya RB-67 as well as a 4X5 Sinar. My Bronnie is my favorite and I take it everywhere. Good luck and I hope you get as much pleasure out of yours as I get from mine.

 

[Nick Zentena]

Sounds like there's a fortune to be made in daytrading Bronicas, if you know how to time the market.

At one point you could buy Pentax 645 bodies with a 220 insert for less then just the body alone. :confused:

Most of the dumping of things seems over to me. I'm sure the really common stuff [75mm lenses for example] will stay cheap. But the less common stuff is going to be hard to find and therefore expensive.

 

[benjiboy]

$265 you must have "made them an offer they couldn't refuse"!

 

[Gnomad]

I'm thinking that the bottom has to be getting close on Bronica, if not already. I just ebay'd a ETR-C with 75mm and 150mm lenses and a winder for $120, which should be adequate for my needs * .

Now if you'd have bought that setup in 2001, you would have paid- (from on old magazine I picked up at a second hand store)

ETRS body- $349
40mm MC lens- $749
150mm MC - $549
eye level prism- $249
120 back- $149

I guess patience does pay off in the end.