Another camera

[jcdeboever]

Christmas gift. I just dumped a bunch of gear... In surprisingly great condition.
Zenza Bronica S2A with Nikkor 75mm f2.8. Holy crap, the shutter is LOUD! Love it.

 

[jcdeboever]

What a masterfully made camera. Heavy, solid, stainless and metal. Mechanically, feels strange at first but the more you use it, you feel the precision. View is bright and easy enough to focus without the magnifier. The film wind is so bizarre at first, clunky, almost feels like your gonna break it. I sat on the couch at get together and drove everyone insane as I practiced mastering the whole winding process. Will look at the first roll of Ilford FP4 for light leaks, focus accuracy. 100% mechanical, no batteries. Very simple to use. Meter, aperture, shutter speed, focus, shoot. It likes a tripod but want to do a walk about. This thing is made for a photographer.

 

[jcdeboever]

Test is on homies. Took a toll of my beautiful wife, light leak, focus

 

[cgw]

They're sweet but do lend new meaning to the term "mechanical camera." Had a Bronica S I paid 40 bucks for a decade ago. In rough shape with surgical scars and peeling mismatched leatherette, it held up under light use for a couple years before the soft brass gear train stripped out. Saved the lovely Nikkor but pitched the busted doorstop body a few years ago. Never found a newer S2 or S2a worth the money and shifted to a like-new SQ-B to fill the 6x6 gap.

Some Bronica lore you might enjoy:

Bronica Deluxe 1

Bronica S

Mr. Zenza’s Rolls-Royce | japan exposures

 

[jcdeboever]

They're sweet but do lend new meaning to the term "mechanical camera." Had a Bronica S I paid 40 bucks for a decade ago. In rough shape with surgical scars and peeling mismatched leatherette, it held up under light use for a couple years before the soft brass gear train stripped out. Saved the lovely Nikkor but pitched the busted doorstop body a few years ago. Never found a newer S2 or S2a worth the money and shifted to a like-new SQ-B to fill the 6x6 gap.

Some Bronica lore you might enjoy:

Bronica Deluxe 1

Bronica S

Mr. Zenza’s Rolls-Royce | japan exposures

The first roll through and I can tell it has focus issue. I think the foams are toast under the focus screen. I don't feel like dealing with that and I really didn't want or need another camera. I do not display my cameras, I use them. I called the place where they bought it and it has a 14 day return window, going back today. They paid too much for something that needs foam replacements. Kind of disappointing because it does speak to my slow method of shooting. This image was shot using ultrafine extreme 400 pushed to 1600, developed in HC110 B. It was dead nuts on focus screen. F8 at 1/125s. All 11 of 12 images were soft. The other one was a mistake.

 

[smoke665]

Well that stinks, I was looking forward to some examples. Guess it goes to show that even the most simple of machinery can break down.

 

[cgw]

Dunno. I managed to finesse a needed focus screen alignment, mostly through dumb luck. Think what l liked the most was the rendering of the 75mm Nikkor. Provided you didn’t pay buckets of $$$ for it, I’d attempted a fix. BTW, nice shot. Will try to unearth an old link for diy screen shims.