Bronica SQ-A or Fuji GX680 II??

RDPhotography

RDPhotography

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Looking to invest in a new medium format camera. Been using a Mamiya 645D and Bronica ETRSi for portraiture but want something a bit more diverse and capable for shooting a variety of subject. Should I go for a square format bronny or a more rectangular format of the GX? Any ideas? :help:
 
Studio stuff only then maybe a Fuji otherwise a Bronica as less bulky and more portable
 
The Fuji is absolutely ginormous. It's bordering on large format IMO! The SQ-A isn't exactly small but compared to the Fuji it is...

I love squares for photography but it really is a very personal decision to make.
 
Fuji 680 is a fantastic camera but has already been said it is just huge. Whilst the SQA isn't small it can be used hand held, just! That can't be said of the Fuji in my view. It depends why you mainly want to shoot. Two great cameras though.
 
If studio work, then you'll be hard pushed to beat the Mamyia RB67. You can pick them up for very little on Ebay these days, and they're indestructible.
 
If you want to drop the weight of the fuji but go oblong and still be in studio cam territory, the GS1 is 6x7.
Other than that its gonna be old Pentax 67, RB/Z or accept the limitations of an RF..:)
 
He's pegged his tent in the Bronnie camp for 6x6 it appears..;)
 
Every time I used a hasselblad something went wrong! Whereas the bronnies always seemed to work perfectly for me!
 
RDPhotography said:
Every time I used a hasselblad something went wrong! Whereas the bronnies always seemed to work perfectly for me!
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Bronicas 6x6's are excellent cameras but I would not swap back now from my 500CM. Having owned and used both, the Hasselblad is for me the better camera. This is of course I highly personal statement.
 
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Personally I would go for the slightly later SQ-Ai as it has a proper B setting and it will go to 16sec.

Fuji's fantastic cameras great lens but having tried one for a short time they are heavy plus the lens take massive filters unlike the Bronica range which is mostly 67mm. If your seriously looking at the Fuji 680 then look for a MkIII as they use CR123 batteries, where as the previous Mk's took Fujis own rechargeable ones.

Or if you want oblong like others have said the Mamiya 67's or the Pentax 67 which are very good.
 
And I personally will stick with my 1975 Bronica EC, with its cobwebs dandruff, plastic deficiency and vastly superior user enlightenment....:lol::lol::lol:

This of course is a highly personal statement though..lol
 
joxby said:
And I personally will stick with my 1975 Bronica EC, with its cobwebs dandruff, plastic deficiency and vastly superior user enlightenment....:lol::lol::lol:

This of course is a highly personal statement though..lol
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Funny that, I saw an EC for sale recently and it looks like a nice bit of kit! Interested by the weird mirror configuration though, can't find many decent photos of it.
 
I've bought a Bronica SQ-Ai myself this week so i'm slightly biased in that direction.

I researched the Hasselblad (and every other MF SLR i could find) and while it's certainly the better camera you pay for it, and if you want anything other than the standard 80mm lens you'll be paying through the nose for it. The big advantage i could see was the large range of accessories and bits for the Hasselblad as the company is still around and the old stuff is very popular keeping it in circulation. If you have the money to spend the Hasselblad is the better system i won't deny that.

The things that swayed me in the Bronica direction were obviously cost, i bought a prism head, body, 80mm PS lens and a 120 film back for about £400 a good £200-300 less than a 500C/M, i could buy the 40mm lens with that extra money whereas a Zeiss one for the 'blad is about £600-700 alone. Some Bronica bits are expensive, like the AE Metered prism head, and film backs are a little pricy in the £50-90 range, but that's more of an issue if you want multiple backs.

Weight, one often overlooked but important, the SQ-Ai is probably the lightest MF SLR as the body is mainly polycarbonate rather than metal, this doesn't bother me though but might bother others who prefer mostly metal. Having held the camera i can't imagine lugging around anything heavier.

I couldn't find anything terrible said about the Bronica SQ-Ai during research other than people saying it's no hasselblad but that referred mainly to aesthetics and lack of metal rather than image quality from the lenses which is considered on par with the Zeiss stuff. The only problem is with finding a readily available supply of accessories for the system. Lenses, bodies and film backs aren't uncommon though harder to find than more popular systems (Pentax, Hasselblad, Mamiya). Some of the more unusual films backs like the the 6x4.5cm one and the two 35mm ones (24x36 and 24x56 pano), new focus screens, speed grip, metered prisms are harder to get if you need them right now.

I can't really tell you what to buy it's just my perspective and you should do some of your own research to see if it fits your needs.
 
freecom2 said:
Funny that, I saw an EC for sale recently and it looks like a nice bit of kit! Interested by the weird mirror configuration though, can't find many decent photos of it.
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It is inneresting, the EC is an improved model S2/S2A, the shutter timings are Electronically Controlled not mechanical, hence the EC, and the big one piece mirror of the S2A is replaced with a split mirror, 1/3 flips down and 2/3s flips up during an actuation, which gives a lot less vibration, its still a banger though.
Apart from that they are virtually the same and share their entire lens range.
 
Oyy.....wake up..

freecom....


Oyyyyy




ZZZZZZZzzzzzzz


lol
 
Knikki said:
If your seriously looking at the Fuji 680 then look for a MkIII as they use CR123 batteries, where as the previous Mk's took Fujis own rechargeable ones.

Or if you want oblong like others have said the Mamiya 67's or the Pentax 67 which are very good.
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May have a look at the MK III then and have seriously considered the RZ and RB before but have never taken any notice of the Pentax's. Any reccomendations for the Pentax's?
 
Pentax 67 come in 3 flavours

the orginal 6x7 which can be bought very cheaply but probably worth avoiding the revamped Pentax 67 and finally the Pentax 67II

All are battery dependant, nearly all of the Pentax 67 will have been modified, at the factory, so that the Bulb exposure is mecahnical other wise I think on a full battery you'll get 5 hours out of it.

The Pentax 67II is a completly revamped camera with all new electronics and aperture priorty and other things to make it work easier.

Lens are fab and I love using the 105mm f2.4 and the camera has a full range of lens from fisheye to 800mm + so cover nearly all your uses.

Some down sides. With it being a focal shutter the flash sync is only 1/30th. However the 90mm and the 165mm are lens that have leaf shutter in them so you can sync faster but haveing never used them I have no idea how easy they are to use.

They all weigh in about 5lbs but that is no difference to the RB/RZ67 combos.
No changeable backs on the Pentax but as you only get 10 shots it is not an isssue for me.
If you get one with any sort of pism, metering or plain then there is only 95% viewable, to get a full 100% you'd need the waist level finder.

They are loud as it is a big mirror and shutter when it goes off.

If you hunt around the web lots of people will say "vibration is an issue" however i have shot on films 100-400 iso and as slow as 1/60 and so far not had any issues with camera shake as the mirror/shutter goes off.

They are great bits of kit and I love mine.
 
Just get the SQ-A and be done with it. The law of diminishing returns apply to any image quality improvements from a 'Blad. I reckon I've paid less for my gripped SQ-A with metered prism, WLF, 50, 80, 150, 250 & 500mm lenses and spare back than you'd pay for a decent 'Blad with an 80mm and a metered prism.

Bronicas are cheap and plentiful and unless you're printing really big you're not going to notice the difference in image quality. Save the money, spend it on film and chemicals (and a darkroom).
 
Kev M said:
I reckon I've paid less for my gripped SQ-A with metered prism, WLF, 50, 80, 150, 250 & 500mm lenses and spare back than you'd pay for a decent 'Blad with an 80mm and a metered prism.
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During my pricing up cameras research you could get a Hasselblad 500C/M with the 80mm and prism for about £700-800, still twice the price of a SQ-Ai with that spec but i'm impressed if you got all the Bronica kit for under 800 quid, S or PS lenses?

I think the next things i buy for mine will be a 40mm or 50mm, speed grip, maybe a spare 120 back or a polaroid back.
 
Its not about Bladd, its about Zeiss......and the cost of em..;)

ere, nobody's chucked Pentacon 6 in the mix yet..
 
joxby said:
Its not about Bladd, its about Zeiss......and the cost of em..;)

ere, nobody's chucked Pentacon 6 in the mix yet..
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Very true the lenses cost a ton and was a major point in me not going for that system.

Well the Pentacon Six is old and the quality is not up to par with with the alternatives so it's not worth detailing. The P6 body is cheap for a reason, the Zeiss Jena lenses are good but cost the same or more than Bronica ones with no extra image quality, the non Jena lenses are a mixed bag for quality and image quality but they are cheap so that's the trade off.
The only good P6 system body is the Exakta 66 and that costs as much as a Hasselblad and is rarer as well.
 
Morinaka said:
During my pricing up cameras research you could get a Hasselblad 500C/M with the 80mm and prism for about £700-800, still twice the price of a SQ-Ai with that spec but i'm impressed if you got all the Bronica kit for under 800 quid, S or PS lenses?

I think the next things i buy for mine will be a 40mm or 50mm, speed grip, maybe a spare 120 back or a polaroid back.
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I reckon I've spent about £1k in total, but then I bought a lot of my gear before film started becoming fashionable again. I've got a mixture of S and PS lenses, I think the 80 and 250 are PS and the rest are S lenses. The 500mm I got for an absolute steal, about half of what they go for on eBay.

There are extra bits I've added like backs, WLF and one of those brighter ground glass jobbers from the company I can't remember the name of which push my total spend up a little more, in fact I paid more for the ground glass than most of the lenses individually but it was worth it. Either way, the more kit you add, the less financial sense a 'Blad makes (IMO).

The only lenses I'd like are the fisheye and the 105 Macro is meant to be a nice portrait lens but seeing as I barely use the lenses I've got I don't really need any more.
 
£1k is very good for a kit that size. I shoot in the 24-90mm range (35mm equiv) most of the time so a 40mm, 80mm and probably a 150mm on the Bronica will suit me fine.
The expensive focus screen wouldn't happen to be one of these Beattie Intenscreens for £225 would it?
 
They're the ones, I got one with a split image for about half the price of new on everyone's favourite auction site.
 
I have 2 sqa's and a gx680iii, love both cameras, but agree that they are like chalk and cheese size wise. The sqa I used for location is for sale but comes with the wide angle 50mm lens
 
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