Hasselblad Vs. Bronica?

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FelixOP90

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I realise I seldom post here, however I'm sure there are more knowledgeable people on this subject as opposed to on POTN!

I am a photography student looking to invest in a medium format system. I am going to step away from digital and slow down from 35mm, in favour of my tutors recommendations. I've begun to research into the matter and have a preference for square format rather than say, 6x4.5. My budget could stretch to a Hasselblad 500C/M, however what real advantages would that have over a 6x6 Bronica?

Reliability and image quality are of great importance to me. Whilst Bronica seems like the cheap student option (and worryingly many second years will happily sell theirs to me) is Hasselblad merely a name to pay for?

Thanks for any information on this!

Felix
 
Bronica i'd say. My friend swears by them..... Good luck...
 
I have to say that I lean towards the hassy! I have one for myself and love it!

that said I think it is more expensive (just look at the lens costs!) and being a student its probably worth getting the bronica just for that! they are just as reliable.

BUT! if you can afford it, get the hassy! its so amazing -other than theres no metering unless you get the *expensive* metered prism viewfinder. but i just use an old jessops light meter, it does the trick.

theres just something about hassleblads what you use them. dunno what, to me they are like the leicas of MF! (lee friedlander uses a hassy SWC -ME WANT ONE!):lol:
 
Its all about the Zeiss glass.
Put Zeiss on your Bronica and the Bladd looses 90% of its perceived advantage.
Make no mistake, Bronica equipment is the dogs danglies, most of the Bronica/Nikon/Komura lenses are top quality.
To be fair, the real step up is in format.
 
joxby said:
Its all about the Zeiss glass.
Put Zeiss on your Bronica and the Bladd looses 90% of its perceived advantage.
Make no mistake, Bronica equipment is the dogs danglies, most of the Bronica/Nikon/Komura lenses are top quality.
To be fair, the real step up is in format.
Click to expand...

That is true. The format, and the way of working that it imposes on you. It is a good learning experience.

Hasselblad is beautiful kit, reliable and rugged. But Bronica and Mamiya are also very good. I doubt if you could tell which was which by looking at prints.

I would make the decision according to what kind of outfit you could get for the money. A body, at least a couple of backs, maybe a Polaroid back, a prism/metered finder, and of course two or three lenses.

Once you've come to terms with the cost of that lot, if you just want to see what medium format film is like, a TLR is a more economical route of discovery.

I would also consider why second year students are looking to sell. Apart from the more considered way of working with medium format film, its only advantage over 35mm film is image quality. I think full frame digital also does that pretty convincingly, with none of the drawbacks, and of course all the advantages of digital.

Personally, unless you are 100% sure that this is the direction you want to go in, I would have a try with a TLR first. Mamiya, Rolleiflex, or even a Yashica for a truly budget taster. I always fancied a Pentax 6x7 myself ;)
 
joxby said:
Its all about the Zeiss glass.
Put Zeiss on your Bronica and the Bladd looses 90% of its perceived advantage.
Make no mistake, Bronica equipment is the dogs danglies, most of the Bronica/Nikon/Komura lenses are top quality.
To be fair, the real step up is in format.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that it was possible to put zeiss glass on a bronni! if I had known I might have gone down that route:lol:


HoppyUK said:
That is true. The format, and the way of working that it imposes on you. It is a good learning experience.

Hasselblad is beautiful kit, reliable and rugged. But Bronica and Mamiya are also very good. I doubt if you could tell which was which by looking at prints.

I would make the decision according to what kind of outfit you could get for the money. A body, at least a couple of backs, maybe a Polaroid back, a prism/metered finder, and of course two or three lenses.

Once you've come to terms with the cost of that lot, if you just want to see what medium format film is like, a TLR is a more economical route of discovery.

I would also consider why second year students are looking to sell. Apart from the more considered way of working with medium format film, its only advantage over 35mm film is image quality. I think full frame digital also does that pretty convincingly, with none of the drawbacks, and of course all the advantages of digital.

Personally, unless you are 100% sure that this is the direction you want to go in, I would have a try with a TLR first. Mamiya, Rolleiflex, or even a Yashica for a truly budget taster. I always fancied a Pentax 6x7 myself ;)
Click to expand...

TLR can be just as expensive! (well a few rollei's are...)

getting a bronni or a mamiya is probably much better when you take into account all the extras you need as stated above.

I find that the Jacobs on New Oxford St in London (by Tottenham Court Road) are really good for used MF cameras- lots to choose from. its worth a look, and they are actually rather well priced, and they are happy to haggle a fair amount (shh about that bit:lol:)
 
I've had various MF cameras over the years, Mamiya C330F was my first, later changed that for a Bronica ETRS (didn't like the 6x4.5 format), Swapped it to get a Bronica SQA, preferred that until I got the chance to get a Blad, wow, what a difference, the build quality is better, the lens quality is better and the ergonomics just seem right, I ended up with two CM500s and a trio of lenses 50, 80, 150 and 4x 120 backs, these I used for about 8 years before selling them when I gave up my Photography business. I now have a largish Mamiya RB 6x7 outfit (actually for sale at the moment), which whilst large and heavy is very versatile as you can take 6x7 images in portrait or landscape using the wlf (and using the revolving back), crop to 6x6 if that is what you fancy (using the grid lines on the focussing screen) or buy a 6 x 4.5 120 back (if you want a 35% loss of image area). Cropping a 6 x 6 image to 6 x 4.5 is a 25% loss of image area. The build quality of the Mamiyas is better overall than that of the Bronicas, and the RB67, C330F or CM500 are fully manual (doesn't need a battery) whereas the RZ, ELX, 503CX and the Bronicas, being electronic all require batteries. (and if you forget to turn them off, on some models the batteries will run themselves down!).

So if I was buying a MF format outfit now, I would go for 6x7 of some description or even a Fuji 6x8 if I could find one at a reasonable price (they are like rocking horse poo), after that I would get a Blad, I preferred the all manual CM500 but there are some bargains to be had for ELX bodies and the later models 503cx are still quite pricey.

Price and use will pay a big part in your decision, but I would think about what you want to do in the future and are you going to want to sell your outfit at the end of the second year?
 
Thanks for the replies so far!

I'm going to try out a Bronica on Tuesday. Initially I am just going to get a basic setup, one lens, standard or wide I expect, and see how it goes from there. I'm happy with my current digital setup and so any expense for that is far off. I can process B&W and C41 for free, up 5x4 so that's no issue either. As for buying from Jacobs, I will definitely check out there stuff, I know the manager of the Cardiff shop well, and I get some biblical deals. Last year my mint <7k accuations 1D2 came down from £1200 to less than £500. And my 80-200 f2.8L cost half of that. He always has some Bronica stuff in, a Fuji 6x9 and I'm certain he could source me a nice Hassy!

I am going to use MF for a considerable amount of my 2nd year, and then if I feel I've covered it, then I will sell it. Alternatively, I may greatly enjoy it and keep it.
 
I've got a Mamiya 645 and a hassy and the hassy simply has to be felt to be believed. The engineering and the way it works are an absolute joy.

However, the sheer joy of using something is not really what you need for your studies. :naughty:

Believe it or not I plugged my pocketwizards straight into a 32 year old hassy and off it went! how's that for compatibility!

If you can get a deal on a hassy and you want it for the sheer joy and want to keep it long term then look at it as an investment. Mine cost me £130 for a full service and light seal replacement. (I had a sticky aperture in the lens too)

If not then a bronny or a mamiya are good choices. Hope you have fun with whichever you get. :)
 
Well you never hear a Hassy owner saying "Gee I wish I had bought a Bronica" :lol:

Hassleblad are fantastic machine and the only real advantage they have over a Bronica system is that you can still get them serviced (at a price) at specialist places.

Bronica unfortunately no longer exist, but you can get a SQ-Ai plus lens for the fraction the cost of a Hassy system.

Having compared transparencies from a Hasselbald ELX and a Bronica SQ, it is virtually impossible to tell the which camera they were taken on.

I was in the same position as you, wanted to get back in to taking medium format, liked the 6x6 cameras, had used several Mamiya TLR machines wanted a change. Looked very seriously at the Hasselbald system, but decided that Bronica offered me the quality I was after with out the cost. :)

Another vote for the Bronica SQ-Ai
 
I've got a Mamiya RZ67 (I like the 6x7 format for printing!)

I also have a Yashica-mat 124G TLR. It's 6x6, can be had for well under £100, 80mm lens which you can't change, pretty portable and feels sturdy. Produces fine negs. Even has a built in lightmeter (though you'll be lucky to find one that's still accurate.)
 
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