Bronica SQ buyng guide ?

M

minoltist7

pussy photographer
Local time
6:14 AM
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
380
Location
Odessa, Ukraine
View My Gallery
I want MF SLR for landscape work, and I consider Bronica SQ/SQ-A/SQ-Ai/SQ/B. There are lot of them on ebay now, and price is moderate.
What is the difference between A, Ai and B ?
AFAIK, B was an "entry level" model, always sold as a kit, and it's probably the cheapest.
I'm not going to use it with studio and flashes, so I don't mind flash connection (or lack of) .
Most reason for MF for me is a shooting scenic landscapes, and occasionally portraits with natural light. So I'd plan to buy 3 lenses for it - normal, wide and telephoto.
As with every used camera, there are can be weak points and hidden problems. Those who have SQ, can you give some advice, please? What should I ask seller about ?
Also, recommendations for reputable ebay sellers are appreciated.
Many thanks
Victor
 
Last edited:
Hi Victor,

If you are not going to use flash very often, I would recommend the SQ-A. See the following link for more details on the different Bronica SQ models:

http://www.tamron.com/bronica/sq_guide.asp

You are correct about the SQ-B, it was only sold as a kit and was a stripped down version of the SQ-Ai. It has no contact points in the viewfinder area, so even if you mount a metered viewfinder on the SQ-B, it won't give you any meter reading.

I have the SQ-A with waist level finder, 120 back, and 80mm normal lens, 40mm wide angle lens and 250mm tele lens. Any of these lenses will give you very sharp pictures. The 40mm I have has a built-in lens hood, I understand that there was a second version without a built-in lens hood. The only downside about the built-in lens hood is the impossibility to use resin filters on it, you have to buy some relatively expensive screw in filters if you want to seriously explore black and white. Filter diameter of the 40mm is 95mm, which makes these filters rather expensive and difficult to locate. The 80mm and 250mm take the standard 67mm filters.

Try and get the 120 film back. There was also the option to buy a 220 film back, but 220 film is getting more difficult to buy these days. Mind that the backs come with a dark slide, it's a piece of metal that you can slip into the back, so that you can take the back off midroll. Interesting if you want to shoot the same scene in colour and in black and white, or if you need to load a quicker film for a particular picture. Many second hand backs come without this dark slide and they are very difficult to locate on their own.

The waist level finder is more than adequate for landscape and portrait, but you have to take into account that you will get a laterally inversed image: what is on the left in real life will show up on the right in the viewfinder. No problem with non moving subjects and with the camera on a tripod. You can always buy an additional prism (metered or not) in the future if you want to do a different type of photography.

I bought my camera and lenses second hand around 1990 and they have never let me down. For maximum sharpness in landscape shots, make sure to use the mirror lock up before each picture, as the large mirror will give some vibration at slower speeds.

If at all possible, try to buy the camera body, 120 back, viewfinder (WL or other) and 80mm lens from the same seller. And get the original front and back lens caps if possible. A nice add on are the original lens cases and instruction book for the camera. Also, ask the seller some basic questions and if you get a helpful and quick answer, you are usually dealing with a thrustworthy seller. There are a lot of sellers on Ebay who only resell what they have been able to find in garage sales etc. and know virtually nothing about what they are selling. Ask the seller when he or she used the camera for the last time. Don't fall for the usual comment "I have no battery or film for this camera, so I have been unable to test it". Any photographer selling off his equipment won't mind putting a test roll through the camera to assure a possible buyer that everything is working correctly.

Regards

Jan
 
Hi Victor,

I would agree that the SQ-a would be the best choice. The SQ is an earlier model that does not have the contacts for the auto-exposure metering prism. The SQ-ai has TTL flash exposure calculation which you probably don't need. Also, it uses different batteries that are rather expensive. I have the waist level chimney finder with a built in meter which I use most of the time. It has diopter correction and a magnified image. I rarely use the prism. If you are shooting hand-held, the speed grip and prism are a must.

Also be aware that there are two series of lenses. The original "S" series are less expensive. The "PS" lenses have a slightly different design and improved coating. There has been a lot of discussion on whether you can really tell the difference.

The SQ-A cameras were discontinued in 1985, so a CLA may be needed depending on how it was cared for. The majority of these cameras were used by wedding and portrait professionals and the condition can range from well cared for to beat-to-death. If at all possible, try to examine it before buying. Mine came from a wedding photographer who took good care of it and had it serviced regularly. I have never had any problems with it. The best ones were owned by amatures who did not use them every day.

The backs come in two pieces. There is an insert for either 120 or 220 film and a shell that takes either insert. There are backs for 6x6 and 6x4.5 formats. The backs and lenses for the SQ-b do not have the contacts for communicating with the metering finders. The will fit the SQ-a.

Here is a link to the SQ-A manual on the Tamron page http://www.tamron.com/assets/pdfs/SQ-A.pdf

Now is a great time to look for used MF gear because most of the pros are going digital. That's how I got mine. While not an ebay seller, KEH has an excellent reputation and I have bought lenses from them that exceeded the ratings. National Camera Exchange in Minnesota (NATCAM.com) is also a good seller.

Good luck with your search.

Cheers,

Paul
 
I forgot to mention about the S and PS lenses, but I see that Paul has taken care of that. Now that I come to think of it, I'm sure that my 40mm is an S lens, the 80mm a PS and the 250mm probably an S as well, although I'd need to check. I have also noticed the price difference, the S lenses are usually cheaper. You'd have to do a side-by-side shoot with the same focal lenghts in S and PS version, but I'd really doubt you would see much difference.

I agree with Paul and Fred, try to avoid the professionally heavily used and beaten up Bronicas. Some professionals care very little about their cameras and regard them as disposable work tools. Which they are in a way if you earn a living with them and are wealthy enough to bash them around. I was lucky to find an amateur photographer who showed me the camera (SQ-A body, waist level finder, back and 80mm lens) still in their original boxes with the original silica gel. He put the camera together before I agreed to buy it, but I could see it had been a long time since he'd used it. He didn't even remember how to put a roll of film in it and tried it backwards, with the backing paper facing outwards. I doubt he'd taken more than 10 rolls with it.

The 40mm and 250mm I bought at a later stage from KEH and I can recommend them without a second thought. Excellent + at KEH means Mint - in everyone else's book. They have a very conservative grading system and the quality of their equipment usually surpasses anyone's expectations.

Thanks Paul for providing the link to the instructions manual, I have been searching for that one for a while.

Good luck shopping. Prices on MF gear are way down lately, there are some good bargains to be had, just don't rush too much and be patient. You will soon be able to build up a nice system for a fraction of what it cost new when still in production.

Regards

Jan
 
I use an SQb for landscape work with a full complement of lenses. I find an external spot meter the best way to determine exposure when shooting landscapes so the metered prisms are not an issue.

Overall I have found the system to be very reliable with one notable exception. Be cautious when buying backs. If they are slightly beat up pass on them. I've had backs that won't align properly and one that flew up mid roll. That back, after ruining 3 rolls of film, is resting comfortably in a drawer (it almost wound up in Puget Sound).

I added the Beattie Intenscreen with the gridlines and it is great as the focusing screen is much brighter and the gridlines really help especially when trying to level the camera with a bubble level in difficult circumstances. The last peice of equipment I would suggest is a stout tri-pod with a quality head. I use a ball head and find it very useful...not everyone shares my opinion.

Best regards,

Bob
 
Is it possible to set exposure in half-stop increments on SQ-A ?
Does lens have half-stop aperture clicks, or shutter has such possibility?
How shutter work with AE-metering prism, steplessly or using whole shutter speed values?
 
My PS lenses have half-stop clicks. Shutter speeds on the body do not have inter-speed settings.

The SQ-series bodies are sturdy but they can and do fail. There are many mechanical interlocks that can be thrown off by rough handling, or even just improper shipping. If your body fails it is cheaper to buy a new one (~100$) than to repair the old one (usually at least $300). So with Bronica you are really buying lenses and film backs with disposable bodies in between.

The film backs are cheap compared to Hassy and Mamiya and the 120 and 220 inserts are interchangeable. I don't hesitate to buy beat-up backs (UGLY grade on KEH) and then replace the light seals myself. The light seals on ALL backs fail eventually, so it's good to know how to do this easy and cheap repair. There's a very good website on how to do this.
 
Last edited:
I, too, am a long time Bronica SQa user. The PS lenses have half stop aperture settings on them, the P lenses do not. That's really about the main difference on the lenses.

I originally had the 2 SQa's with WL & AE prism finder and 40, 50, 80, 150 & 250 lenses. A while back I tried selling my whole outfit because it sat around and was not used (I had gotten into 4x5). Ended up with one body, the prism, 50mm S, and 6x4.5 back. Picked up a 80mm PS, 150mm PS and 18mm extension tube and 6x6 back. Just can't seem to want to get rid of the outfit.

I shoot almost exclusively landscapes with it and never had a problem with it from hot and humid south Forida to dry and dusty New Mexico. I really need to use mine more.
 
Last year I got back into medium format with two Bronicas (SQ-A and SQ-B) and four lenses (50mm, 65mm, 80mm & 110mm Macro). All the lenses are the PS variety because I believe the internal mechanisms were improved over the S-series: Click here for the PDF.
I just love this kit -- it actually seems to work better than the 'Blad 500C system that I had many moons ago. By the way, the SQ-A may be more reliable than the SQ-Ai which sometimes suffers from electrical failures and, as has been pointed out, it takes a single battery (the SQ-B takes the same battery as the SQ-A, not the four batteries of the SQ-Ai).
Attached is an example of the results I have had from the Bronica (handheld with prism and speed grip).
 

Attachments

  • 05-18-004.jpg
    05-18-004.jpg
    157.1 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
I use the SQAi with 150(+ pentax t226 closeup filter) and 50.
you can see samples here.
http://sushiisyumi.blogspot.com/search/label/bronica sqai

it is gentle(i managed to break an 120 insert easy,i had experience with a mamiya 645j which was more robust imho) and best used with tripod(or speedgrip),heavy - the 150 lens min focus distance is 1.5 meter so it's best used with some kind of extension tube for portraits.
 
One caveat when buying any second hand SQ* set, is that the lens that comes with the SQ-B is a slightly modified 80mm, it's the PS-80B. It lacks the T slider, meaning that he only way to get longer than 8 seconds exposure is with a body that has a B (bulb) shutter setting. The biggest plus of the T setting is that it doesn't require batteries to keep the leafshutter open (this in contrast to Bulb). The SQ-B does not have a B setting by the way. So if you're going to make longer exposures than 8 seconds, the SQ-B/PS-80B kit is no use. You'll have to get a different body or lens. Because of the omission of the T slider, quite some PS-80B lenses end up in SQ/SQA/SQAi sets for sale..
 
So, I gought a camera from ebay, and shot my first film .
and I found that problem - all pics have two dark strips along the edges of the frame. Looks like vignetting.
What it can be? Light leak in the filmback? How can I fix it?

This picture illustrates that:
s640x480

f
s640x480
 
Last edited:
Or a light leak? The center of the frame looks overexposed.

It might be one of the top or bottom seals is bad, so the film is getting exposed when you advance it. A good test is to load up your film into the back and then use electrical tape to seal all the edges of your back. Expose and develop the roll. If the pictures look okay, you've got a leak.

Take a look at the light seals on your back and see if they look fresh or are they all gummy and sticky.

Dave Thomas has good info about fixing back seals.
http://www.pbase.com/dw_thomas/sqgear
 
does not look like a light leak to me. Looks like processing or scanning problem (the holder maybe, as Michael I says).

Back to the original question, If you understand the limitations of the SQB and they do not impact your way of working, you can save money. I've had no problems with mine, although mostly I shoot MF w/ a Mamiya 6.
 
If it's on the negs, then it's probably the mirror assembly not being completely up (yet) when the shutter triggers. Check it by taking off the back (set body to multiple exposure to make it fire without a back). Look through the camera/lens from the backside while tripping the shutter. The mirror should flip up instantly without any drag or slowing down and be out of the way so that you see a round image through the lens. Note, that because the image is formed upside down (and the problem is at the top of the print) you need to look from the bottom side of the camera's backside at the lens opening.
 
I almost always use mirror lock-up feature, does it make sense?
From my understandind, if there was some delay of mirror movement, it would be not an issue in case of lock-up, right?
Problem still exist, here it is on the right side:
s640x480

And it looks like it depends from sun position
s640x480

on both shots, sun was on the right side
 
minoltist7 said:
I almost always use mirror lock-up feature, does it make sense?
Click to expand...
No, it doesn't make sense. The only purpose of the mirror lock-up is to reduce vibration, particularly when using slow shutter speeds. If the mirror was in any way responsible for the kind of problem shown in your photos surely it would appear at the bottom of the image? My guesses are that:
  • you have a faulty back
  • the film is not tightly wound on the takeup spool when you take it out of the back
  • there is a problem with the film development
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom