Bronica Medium Format Owners Thread

That's certainly a light leak.
 
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Weirdly, there's spill outside the frame on the second one, but not the first or third. Can't see anything on any of the other 33 frames I took that weekend, and like I said, I recently replaced the seals, so I'd like to think internal reflection from the body.

Edit: I've had similar issues with my Yashica-Mat in the past - similarly straight leaks. Is there any chance it's bad film handling on my part? Any way I could be allowing light into the rolled-up film?
 
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Flare wouldn't manifest in the same spot in frames with very different lighting.
I'd guess that it is a very fine light leak, maybe a small gap in some light sealing foam? It wouldn't need to be big to show up.
 
Veronica had a straight line light leak

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I think it was the curtain not closing properly in the fraction of a second the mirror was up, but I'm not certain.
 
I don't know if anyone's interested, but there's a very well priced Bronica Zenzanon S 105mm f/3.5 available on eBay at the moment: (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bronica-S...=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item3cf211b4df).

I must say that this is a very handy slightly-longer-than-normal lens that can focus quite close, so it's great for normal shooting and relatively tight portraits. It's one of my personal favourites:




 
@abdoujaparov :
Your "light leak" problem made me think of something I experienced in the past. But looking back it is very different.... Still because it might be interesting to some I decided to linked a few picture.

I had some banding on the first roll of film I put through the Bronica.
Some exemple can be see there:


bronica024 by Lemaildetom on Talk Photography


bronica019 by Lemaildetom on Talk Photography

More here:
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/albums/first-roll-bronica.669/

At the end the bronica was absolutely fine, what was wrong was the bad quality of the scan that the shop did! I later rescanned them and they were perfectly fine!
...
 
I've just scanned a couple of images shot with my SQ + 50mm lens and they seemed sort of hazy/low-contrast. A couple shot into the sun are awful. Ones on the same roll shot with the 80mm are fine. It looks like there is some kind of moisture or haze coating the inside of the rear element of the lens. Is that likely to be the culprit? If so, I'm guessing there is not going to be any easy way to clean this myself, so the question is whether it's worth getting professionally cleaned? It's a shame as it's otherwise in mint condition. :(

Example as scanned:

View attachment 32484
 
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Take the lens off and shine a torch through the lens..... it would show up everything.
 
excalibur2 said:
Take the lens off and shine a torch through the lens..... it would show up everything.
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I've held it up to the light, and you can see a layer of something on the inside back element. Looks like moisture to me. Definitely doesn't look right compared to the 80mm which is completely clear.
 
FujiLove said:
I've held it up to the light, and you can see a layer of something on the inside back element. Looks like moisture to me. Definitely doesn't look right compared to the 80mm which is completely clear.
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The back element is the most important bit i.e. if it's on the front it's usually no problem for scratches, bubbles and mist etc
I've only taken a 35mm lens apart but if you can take the back lens out you can clean it yourself except if the haze has "eaten" (well I say "eaten" as I have a lens element that no normal fluid will clean the haze off and I've given up)...into the glass there is not much you can do except use something strong..maybe other guys would know what to use if you have this type of problem.
 
It doesn't look like it's anything that has eaten into the glass. As far as I can tell, it's just moisture on the surface. I may just stick it on eBay with an honest description. I'm sure a camera tech could sort it out, but I'd probably end up paying more than the lens is worth to have it dismantled.
 
FujiLove said:
It doesn't look like it's anything that has eaten into the glass. As far as I can tell, it's just moisture on the surface. I may just stick it on eBay with an honest description. I'm sure a camera tech could sort it out, but I'd probably end up paying more than the lens is worth to have it dismantled.
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I've had my 80mm PS lens serviced before and it was about £50.

Many of these lenses are now 20–30 years old, so I don't mind paying to service a lens if it ensures that it will continue to work for many years to come.
 
joxby said:
Etched :)
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:D lenses are food for fungus ;)...... well ok they eat the coating or whatever and their secretions etch the glass. But this non fungus mist problem is weird esp what caused it, and I have it on a front element of a zoom..shots are sharp but I suppose it reduces the contrast slightly...one guy used something like toothpaste (or was it metal polish) to remove it on his lens, probably took the coating off though.
 
skysh4rk said:
I've had my 80mm PS lens serviced before and it was about £50.

Many of these lenses are now 20–30 years old, so I don't mind paying to service a lens if it ensures that it will continue to work for many years to come.
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Where did you get it serviced? £50 doesn't sound too bad.
 
FujiLove said:
Where did you get it serviced? £50 doesn't sound too bad.
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Miles Whitehead. I don't have his contact details with me at the moment, but he should be able to give you an estimate of the cost if you email him describing the issue.
 
Not sure if anyone's interested, but I popped in to Leamington's LCE yesterday and they have a pretty good ETRSi kit for £299. Body, grip, 120 back, WLF, metered prism, 75mm and 150mm lens. Fairly plain focusing screen, which seemed quite hard to focus accurately with the prism (across the shop, at least) but with the WLF and magnifier it was a breeze. Just about hand-holdable, too; I was surprised that the grip worked reasonably well with my malfunctioning hand (it had a trigger winder, IIRC, that I didn't try and might prove a problem for me). I thought I'd hear folk saying the ETRS was a bit plasticky, but it seemed pretty solid to me. Anyway, it's there, and looks pretty good...
 
skysh4rk said:
That lens is overpriced at £600, I think. I'd love to give it a whirl though.
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Now the thread's been bumped, I clicked on the link again and followed the chain of relistings. He's listed it at least 10 times, price is down to £500 but still no takers.
 
abdoujaparov said:
Now the thread's been bumped, I clicked on the link again and followed the chain of relistings. He's listed it at least 10 times, price is down to £500 but still no takers.
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Hmmm... He seems to have listed it for auction at one point starting at £360, but all subsequent auctions, of which there have been several, have started the bidding at £500. Strange selling tactics.

At any rate, he'll need to find someone who desperately needs that lens to get anyone to pay that sort of price, I'd think.
 
macvisual said:
Does anyone know if Miles Whitehead will only service Bronica lenses or might he accept Mamiya RZ medium format lenses for servicing also I wonder ?
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From my experience Miles will service pretty much anything. I had a Hassy lens back from him early this year and he currently has an RB67, a Mamiya Six and a Voigtlander Superb in his care. I'd trust him with any of my camera gear.
 
He's mwcamerarepairs@aol.com and is based in Kent. He'll give you an estimate, and when you send the camera he'll tell you if the proposed work is not worth it. In that case you just need to pay return postage, IIRC.
 
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skysh4rk said:
LCE have a pretty good Bronica set for sale for £299. It includes the camera, two lenses, two backs, waist level finder, prism finder, and speed grip:

http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Bronica-SQA-+-80mm-+-105mm-+-Prism-+-Grip-+-Spare-Back_124331.html

I've had the chance to use a few different medium format cameras/systems and the SQ-A offers one heck of a package for the price.
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Interesting, that's my local LCE. Last time I was in they had an ETRS with a very similar spec.

Happily that one doesn't have a WLF so I don't even need to bother looking.... :runaway::exit:
 
ChrisR said:
Interesting, that's my local LCE. Last time I was in they had an ETRS with a very similar spec.

Happily that one doesn't have a WLF so I don't even need to bother looking.... :runaway::exit:
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That SQ-A set up has both the waist level and eye level finders though. ;)
 
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