I GOT MY BRONICA

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kabooi

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Sorry for the caps, im just so flippin :D:D:D:D:D

I waited all morning for my bronnie. Didnt think it would come, but, it did. Its here. I'm staring at it. It's blooming heavy and I cant stop my hands from shaking while trying to focus.

I cant reaaaaaalllly focus that well. I have a focusing screen which has a diagonal circle, and I know I have to make these join up but I cant see what im doing. One side of the circle stays black no matter what!

Smaller than I thought, heavier than I imagined. Now time to get some film.
 
flip the magnifier up in the WLF to aid you with focus always helps. I spent most of my time with WLF's almost pressing my eye to the magnifier like an SLR :LOL: but it's realy not neccesary as it's also viewable from waist height up (on the SQ-A anyway)

Now my sort of 'ideal' procedure is attempt to find a vertical line in the scene if possible, compose scene, flip up magnifier, confirm focus and shoot.

Practice speeds up the whole process.

If you want as well you can buy a 'bright screen' which produces a brighter image in the WLF.

I too have been very surprised by how small a lot of these modular MF cameras are!
 
MindofMel said:
flip the magnifier up in the WLF to aid you with focus always helps. I spent most of my time with WLF's almost pressing my eye to the magnifier like an SLR :LOL: but it's realy not neccesary as it's also viewable from waist height up (on the SQ-A anyway)

Now my sort of 'ideal' procedure is attempt to find a vertical line in the scene if possible, compose scene, flip up magnifier, confirm focus and shoot.

Practice speeds up the whole process.

If you want as well you can buy a 'bright screen' which produces a brighter image in the WLF.

I too have been very surprised by how small a lot of these modular MF cameras are!
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Thanks for the tips. I've just found the magnifer. It seems to magnify all the dirt and hair on my screen, lol! I might change it, I want it to be perfect.

Regarding focusing again, one side of the circle is black and the other is the picture, its odd, I cant get them lined at all. Hmmmmm....bright scree?
 
i find that with my bronny (sq-b) i have to be looking as straight down onto the focusing screen as possible to keep the circles from flicking in and out of black.

Look straight down onto the circle and dont move a muscle :)
 
Yeah, I get the black in the circle on my SQ-A if I look down through the wlf without the magnifier and I'm not straight over top of it.

If I require careful focus, I can flip up the magnifier thingy and that takes care of it, or, if I'm shooting from the hip, I find that the black goes away if I close one eye.
 
Congrats but you are limited without prism and speed grip....well unless you like looking down and seeing the picture reversed. My RB67 annoyed me too (because of the reversed picture) so finally got a prism for that too. If you are taking shots low down, you just substitute back to the waist level VF
 
Unless you get a chimney finder..;)

Limited ??, I find a WLF liberating rather than limiting.

I have a prism but hardly use it because its a bit...umm...limiting, I love the freedom to shoot with no box in the face.
Dunno about speed grips either, I don't have one but it seems these items are designed to make the camera more like a 35mm camera.
Then you have to start asking what's the point of that, if the format hardly matters, might as well save some money and shoot 35mm.
 
I have a nice prism as well as a grip for my 500CM... both are completely unloved. WLF is great.
 
Thanks yet again for all your support, replies and feedback. It's all quite a lot to take in. I *think* I am getting used to the focusing. I can't wink, so am using both eyes, and so its really difficult. With my FM2 I could hold a finger over one eye and then press shutter and or focus. With the bronnie, I can't do this as he's so big and heavy in my hands.

I like the idea of the WLF, if it had metering I'd use it solely but my next aim is to buy the metered prism, not really a want but it will make life so much easier, as I also want to photograph street work and animals, both of which can be too fast paced to meter externally before hand.

I do need to get a new focusing screen though. It's quite dirty. Are there any links or types I should know about?


Bronica ETRS by Kabooi, on Flickr
 
joxby said:
Unless you get a chimney finder..;)

Limited ??, I find a WLF liberating rather than limiting.

I have a prism but hardly use it because its a bit...umm...limiting, I love the freedom to shoot with no box in the face.
Dunno about speed grips either, I don't have one but it seems these items are designed to make the camera more like a 35mm camera.
Then you have to start asking what's the point of that, if the format hardly matters, might as well save some money and shoot 35mm.
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:LOL: That's what I want with the Etrs and RB67 i.e. a dirty great SLR with a large neg for quality :LOL:
 
I do need to get a new focusing screen though. It's quite dirty. Are there any links or types I should know about?
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In what way is it dirty? If it's just hair and dirt you can take the finder off and focus screen out of the camera and clean them both quite easily. If you have lots of black lines in the screen when viewing it then those are scratches and not much can be done with those.

First thing i'd recommend you do is go here to Mike Butkus' site and download the two pdf's that make up the Bronica ETRS manual, then read them. The second part tells you how to take out the focus screen and lists all the screens available for it, and the last dozen pages also list every other accessory available. If you want the most up to date list of accessories the last dozen or so pages of the ETRSi manual pdf will be useful.
 
MF is just great.

Hope you enjoy the Bronica, and look forward to seeing some results.
 
joxby said:
Unless you get a chimney finder..;)

Limited ??, I find a WLF liberating rather than limiting.

I have a prism but hardly use it because its a bit...umm...limiting, I love the freedom to shoot with no box in the face.
Dunno about speed grips either, I don't have one but it seems these items are designed to make the camera more like a 35mm camera.
Then you have to start asking what's the point of that, if the format hardly matters, might as well save some money and shoot 35mm.
Click to expand...

^^^WHS^^^ Embrace the WLF (y)
 
All hail the WLF :notworthy:
 
kabooi said:
Def not hailing the WLF at the moment. Cant get used to the bloody thing. :bonk:
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Heathen... Burn the non believer :D

:nuts:
 
Not if I burn you all first ;);)

It's composing which annoys me the most. I can't get it straight. I go one way, but really it's the other. I go to focus, and then cant keep my focus point. LOL. I'll learn to love it. Can't afford a viewfinder at the moment :D
 
kabooi said:
It's composing which annoys me the most. I can't get it straight. I go one way, but really it's the other. I go to focus, and then cant keep my focus point. LOL.
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Try viewing/focusing large format with an inverted/back to front/upside down image in the ground glass with a dark cloth over your head and a lupe......makes a WLF seem like a piece of cake!

Without doubt for some people the focusing/viewing can take a bit of adjusting too but it's all part of the fun...take your time, enjoy, have a laugh about it and get shooting.

Looking forward to seeing some of your results.

Good luck!
 
Congrats! I now have 2 Bronicas.
I love the WLF, it's oh-so refreshing and liberating. I find the world looks different through the WLF, and it forces me to think differently in terms of composition.

I love the weight and the sound it makes when you press the shutter. oooOOooo!

Focusing is a real challenge for me though. Getting used to everything being in reverse too.
But I guess the more you use it the better you master it.
 
Its wierd but having just got back into film and enjoying myself immensly with 35mm.

I was thinking of maybe trying MF but this thread has put me off as all the issues Kabooi has popped up were mine.

I love the fact that my Nikon FG is so light and easy and the focus screen is a dream. and compared to my Nikon D7000 is as light as a feather.
 
excalibur2 said:
You've got to at least say "you have been there and done it" in your life ;)
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I might do for sure but not so much in the above format, i recentl bought a vintage Agfa Folding camera which I was going to shoot but it turned out it was worth quite a bit more than I paid for it so im selling it on ebay and pocketing the cash, but if i am honest I will look out for another folder to try.
 
Mr Bump said:
I recentl bought a vintage Agfa Folding camera which I was going to shoot but it turned out it was worth quite a bit more than I paid for it so im selling it on ebay and pocketing the cash, but if i am honest I will look out for another folder to try.
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Why not use it for a bit and sell it later on? It's not like it's going to depreciate rapidly or something.
 
skysh4rk said:
Why not use it for a bit and sell it later on? It's not like it's going to depreciate rapidly or something.
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When I looked into them they have a lot of known issues with the film counter mechanism so decided to pass on it and I have my eye on something else :D
 
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