Got myself a great bargain of an Bronica ETRS, 75mm, 120 back and WLF for £100, Im soo pleased!
Being ill though i really cant wait to go out and use it
Just wondered if anyone could give any pointers or user experience? or show me any of your own work?
Comments would be much appreciated
Im so excited to use it
It is good fun indeed! You will need to get a hand-held meter at some point but colour negative film is forgiving and the exposure guide on the film packet matches up suprisingly well with incident light readings for the general outdoors. It takes a while to get used to the image in the WLF being back to front if you have not used one before so you can practice framing shots even if you cannot get outside. It took me about 6 months to get the hang of holding a SQ level and at least 1 year to stop taking one shot with the big camera and one with 35 mm and comparing the results! The only problem I had when I started was fiddling with the mirror lockup switch - it might not be the same on the ETRS but once locked up (on single shot lock) the camera has to be wound on fully to reset. Also I found that forgetting to lock the shutter release with the camera wound on was a dead cert for it to go off in the bag. I only loaded one film inside out so far - guess that is a joy most people experience!
If you plan on taking upright type shots, then a prism will be required.[to make it easier to use.] Also, if you purchase a winder...remember ....they need 2 wind-ons, but make handling ,just like a big SLR.
Kenny.
The tears of laughter were running down my legs.
Thanks for the replies they ar ereally useful
Unfortunatley after lots of testing, i have found the lens is brokenim so gutted, not even put a film through yet! Its not syncing properly with the speeds its set along with other probelms!
Ive now gotta try and get back in touch with guy i bought it from and see if he can replace my lens for me!
Join the club, my first foray into ETRS territory involved buying a camera with a duff lens. In my case it was an intermittent fault, but one that would have involved an expensive repair. Undeterred, I bought another lens, for less than the cost of a repair, and things have been fine since. Worringly the defective lens is in the best cosmetic condition of all of my Bronica glass, you can't tell by looking, and in my case you needed a film through the camera to discover the fault
Unfortunatley after lots of testing, i have found the lens is broken
I would endorse that which has been said above, the prism finder really does make it much easier, and if you get a metering prism that's another step forward.
If you have not used a camera of this type before you will forget to extract the darkslide, and get into a mess with winding on after changing backs, but fear not, you will learn how to cope!
My Flickr site is very largely full of B&W film images, mainly 35mm, but with some medium format, and it is noteworthy that the small number of Bronica images punch above their weight in terms of comments, views and favs.
So take heart and persist. It's a fine system capable of super results.
I would endorse the use of a prism. However the metering is sometimes a leeeeetle bit out......As always if you can buy one from a dealer with a warranty...beware e-bay.
Having said that I've traded on e-bay with no problems.
Must get mine out and try it again
David
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We are here to learn.
Some things are relevant, some aren't...just rejoice in the fact that at least you seem to have the choice to decide which is which.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spinno1001
The ETRS uses an electronically timed shutter. If I remember correctly, when the battery runs flat it will only fire at a single fixed speed. Darned if I can remember what it is though - probably 1/500.
That's right Stephan, they still fire with out a battery but unless you are using studio flash 1/500th seems a bit pointless.The ETRS uses an electronically timed shutter. If I remember correctly, when the battery runs flat it will only fire at a single fixed speed. Darned if I can remember what it is though - probably 1/500.
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