Is it a Holga or a Hasselblad? ….. no it’s a Bronica
In my last post – ‘Should I buy a Holga or a Hasselblad?’ – I explored the idea of getting a medium format camera to kick start my journey into the analogue world of 120 film. I have been a serious hobbyist for 15 years, so it’s taken me a long time to come round to the idea of shooting film.
Following the publication of this post I received a comment from Chris Rusbridge for which I am most grateful. He suggested I should consider a Bronica SQ. I had heard of the Bronica but knew very little about it so I started searching for information. The more I discovered the more this camera appealed to me. Truth be told but I spend far too much time reading reviews and watching YouTube videos. I dither, then dither some more. But for me it’s part of the fun before deciding on a new piece of camera gear.
Based on my initial findings I quickly dismissed the Holga. It would be fun but I felt that the fun factor might not last that long. A Hasselblad 500 series was all too tempting but I just couldn’t bring myself to pay the price for what is unquestionably a great camera. After all I simply don’t know how much I will enjoy film photography. Any investment into a new camera system had to be proportional to the risk of deciding to sell the camera in the near future and not to waste money unnecessarily.
It didn’t take long for me to establish that a Bronica SQ system camera would give me everything I wanted for a third, maybe even a quarter of the price I would have to pay for the equivalent Hasselblad. Camera bodies, lenses, viewfinders and film backs are all readily available on EBay or a number of photographic outlets.
Dithering over it was now a question of finding the right model, in good condition with some form or guarantee.
My search didn’t take too long. Skears Photographic in Northampton had a Bronica SQ-Ai for sale. Described as being in excellent condition it was for sale at what I considered to be a sensible price. But what clinched the deal was the fact it came with a 12 month guarantee. Three or six months was typical, so a year of hopefully trouble free use was a bonus. I phoned Skears as I had a few questions about the camera and they couldn’t have been more helpful or knowledgeable. They reserved it for 7 days to give me the time to finally make up my mind. After a few days I placed the order and earlier this week the camera arrived. It was very well packaged and I can’t wait to try it out. The only thing holding me back is the lack of film! A few spools of Ilford HP5 plus should arrive through my letterbox in the next few days.
I did need to buy a few accessories to go with the Bronica, including a light meter. However it was easier for me to justify buying these extras given what I had paid for the camera.
In a future post I will report back on my initial impressions of the camera, the accessories that go with it and the learning curve associated with medium format photography.
My journey into medium format 120 black and white film photography has now begun.
alan frost photography 
8 Responses to “Is it a Holga or a Hasselblad? ….. no it’s a Bronica”
Excellent, looks in quite good nick, and I think that’s a PS lens, one of the higher spec range. Top shutter speed is quite low (1/500) so I’ve tended to use slower film than HP5 on my MF cameras, unless the depths of winter! But HP5 is an excellent film.
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Second comment, I’m guessing you’re not going to leap straight in to developing and scanning yourself, in these early stages. For dev & scan, I’ve always been happy with Filmdev, who run one of the most effective quality labs, in Stockon on Tees. You’ll have the added cost of sending your films to them; after the annoyance of a batch of films going missing in the post, I always use a tracked service these days. If there is a film lab within your usual driving range, you may be better with them, but always ask about turnround times! Good luck!
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Thanks for the recommendation. I won’t be developing myself (not yet anyway) but I do intend scanning as I already have a suitable scanner. I have looked into a number of film developers but hadn’t come across Filmdev, so I shall take a look.
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If I get black and white developed, I use The Darkroom UK in Cheltenham, who have good prices, good quality and very good turnround. They use XTOL, which is perhaps a bit more cunchy than some other developers (*). A couple of the more famous labs that I won’t name here have let me down with shoddy work like chemical spills on the negatives, scratches and the like.
(*) At home I use HC-110. I just finished the litre bottle I bought and opened in 2018. My new bottle is 500 l from Adox. I can change the “fireceness” of the development by increasing dilution, as long as there’s at least 6 ml per film. Nothing like pulling your own film from the tank and seeing images on there!
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Do you prefer Darkroom UK to FilmDev for your black and white developing?
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Thanks Chris. Very helpful.
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Thanks Chris. It is in excellent condition, to my eyes anyway. Some of the images I want to make will be church interiors, hence HP5. I also have ND filters and colour filters if I need to reduce the shutter speed. I will almost exclusively be using a tripod too.
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I definitely prefer The Darkroom. That was my first gut reaction, but I went back and checked, and I like the images from there better. I used Filmdev for black and white only if I happened to be sending off some colour rolls at the same time.
An advantage of The Darkroom is that they have a Freepost label on their website. Postage can be an expensive element if you’re only sending a few rolls. After some “lost in the post” problems I usually use Tracked 48 for Filmdev etc, so from £4.45 with actual stamps (£3.65 online).
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