The entire Bronica story is amazing. Originally Bronica was a manufacturer of luxury goods but the owner, Zenzaburō Yoshino, wanted to make a camera that could compete with the Rollei's, Hasselblades, and Mamiya's in the world but at a more affordable price and made in Japan. It took a huge amount of work and personal investment but he did it and the Bronica S2A is one of his company's designs.
This 6x6 SLR has all the features of much more expensive Hasselblad models and then some. Uniquely the lens mount is in two parts. The lens has one bayonet mount and just includes the lens optics and aperture. The focusing helicoid is what lenses mount to and then has its own bayonet mount to attach to the camera's body. This allows the camera to also support very large telephoto lenses which replace the focus helicoid as well as leaf shutter lenses.
The cameras are very reliable but are known to have a design flaw with the focus screen/reflex mirror. Both pieces of glass float on top of foam and are held in place with tension. This foam has degraded in almost all of the cameras meaning that the focusing system will be out of alignment. The fix is simple though and otherwise the cameras are very robust. I got lucky and found a gentlemen selling off his entire Bronica set for just a few hundred dollars as he needed to get rid of it quickly before moving. You should be able to find one for a very competitive price as they're no where near as popular or well known as other 6x6 cameras.
Specifications
Mount: Bronica 6x6 Helical
Design: Mechanical Modular 6x6 SLR
Focus: Manual Focus with Ground glass
Shutter Range: 1/1000 - 1 with Bulb
ISO Range: n/a
Flash Sync: 1/15
Meter: n/a
Exposure Modes: Manual
Battery: n/a
Weight: 1780g
Other Features: Interchangeable focusing helicoids, viewfinders, grips, flash brackers, and film backs
Manual: Butkus.us
Collection Information
Date Acquired: 10/10/2019
Serial Number: 76937
Purchase Price: $300 (Case + 3 lens kit)
Going Price: ~$600- Collectiblend
Condition: Damn near mint after some fixes!
My Copy's Performance
Mine is almost mint. The camera is clean and worked really well. I did replace the foam as stated before and have had no problems with the camera since. It is a very large, heavy, and loud camera though so it's not a common one for me to use but when I do I know I'm getting an awesome photo.
