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Bronica SQ-Ai
35mm Cameras
Digital Cameras 1999
Digital Cameras 2001
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Bronica SQ-Ai

For the past four years, my main camera has been my Bronica SQ-Ai. Bronica is currently owned by Tamron, and clicking the Bronica link will take you to their singularly awful Bronica page, but that problem aside, the Bronica is an extremely good camera. It is a modular SLR from the Hasselblad school of camera design, and utilizes an electronic leaf shutter in each lens with speeds up to 1/500 of a second. The camera is compact and lightweight, but as you'd expect of a $3,000 camera, everything fits together well, has a solid feel to it, and is ultra-reliable.

I have six PS lenses, the 35/3.5 fisheye, 40/4, 50/3.5, 80/2.8, 110/4 macro (the older 1:4 one), and the new 180/4.5.

Currently I use the 80 for full-length and group photos, the 110 for some of the same plus miscellaneous close-ups, and the 180 for all other types of portraiture and fashion. I used to have the 150/4 and the 200/4.5, but I replaced them both with the 180. The main advantage to the 180 is that it focuses down to 1m. Neither the 150, which focuses to 1.5m, nor the 200, which focuses to 2.5m, can get close enough for a tight headshot without a tube, and furthermore, both of those lenses have a maximum extension of 17mm, meaning that there's a range of distances corresponding to extensions between 17mm and 18mm that are too short for the lens by itself but too long for the lens plus the S-18 tube. Arrgh! (There would be another such gap between the S-18 tube and the S-36 tube.)

On the wide side, the 40/4 is the widest rectilinear lens available for the Bronica SQ. Unfortunately it uses 95mm filters, so you really need a completely separate set of filters for it. The 50/3.5, with a filter size of 77mm, is the widest that can be used with Cokin P filters, which are mostly what I have. The 35/3.5 fisheye is a pretty spectacular lens. It uses 32.5mm filters that screw onto the rear of the lens. You'd think that 32.5mm filters would be inexpensive, but in fact, nobody makes them. The lens comes with four filters, but I don't find them very useful.

As for the quality of these lenses, a writer for the British magazine Photo Technique compared a Bronica SQ-Ai with the 80/2.8 PS to a Hasselblad 503CW with the Zeiss 80/2.8 Planar, and concluded, "If I mix the results up on the lightbox I can't tell them apart."

Probably the most underrated accessory for the Bronica SQ is the Speed Grip. It doesn't cost very much, especially if you buy it used (mine was £70, or roughly $120), and together with a prism, will change the way you use the camera. Even if you're using the waist level finder, the Speed Grip still gives you something solid to grab. It's easy to put on and take off, so you can use it when it's appropriate and put it aside when it's not.

I only have a few gripes with the Bronica. For one, the viewfinder displays conspicuously less than the whole frame. It means that you can compose to the edges of the viewfinder and still have some cropping space, but I'd prefer a full display. Another problem is that if you attach a strap, it gets in the way of the darkslide, and speaking of the darkslide, there's no place to put it while you're shooting. Finally, attaching the back to the camera involves fitting two little tabs into holes in the camera body, which can be difficult at times, especially when trying to attach a Polaroid back while a prism is mounted; this is one area in which the Hasselblad has a distinct advantage.

Still, my gripes are minor, and the bottom line is that the camera produces fantastic pictures and has all the features that you will likely need while also being reasonably priced.