Bronica ETR 645 Medium Format Camera with Kodak Ektar 100 Colour Film

 

Well, since the demise of my Dad's Voigtlander Bessa 1 6x9 folding camera, I have only 1 Medium Format Camera left in my collection. It is a Bronica ETRSi 645 (6mm x 4.5mm film).  It's just the basic camera that I picked up with both a 120 and 35mm film back and the Waist Viewfinder.  I have been looking for accessories for this camera for a while but, since film has become a 'niche' art form these days, the prices of film cameras and their accessories has risen considerably.

So, when I saw a Facebook Marketplace sale for a Bronica ETR 645 camera with extra lenses quite a few accessories going for a never before seen price, I just had to bite the bullet. 

What I got for my money was the ETR body, a 50mm, 75mm and, 250mm lens, an AEii Prism Viewfinder, 2 x 120 film backs, a waist level Viewfinder, a Bronica Hand Grip and, a Polaroid Film Back. Whilst conducting the sale, I found that the shutter in the Zenzanon MC 75mm lens was not working. This did not bother me much as I have a perfectly good Zenzanon Eii 75mm lens with my original Bronica Camera, but still, I negotiated the price down.  I also got a Shutter Release Extension Cable and about a dozen 120 films (Ektar 100 & Portra 400).  The final price for all this was AU$600 which, if you are familiar with all of this, was a damn good price. 

I'll not be using the Polaroid Back.  The photos are so small and my experience with Polaroid is that they will fade quickly.  Polaroid Film for the Bronica Film Back is not available anymore.  FujiFilm FP-100C can be used but it is unreasonably expensive, selling on eBay from AU$388 up to AU$855 for a box of 10 prints!  I mean, I know the stuff may be rare but that is just so ridiculous!  

I took the camera and lenses down to the Ocean Baths and Harbour here in Newcastle.  It's a good spot to catch people as they enjoy the Baths, the Surf and the Sun and wander along the Harbour Foreshore. Because I have used a 75mm lens before on my Bronica ETRSi, I only took the 50mm and 250mm with me.  The camera does weigh a bit and I also took a Tripod to stop the shake from hefting it all the time.

To say I am happy with the purchase would be an understatement; the photos turned out great. Both lenses are very sharp and although I don't mind using a Waist View Finder, that AEii Prism Viewfinder was great when being used on the Tripod.  One thing with the Prism Viewfinder was that the electronics don't appear to be working correctly when giving exposure readings.  I can live without that because I always had to work out exposures manually (Sunny 16) when using the Voigtlander and this was no different.  The main thing about the Prism is that I can set it on the Tripod to my own height for shooting whereas the Waist Viewfinder always had that lower perspective as I had to look down into it.

I get 15 photographs from a roll of 120 Film.  Negative size is 6mm x 4.5mm which has a great resolution when scanned at 2400 DPI.  I doubled up on some of the shots with this film so there is only 11 photos to put up.

The Bronica (both ETR and ETRSi) are not the sort of film cameras that I would take with me as I engage in Street Photography.  They work better set up on a Tripod for Portraits or Land/Seascapes.  I guess I could set up in a busy street somewhere just to catch the people walking by a certain landmark or graffiti wall so I might give that a try sometime but, for candid quick shots they are not really suitable.  

These photos were taken with the Kodak Ektar 100 that I picked up in the purchase using a Cokin Circular Polariser. I scanned the negatives myself on an EPSON 850V Pro Scanner.

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