Easily the Right Stuff! (Bronica ETR-Si)

Member Name: bigbtommy

Product:	Bronica ETR-Si
Date:	16/02/03 (5484 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well-priced (compared to digital or hassy), Easy transition from 35mm, Lovely picture quality

Disadvantages: Lenses and accessories can be rather expensive when compared with TLR, Try buying 120 film in the middle of nowhere...

I just bought myself an Bronica ETRS. And all I've got to say is 'Wow!'. I was originally slightly worried about it: I had previously been used to square format, and had used a square format (6x6) Bronica SQA on loan from my dad. The ETRS is the diddified version of the SQA, producing 6x4.5 (cm) negatives.

I paid £329 for the ETRS, a waist level find (just look down, none of this drawing it to your eye malarkey...),

WHY MEDIUM FORMAT?
If you've got a camera, it is most likely to take 35mm film. The image area on the film is 24 mm by 36 mm. This is fine for the majority of uses: holiday snaps etc. It has a lot of advantages: light, easy to get hold of film, more shots per roll, convenient, easy to handle (it all winds back in to the cassette after your final exposure), and most of all cheap. If you become an avid photographer, you'll start to want to produce bigger prints. This is where 35mm (and the even smaller, and generally more pointless APS) slips up. As you increase the size, it gets more and more difficult to get high-quality reproduction. Above 10"x8", you can start to notice the grain, and if it's on exhibition, your audience will notice the grain too! This can be a good thing - grain is only a problem if you think it's a problem. It depends on your style of photography. If you prefer sharp images at higher sizes, you'll really require to move up to a higher camera size. And that's where medium format comes in.

Medium format produces image sizes of 6x4.5 centimetres, 6x6 cm, 6x7 and 6x9. You can go larger than that, but it starts to get expensive. And complicated! The majority of people will use either 6x4.5 or 6x6.

SO, THE DISADVANTAGES?
As you increase film size, you get a few problems. Cameras start getting heavier. Yep. If you thought your trusty Nikon was heavy, just wait (no pun intended) until you pick up a medium or even large format camera. They weigh a ton! A
nd that's before you add a camera.

Also film availability. All your favourites will be there: Velvia, Provia, Sensia from Fuji. Kodachrome, Gold, and a few other bits from Kodak. And in black and white Tri-X, XP2, HP5, FP4. Where it's lost is when you try and use more obscure films - such as infra red films like SFX200, HIE or Konica ir750.

But as you increase the format size, you lose out on some of the interesting little films, especially those at the extremes of the ASA scale: either the super-slow (25-50 ASA) for the quality-luvin landscaper, or the high-speed (1600-3200) for sports / night photography etc.

Plus the gear and lenses tends to be more expensive, and slightly less flexible at times (example: fast shutter speeds are sometimes unavailable in larger formats).

THE BRONICA ETRS
The Bronica is a nice entry-level 6x4.5 medium format camera. It's all manual - no meter (well, not strictly, but on the default rigs, no meter) so you should budget for one if your in the market.

It has interchangable backs - particularly useful if your indecisive and unsure about b&w and colour. "But I want BOTH!" I hear screamed... Yep, you can very easily pull the back off (one button push and a quick tug) and replace it with another back. You can also buy backs that take other types of film - eg. 35mm, Polaroid, digital etc. although I'm not sure about the availability of the last two.

The standard lens that comes with it is 75mm, which equates to about 45-50 mm in smaller formats. It's a really beautiful lens to use, especially if you make sure you buy one that's had a careful owner.

The finders are interchangable too - there are three available, and although fairly expensive, provide options. I use the waist-level finder, which provides for maximum flexibility in the majority of circumstances. There is also a rather nice prism finder - which is what 35mm shutterbugs will be
used to. The waist-level finder is a little difficult to get used to: the pictures are the wrong-way round (left is right and vice versa), and that takes a little while to get used to. The prism finder would probably be better for those just making the jump up to medium format, especially as it has a built in meter - so you don't have to carry one.

In terms of accessories, you can also get a speed grip, so you can hold it more like a camera, and less like a... well, box. That's pretty neat, but only if you need it. Which I don't.

The best thing about the Bronica ETRS, and medium format in general, is that it slows down your picture taking. "Slows it down?! How can that be good?" No... wait. Hear me out. If you take 36 pictures in 20 minutes, how good do you reckon they'll be? If you take 15 pictures in 45 minutes, how much more time will you put in to it? If the technical side slows you down slightly, and puts a slight hinderance in, then you'll only take a picture when you think it's really worthwhile. This will put value in to the image.

And once you've spend hours searching for that perfect image, it'll pay back well. The lens quality is high, the action is good, the synchronisation is flexible (it can sync with external flash sources at any speed! Wheras with most cameras you have to sync at 1/60, with the Bronica you can do it at any speed.). And once you've had the pix developed, you'll be amazed at the quality of the reproduction, and the images maximum reproduction size can be measured in feet, rather than inches. Yep, sizes like 16" x 12" and 20" x 16" will be achievable.

You can also do multiple exposures - this is where you take more than one photograph on top of each other, to give a surreal double picture effect. This is done with a little lever on the side of the camera. You push it down, then you can release and cock the shutter as many times as y
ou like. Just be sure to switch it back, or you'll realise after about 50 shots, that you haven't taken any of them. Just made one piece of film -very- white!

You can also change the focussing screen to have grid lines, microprisms, split images, grid lines for 135, and a combination of these. Grid lines is particularly useful for those who get annoyed about horizons being straight etc.

Reccomended films: I'd reccomend that if you move to medium format, you at least give black and white a go. It's so much fun. I've had good experience with Fuji Neopan 400, or Ilford's FP4+. In colour, give Velvia a go. It's so unbelievably nice. (That's the other thing I forgot to mention - you'll need a 645 slide projector. Which are expensive.) I mainly shoot black and white, and although haven't put masses through the ETRS, I have used a very similar lens (the 80mm Zenza for SQ-Ai) and camera (SQ-Ai, the ETRS' 6x6 brother).

All in all, the ETRS is a fantastic introduction to medium format photography, and is both well-priced (not cheap, but not expensive - if in doubt, look at digital cameras. They put everything else in perspective.), flexible (especially for students), and a good starting point for those interested in moving in to medium format. It can be the 'art' camera: a waist level finder, a tripod and about five minutes per shot. Or it can be used for more speedy uses with the addition of a speed grip, motor drive and a prism finder. I'd highly reccomend this camera for amateurs, students and pros alike. Make the jump to MF, it's worth every penny.

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