Bronica S

Bronica S for Supreme?

CC Image courtesy of InvernoDreaming on Flickr

1950's - 60's were the golden years of Bronica. The founder of the company, Mr. Zenzaburo Yoshino had been the owner of a camera shop for years. And with his time staying, and admiring all the camera he owned, he was not quite satisfied. His dream was to build a camera of his own, but not any old camera, he wanted to build the best camera he could possibly build, and build he did. In 1959, Mr. Yoshino released to the world the Bronica D. A camera that was build upon the improvements of the Hasselblad cameras, particularly the 1000f model. 

The company moved on to release the Bronica S in 1961, bearing similar features to it's earlier counterparts; the D and the Z. The S, like the D is a 6x6 120 focal plane SLR that is able to shoot same images from the same glass. That said, the S do possess some improvements and differences to the D and the Z models, which from some perspective may consider it as a great deal, whilst some may consider it as a bad thing. 

Well, lets start off here with the improvements upon the earlier D's and the Z's. First, the Bronica S has the ability to do mirror lockup via the mirror lockup button below the shutter release - that's a good thing. Second, the S also adds another cable release port at the bottom of the camera making the total number of cable release ports on the camera body to two (the other on the usual shutter release button). Last but not least, the S surprisingly won't let you waste a shot with the dark slide in it. The S will automatically pop out the dark slide half way to remind you to pull it out before taking your photo - quite neat ain't it?

Canonflex

Canon's first SLR. And the world's best looking...

Canonflex 'Flex' CC Image courtesy of Joshua Blais on Flickr

Back in 1959, Canon introduced it's first lineup of SLR s to the market, the Canonflex, with just a mere production of 17,000 cameras. Though the Canonflexes are not quite as popular as the Nikon F's, collectors nowadays starts to appreciate the amount construction and engineering that has been put into this beast of a camera.

During the 50's, SLR s were new and not so much a hit, as rangefinders are dominating most of the camera market. But before the realization of the masses about how easy and intuitive SLR s are, people were used to the old rudimentary technique of focusing through a separate viewfinder, trying to overlap two images to focus.

The first thing you'll notice once you've picked up the Canonflex is that it it built like a tank. Solid as a rock, and well made. The construction, I have to say, is quite phenomenal compared to what is on offer today. 

The second thing after the build, you'll notice that the film advance level is situated at the bottom of the camera with a 130 degrees throw. Some say it is more intuitive to use, but after using it on the field for quite some time, it will become apparent that using this camera on a tripod is as challenge as it is handheld.