Topic: Pentacon Six TL or Pentax 67?

[johnha]

Well, after all of this very good discussion and advice, I decided to go with neither of the original choices. I found what I think is a very good deal on a Bronica S2a. It has 2 backs, 2 helicoids, and the 75mm and 50mm Nikon lenses all for just over $300 delivered. It sounds like the owner tried to replace the GG foam and didn't do a great job, but that is a repair that even I can manage. As I said before, heavy and loud aren't primary considerations. I love Nikon glass and I fell in love with the look of the 'chromed out' S2a. For some reason it reminds me of the small hand phaser from Star Trek (original).

The S2's/S2a's are beautiful cameras, the most stylish 6x6 SLRs IMHO, enjoy...

[mcduff]

Awesome.! I was wondering tonite "I wonder what James is going to do with this truck loaf of valuable info!" Perhaps I need to get a life if this pops into my head haha. That sounds like a good option and you like the square format. Cheers to your wife!!

[jharr]

Awesome.! I was wondering tonite "I wonder what James is going to do with this truck loaf of valuable info!" Perhaps I need to get a life if this pops into my head haha. That sounds like a good option and you like the square format. Cheers to your wife!!

Well Don, I think anyone other than me who has time to think of me probably needs to get out and take more photos! Honestly, I was on the verge of complete indecision (i.e. buying nothing) when I saw the S2a on the bay for considerably less than it seemed it should be. It was sitting there with a 'buy it now' price and a couple dozen watchers. So I started googling and found an awesome review right here on FW by Skorj and moominsean (followed up by a good read on Sean's blog). That really helped me decide, along with the info on this thread and some other glowing examples from other FWs (here, and here). So thanks again to everyone, all of the input was read and considered carefully on making the decision.

[Francois]

I wonder if you can put the bronica on stun-ing

[jharr]

I shared a couple of shots from the first two rolls on the weekend thread, but I thought I would share a couple of others here. The first one demonstrates that this had the dreaded focus issue that is caused by bad foam between the viewing hood and the ground glass. I was focused on the top of the cactus.

ektar-s2a-006 by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr

Here it didn't matter since my subject had some depth. The lens isn't super sharp wide open, but for my style of photography, it seems to be just fine.

ektar-s2a-007 by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr

The camera operates flawlessly except that one of the backs seems to have a bit of a leak, but that is a simple light seal replacement. I fixed the foam that was causing the focusing issue and shot another roll. This is with the same lens as above wide open, but with a 1s exposure, it isn't as sharp as it maybe could have been.

acros-s2a-010 by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr

Thanks once again to all who gave input. I am very happy with my new MF camera.