Bronica GS-1
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| Bronica GS-1 image by Eduardo Romero (Image rights) |
Introduced in 1983, the Bronica GS-1 in 6×7 cm format was the largest SLR produced by the company. The camera was discontinued in 2002.
Design
The camera was designed to be as compact and light as possible, and weighs less than some of the smaller format Bronicas. It is a completely modular camera, with several optional focusing prisms and viewfinders (with and without exposure metering), lenses, and film backs. The GS-1 had a rotary prism that was metered for averaging and spot. The rotary prism made the 6x7 framing for vertical or horizontal very easy. By default the camera came with a plain matte focusing screen.
Lenses
A lens- or leaf-shutter camera, the GS-1 will synchronize flash at all available shutter speeds. Lenses are designated 'PG', with available focal lengths of 50, 65, 80, 100, 110, 150, 200, 250, 500 mm, and two teleconverters (1.4× and 2×). Extension tubes of 18mm and 36mm are often needed as the lenses are not particularly close focusing. The 110mm is a macro and with 36mm extension tube goes to 1:1. The 80mm was the last of the GS-1 lenses introduced and is difficult to find. It equates to a 40mm for a 35mm SLR and is a nice wide standard lens. The 80mm and the 100mm were the two fastest lenses at f/3.5. Filter sizes are 72mm for the lenses from 65mm to 150mm. The 200mm and 250mm use 82mm filters and the 50mm uses 95mm filters.
Fotodiox makes adapters for mounting PG-lenses on Mamiya M645, Pentax 645, Nikon F, Canon EF, Pentax K and Sony Alpha mounts.
Backs
With the appropriate back, the camera will shoot a wide range of film sizes, including 6×4.5, 6×6, 6×7 cm, and Polaroid. The 6×6 and 6×7 cm formats could be obtained in either 120 or 220 roll length. Unlike some other Bronicas the GS-1 never had backs for 35mm film. The 6x7 back is landscape and the 645 back is vertical unless the camera is rotated.
Acessories
The GS-1 was also available with a dedicated G-1 speedlight flash and manually operated speed grip. The G-1 speedlight with the speed grip made the GS-1 the only 6x7 with TTL flash capability. According to some sources, the Sunpak MX-2D TTL module designed for older Minolta cameras also can be used with full TTL support on the Bronica GS-1.[1].
Notes
Links
- Bronica Users Group (BUG) at the Yahoo Groups site
- GS-1 information from the medfmt.8k.com website (archived copy from the Internet Archive, from March 2011; mostly an archive of even older bulletin board-based discussion, with a few pictures).
