Bronica SQ-A Focusing Screen (6x6) Frame?

Hello,

 

I recently started experimenting with a Bronica SQ-Am that I got from my father and I'm having some trouble figuring out the frame inside the viewfinder. The focusing screen comes with 4 marked lines that spread from edge to edge and meet eachother to create a smaller square frame inside the finder - Is the square inside the marked lines my actual frame or is it the whole finder? When compared to my Hasselblad, the two cameras have the same composition when checked with a lens of the same focal length, inside the whole area of the viewfinder. However, the 4 lines on the Bronica's focusing screen are causing me some confusion.

 

(See photos attached)

 

The manual can be found HERE.

 

The image taken is shown by the entire frame. The vertical and horizontal pairs of lines are cropping guides for rectangular landscape/portrait orientated composition.

 

Not many people compose into a square. So the lines are there as a composition or cropping guide to a 4:3 ratio.

Thank you [uSER=2403817]@rodeo_joe|1[/uSER] :)

The lines are actually for cropping to match the 645 back when fitted - nothing to do with not many people composing as a square.

"The lines are actually for cropping to match the 645 back when fitted - nothing to do with not many people composing as a square."

- Regardless; they still show 4:3 ratio horizontal/vertical crops.

 

And unless the 645 back has a rotating ability, one of the sets of lines is redundant.

This thread has piqued my interest. I am selling off most of my MF gear--Mamiya, Yashica, and Minolta. For whatever reason I had always thought that Bronica was second rate--now I find that they sometimes out-Hassyed Hasselbleed... :eek:

 

I may consider getting rid of all of what I have and concentrating on a single SQ-A or Ai...

"..now I find that they sometimes out-Hassyed Hasselbleed.."

 

- Not sure about that Papa.

 

Several times I was drawn to Bronny, and each time I gave one a test fire it nearly deafened me and leapt out of my hand. I simply couldn't believe that amount of mirror/shutter vibration could ever result in a sharp picture. The S2, SQA, whatever model, the noise and vibration never seemed to improve.

 

Maybe if you weld one to a 25Kg tripod.....

 

One system that's always impressed me has been the neat Pentax 645. It seems to have some stunning lenses. Alas, I already had an investment in Mamiya 645 gear when it was introduced, and the chances of me shooting film again at less than 5x4 format are slim to zero.

The S2, SQA, whatever model, the noise and vibration never seemed to improve.

Hardly comparable since one used a focal plane shutter and the other leaf shutter lenses. On both, whatever the decibel level, the supposed racket was post-exposure.

I was speaking more of design flow, electronics integration, and optics.

 

Been an RB67 user for decades. I am not sure that any camera can outdo the 'slap & shake' of one of these beasts when running handheld! A real wrist rattler is a Speed Graphic... :p

 

What I like about what I am seeing is a wide selection of quality optics; a reasonable form factor over the more studio oriented Mamiya; that sexy grip; different film formats; and the price-point for every component undercutting in a serious way Hassy costs.

The early focal plane Bronicas do indeed cause a small earthquake. I don't find the leaf shutter SLRs to be unusually shaky or noisy, or at least not the ETR and SQ(I've never used a GS-1). They do have a decisive mirror "slap" but I don't find it out of line with a Hasselblad-it's not particularly loud or vibration inducing. I've used low end DSLRs that were louder, although admittedly the physics dictates that the teeny tiny mirror of an APS-C DSLR shouldn't cause as much vibration as a 645 or 6x6 mirror.

 

BTW, I have both a Pro-S and Pro-SD, and one of the things that surprised me when I first got the cameras was just how well damped and quiet the mirrors were. For a big 8x8 mirror, they have very little perceptible vibration and IMO are not that loud. Maybe that's just the sheer weight of the camera dampening them, though.

LOL...I still own my S2A, even winding it will wake the dead.

The answers you received were correct, those lines are for 645 composition.

Hope your enjoying your Bronica.

"Several times I was drawn to Bronny, and each time I gave one a test fire it nearly deafened me and leapt out of my hand." That's what mirror lock up is for.

"That's what mirror lock up is for."

- But if I wanted a finderless camera I could just make something like a Fox-Talbot "mouse trap".