Bronica GS-1 Lens Adapters?

I've been looking into the Bronica GS-1, and I'm just about ready to purchase. But I've been having difficulty finding lens adapters to convert to the PG mount. Would anyone happen to know of any adapters for this system? Any is fine. I really kind of want this camera, and I'll stack adapters if necessary if I could just find -one- Edited September 1, 2017 by ansarmsmith

I use a Bronica GS-1 system with a variety of PG mount lenses, film backs, extension tubes, etc. As far as I know the PG mount was made only by Bronica even when they were owned by Tamron Co. Ltd. It is physically possible to graft a foreign lens onto one of the PG Extension tubes G-36 or G-16 or the Auto Bellows Attachment G using adhesive tape or glue. But then there is no connection with electronic shutter control in the camera body and only the Bellows G enables easy focussing. What lenses do you want to put on the front of the Bronica GS-1?

I use a Bronica GS-1 system with a variety of PG mount lenses, film backs, extension tubes, etc. As far as I know the PG mount was made only by Bronica even when they were owned by Tamron Co. Ltd. It is physically possible to graft a foreign lens onto one of the PG Extension tubes G-36 or G-16 or the Auto Bellows Attachment G using adhesive tape or glue. But then there is no connection with electronic shutter control in the camera body and only the Bellows G enables easy focussing. What lenses do you want to put on the front of the Bronica GS-1?

 

I have a collection of Minolta MD/MC mount and M42 mount lenses that i'm interested in trying out on the Bronica. I'm not super familar with how the electronic shutter control works with this system. How would that affect the use of foreign lenses? Thank you!

Given the longer distance between lens and film with the Bronica, any 35 mm lenses that could be adapted would only be useable for extreme close ups, assuming they would cover the much larger 6x7 film that this Bronica uses, which would be problematic at best.

Given the longer distance between lens and film with the Bronica, any 35 mm lenses that could be adapted would only be useable for extreme close ups, assuming they would cover the much larger 6x7 film that this Bronica uses, which would be problematic at best.

 

Yeah that makes sense, all I've considered was the cut in focal length. Would you happen to know of a chart anywhere that conceptualizes this? Does this only apply to 120mm and up?

 

I use a Bronica GS-1 system with a variety of PG mount lenses, film backs, extension tubes, etc. As far as I know the PG mount was made only by Bronica even when they were owned by Tamron Co. Ltd. It is physically possible to graft a foreign lens onto one of the PG Extension tubes G-36 or G-16 or the Auto Bellows Attachment G using adhesive tape or glue. But then there is no connection with electronic shutter control in the camera body and only the Bellows G enables easy focussing. What lenses do you want to put on the front of the Bronica GS-1?

 

 

 

With that said, let's say I use some Pentax 67 lenses?

Edited September 2, 2017 by ansarmsmith

There is no shutter in the Bronica GS-1 camera. The shutter is in the lens. In the PG series lenses this shutter is cocked by a mechanical lever connection at the bottom of lens mount. The shutter is released by an electro-mechanical trigger and the shutter speed is then controlled by the camera body via gold plated electrical connections. The arrangement of levers and electrical connections is unique to the Bronica GS-1 and the PG series lenses made for it. There are no non-Bronica PG compatible lenses in existence that can connect and function fully on the GS-1 camera body. And the complex arrangement of mechanical and electrical parts makes a functional adapter hard to imagine.

 

But all is not lost. The Pentax 67 system includes leaf shutter lenses with a flange focal distance of 85mm. To use one of these lenses on a Bronica GS-1 you would have to find an external way of cocking and firing the Pentax leaf shutter. The Bronica GS-1 flange focal distance is, I think, 82mm, so the mechanism for mounting, cocking, and firing the Pentax 67 leaf shutter lens would have to fit into a 3mm space. I can't imagine what sort of exquisite mechanical engineering could make this possible.

 

A view camera lens could be attached (somehow) to the front of the Bronica GS-1 camera body provided its vertex focal length is greater than 82mm. For focussing the view camera lens it would have to be mounted in a helical focussing unit or attached to a bellows unit. Both possibilities offer challenges that, in theory, could be overcome by spending enough money on custom engineering.

 

The Bronica GS-1 camera body can be fired without a lens by pulling the dark-slide from the film back, setting the main switch to ON, and setting the multiple exposure lever to ON, Pressing the shutter release causes the mirror to fly up and the path from lens mount to film is fully open to receive images. The hard part is to fix a workable, focussable leaf shutter lens out the front to send those images. To my knowledge it has never been done. It is 15 years since the Bronica GS-1 was discontinued so I'm pretty sure no one is working on complex accessories or off-brand adapters for it.

WHY? GS lenses are dirt cheap, why adapt anything that will only give you substandard quality?

 

And the person trying to mount Minolta lenses...what are you smoking? Minolta optics are great but not good enough to cover a negative larger than 24x36mm.

 

Enjoy your Minolta lenses on a Minolta body with 35mm film, and stick with Bronica lenses on Bronica bodies. Everything is so cheap these days, what on earth are you guys thinking?