Zenza Bronica ETRS part I

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I spoke about this camera before in one of my earlier blog posts, as I was pretty excited when I scored a group of film cameras. I go a little more in depth here in this post. Got the Zenza Bronica ETRS medium format camera on 12 Jul 18, at one of the Goodwill stores in Gilbert, AZ. Seems some film photographer dumped his entire film collection here, along with a few old digital cameras.

Zenza Bronica ETRS

Everything I bought came with an additional 20% off, since you can apply online for this coupon, which I did, but the discount never showed up on my phone. The guy working there gave me the discount regardless. Great deal.

So while this medium format camera was marked @ $129.99, I got if for about $103. I've never owned one of these before, so I was excited. I got an additional lens for $20, and of course bought some other high end film cameras while I was at it. A week or so later, I bought some 120 film from Tempe Camera, and loaded up the Bronica. I had to read some tutorials online, study the manual a bit, and peruse some YouTube videos, but finally got the camera loaded, and shot the roll. 120 film for this camera gives you 15 exposures. Not a lot, but easy to shoot in one day.

Where the coyotes roam.

Later that day, I developed the film in Cinestill monobath, which is very easy to do, one chemical in the film tank at room temperature for about four minutes, agitating every minute or so. Then rinse the film (I do about 30 minutes), hang to dry, and then scan. I had to buy a new scanner (Epson V600), since my old one wouldn't scan such large negatives. I liked the contrast of the images, but truthfully, was disappointed in the grain.

Mountain View Lutheran Church: Ahwatukee. I liked the structure.

These images here were shot on Ilford FP4, ISO 125, and I have to say, I'm not impressed. For such a low ISO film, this should have come out better. Decent images I think, but would have been much better for the grain, and considering it's medium format film, should have exceeded my expectations.

Love the views in Arizona.

Regardless, I now have it loaded up with Ilford Delta 100 professional, which I know is outstanding film, because I've used it in many of my 35mm cameras, and was always pleased. Stay tuned for part II, where I post photos from this camera using Delta 100, which should yield better grain. If not, then I can only guess that it's this developer I'm using. We'll see...

Indoor shot.

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