Bronica

Bronica was a popular brand of Japanese cameras that first appeared in 1958. The brand was founded by Zenzaburo Yoshino when he introduced his personally designed camera, called the Bronica Z rollfilm camera, at the Philadelphia Camera Show. This camera achieved instant success. Also known as Zenza Bronica Ltd., the company later on manufactured lenses for their cameras. The company chiefly produced professional medium format roll-film cameras, including rangefinder and single-lens reflex models among others. The single-lens reflex models like ETR, SQ and GS and the RF645 rangefinder camera of the company were ceased from production in October 2004 and October 2005 respectively.

For many years, Bronica cameras were used for capturing wedding and portrait pictures by professional photographers. Even today, second hand Bronica cameras are used by professional photographers as well as amateur photographers. The SLR cameras utilize a modular design comprising lens, body, viewfinder and film back that are separate and can be interchanged. Some of the popular Bronica models include cameras from the ETR series, SQ series and GS Series. The ETR-Si camera, from the ETR series, was introduced in October 1989. Zenza Bronica cameras, along with their instruction manuals, are available online. Its other products available online include Bronica SQ AE hood correction lens, Bronica SQ 110mm f4 PS Macro lens and lens reversing ring among others.