Bronica SQ-A Need Advice

[Laurence]

I hope there are some Bronica SQ or SQ-A owners on our forum.

I recently was given a Bronica SQ-A with 150mm lens and speed grip and back. The premise was that it was "stuck", so I thought
sure, I'll give it a try.

Well, it DOES seem to be stuck - the shutter button itself won't even move. The little bit that I got from the downloaded
instruction book didn't tell me too much, but I did take out the dark slide, the lens is properly mounted, and there is a
"throw away" roll of film loaded. I tried the main shutter button on the camera (taking it off of "lock" of course), and it
also won't move. I also tried switching the lever to multi-exposure mode.

Would anyone have any ideas? I'm intrigued by the square 6x6 format and would like to use the darn thing. Not sure if it
would be worth sending for a CLA if it really IS in need of repair, rather than the possibility that I'm doing something wrong
to get it to fire off a shot.

Larry

[Kram]

I shot with a Bronica GS-1 for years and when the battery dies, it won't do squat. Have you tried a new battery?

I love square format!

[martinsmith99]

I borrowed an SQ Ai for a while but didn't put film through it as I didn't really like the size and handling. It would wind on and fire without film in though.

Manual for yours here http://www.butkus.org/chinon/bronica/bronica_sq-a/bronica_sq-a.htm

[berraneck]

I´ve had Bronica SQ few years ago. I had simmilar problem with my SQ-B and the only solution was repair, which would cost more than new body - so I just put it in the shelf. I think every issue is described in manual. Hope your problem won´t need repairman:)

[Laurence]

Okay thanks guys. I'll fool with it some more, maybe look on photo.net as well. If it doesn't work, I'm not out anything. I did put a fresh
battery in, but that sometimes doesn't mean it's REALLY fresh either. Although...it's interesting that the shutter button won't even move
at all.

I too, love square format, and my Yashica Mat has served well in that regard. Would have been cool to have a different focal length such
as the 150 on the Bronica. I have a feeling that the camera probably has thousands of actuations of the shutter, since it's a 150 lens -
which leads me to believe it was probably a studio camera with lots of hard use.

[gary2881]

If your body is truly locked up and requires repair, it would seem the most economical route would be to replace it with one of the SQA's that KEH has for $59.00. Thats what I would do. The bronica is a nice system, and you're in it right.

Gary

[berraneck]

[Sevo]

You have made sure that the magazine and body are in the same transport state? Medium format cameras usually are stuck if you manage to attach a transported magazine to a un-cocked body or vice versa. Re-synchronizing them can be fiddly, if a previous owner has managed to bypass the double exposure prevention locks. At the very least you would have to enable multi-exposure mode to reset the body without a magazine attached.

[F16SUNSHINE]

Give a call to "The Camera Clinic" up in Shoreline. That guy has decades of experience and has been very helpful over the phone.
It could be simple . Plus he is close by and charges a low rate hourly if you do send it in.
Best of luck with that. I tried a Bronica but did not like it.
Seemed clunky compared to my TLR's

[Laurence]

Thanks ALL of you. I would like to at least get this big old box of a camera to go through one roll of film.
But, if not to be, well I'm not out anything.

Again, thanks for the tips.

Larry