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Bronica vs. Hasselblad At the risk of offending a great many
people with my pedestrian attempt to justify my purchase decision, here
in blue and white are the quantifiable financial reasons for going with
Bronica over the venerable Hasselblad. I should note that other then
a very brief moment holding a basic Hasselblad kit in my hands at a
friend's wedding, I have no experience with Hasselblad bodies or the
companion Carl Zeiss lenses. All prices in US $ unless otherwise stated – taken from the latest B&H catalog at hand, June 1999
Obviously not all lenses and accessories have been listed and there are some differences in what exactly is available from both companies. But I have tried to compare the closest pieces of equipment and omitted some where there are no direct comparisons possible such as the Bronica 200mm f4 lens. As there is no current Zeiss equivalent listed, I did not add this lens to the above list. We can see from the price comparisons that some Hasselblad items are very favorably priced and at times even lower then Bronica, such as the Extension tubes. The metered prism finders are very close to each other. On an overall basis however, the Bronica comes out ahead in value. It is when comparing the lens prices that the real differences come out and the make or break situation arises. In some cases like the 40mm wide angle and the 120mm macro lenses, the price differential is double. I will also add that in Canada, the prices are even more pronounced against Hasselblad. My Bronica kit as is, is at least 50% less then the comparable Hasselblad kit. I realize that Hasselblad users will have many reasons to justify the increased amount of money required to get into the system and I would be interested in reading about them but they would have to be very good for me to understand why. Perhaps the build quality is superior in a minute sort of way. Perhaps again the optical formulation and lens coating is still superior to all other competitors. Perhaps by putting all these little differences together, they will result in real, quantifiable reasons for the added expense. I wouldn’t mind putting the two systems in a head to head direct comparison to see which system really is tops. But I don’t have to. A British reviewer has already done so and he stated that he saw no compelling reason why the Hasselblad should cost so much more then Bronica. He found the Hasselblad body (the 503) to be quirkier with no appreciable difference in the optics between the Zeiss and the Zenzanon. Now, it doesn’t mean that we should take the reviewer’s words to be gospel. It is simply one man’s opinion and I myself feel that British magazines and reviewers can be as suspect as their American counterparts. The review in question is from Photo Technique Magazine, April/May 1997 issue; reviewer was David Torn. My conversation with the pro shooting my friend Sean’s wedding gave me some food for thought on the subject. He shot with a basic Hasselblad kit. I’m not sure which body (I think a 501) but he used an 80mm and 150mm lens, a 45 degree finder and one or two film backs for the formal posed shots. He had a very simple, classic kit. He mentioned that before buying into the Hasselblad kit, he had a Bronica system and the only reason he changed was that he thought he was getting a big upgrade. His user experience suggested otherwise. He was happy enough to have bought into Hasselblad but he wouldn’t have missed anything if he stayed with the Bronica. That is basically the crux of my own opinion about the European products. Very fine, beautiful in their own way items but in the real world, not likely to provide anything more then what the Japanese made products can give. If I were stinking rich, I still don't think I would buy into a Hasselblad system. Although, I would certainly give into my desire to taste the fruits of the fabled German made lenses. How can I do this without buying a Hasselblad? Simple. Buy into a Rollei system and indulge in the benefits of two supposidely superb German lens lines of Zeiss and Schneider. The cost of the Rollei system is about comparable to a full blown Hasselblad system but with more advanced features available. Both obviously have their benefits and drawbacks. The Rollei is all electronic and the Hasselblad for the most part is all mechanical. Since the original topic is about Bronica vs. Hasselblad and not Rollei vs. Hasselblad, I won't comment any further on comparing the two European brands. I don't like dreaming about pie in the sky and it would be fruitless for me to get carried away about what if's. I own a Bronica system now and I'm very happy with it. My priorities are to enhance the basic kit I have now and pick up more accessories and lenses for the SQ-Ai. I will say this for Hasselblad. I think the 503 body with the winder and prism meter attached is one of the sexiest looking kits in all of photography but still not worth the money it commands. Maybe we can liken Hasselblad/Zeiss to Rolex. Beautiful products, very well made with immense pride of ownership but in the end does the Rolex keep better time then the Seiko? (Seiko, incidentally, makes the shutters for Bronica and Mamiya) Not at all and in most cases, Rolexes keep poor time due to their mechanical build. Does this sound familiar? How does one justify $10,000 for a time piece that isn't even as accurate over a $500 Japanese precision made product? Or for that matter a $50 Timex? The 24k gold and diamonds and unmatched workmanship help to lesson the financial hit to some degree but such products will always have a captive market clientele that want the absolute perceived best and will pay whatever the cost to have it. I don't begrudge them and if I had that kind of money I would be the same way. Link to Hasselblad and Bronica/Tamron |
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Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
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Bronica
40mm
f4 $1799
50mm
f3.5 $1570
65mm
f4 $1435
80mm
f2.8 $1099
110mm
f4.5 Macro (1:1) $1429
150mm
f4 $1570
180mm
f4.5 $1995
250mm
f5.6 $1790 
1.4x
Teleconvertor $865 
2X
Teleconvertor $845
