The focus ring also has a focal distance scale on it for distance focusing. You will notice there are alignment dots for putting the two pieces back together. Push down on the knurled end of the latch and then twist the lens out counterclockwise. To remove the lens from the focus ring you extend the lens barrel all the way out as far as it will go revealing the lens latch. They are grouped 2 or 3 per ring though, so for example the 75, 80 and 100 are on one ring. If you want to be able to use distance focusing then you need to make sure the focus ring matches the lens itвЂ™s attached to. For the most part this focus ring is interchangeable to any of the lenses, so while itвЂ™s technically not necessary to have one for every lens, it does make it more convenient to swap out lenses. Lenses for the S2/S2A feature a helical focus ring attached to the lens and is removable on most of the lenses. Later on Bronica began to make their own lenses and there are several Zenzanon lenses available for the S line too. The Nikon lenses are precisely what you would expect from Nikon sharp and accurate. For most of the S2 life span the available lens were all made by Nikon and bore the Nippon Kogako Nikkor designation with a model letter such as O, P, Q and others. The longest of the lenses stopped all the way down to f/64. Most of the lenses have a wide open aperture of f/3.5 but a few like the 75mm, 80mm, and 100mm open up to f/2.8. The widest lens available is the 40mm Nippon Kogaku Nikkor and the longest is the 1200mm Nippon Kogaku Nikkor. The wide array of lenses available for the S2 is one of the things I love about this system. The S2 I have needs new foam under the focusing screen as it is off by quite a bit, unfortunately I didnвЂ™t notice until I was doing portraits at F/2.8 and the subject was just out of focus enough to ruin the shots.

If you try and go this route be careful not to replace anything upside down or in the wrong order or you will have focus issues. If you desire a brighter screen though, youвЂ™re out of luck for a Bronica or Beattie direct replacement, but with a little custom fitting a screen from a Kiev 88 or Pentax 67 will do the trick. Like every other waist level finder camera out there the magnifier can make or break the entire camera, and the finder pretty bright (but lacking contrast) and the magnifier works great. The S2 comes as a kit with a 75mm Nikkor lens (or later on with an 80mm Zenzanon), waist level finder and removable 120/220 film backs. There are many similarities to the Hasselblad V System. The versatility and affordability of the system made it popular and Bronica continued to grow as a company for many years based on the early successes cameras like the Z, S, S2 and S2A. Hasselblad, the Soviet made Kiev 88, and Kowa Six and the Mamiya M645, but many were introduced in the late 60s or 70s. There werenвЂ™t too many other companies at the time making camera systems like this. Introduced in 1965, the Bronica S2 was the next model from the S line and was marketed for professionals and serious amateurs. Over the next few years I gathered as many lenses, backs and accessories as I could find (and afford) which included a newer S2A body, 50mm, 75mm, 135mm lenses and multiple backs. The S2 has several lens options, a removable back and an interchangeable finder which make it extremely versatile and far less expensive than the Hasselblad 500 C/M. Even though the swap meet died off a few years later, I continued to use it as my go to camera for the next several years shooting hundred of rolls of film around the Pacific Northwest. I stumbled onto the Bronica S2 system in 1995 while wandering around a local swap meet, and instantly fell in love with the system. They continued to produce high quality cameras until 2005 when the last model, the RF645 was discontinued and ended their 47 year run. Bronica started designing and producing medium format cameras when it was founded 1958 by Zenzabur Yoshino in Tokyo, Japan.

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