Bronica S2a Telephoto madness: the Komura 500mm f/7 (or with teleconverter, 1 meter f/14!)
2024-11-27
Following up on u/acoillet's post here, I'd like to share my 500mm Bronica set up. Or 1 meter if we add the teleconverter.
It's kind of an interesting piece of gear. The lens itself has two primary parts - a focusing helicoid that attaches to the Bronica's large bayonet mount (in place of the standard helicoid), and a lens head with the optics. The photo above shows the lens disassembled into the helicoid, lens head, and lens hood (not original, but the closest aftermarket one I could find).
Compared to my Pentax MX with Tamron 31a 200-500mm 5.6, both are about the same length, but the wider aperture on the Tamron makes it significantly girthier than it appears relative to the Komura in this photo.
Interestingly, the same helicoid can also be used for the 300mm and 400mm heads (if anyone is looking to unload one of those...). See close up photo (4th) of the helicoid with color coded DOF markings for each lens head that can be rotated into place.
The lens is not particularly fast at f/7, but it is reasonably sharp. Shots were all taken on a geared tripod; shooting this hand held is probably not a great idea unless it is super bright out.
I also couldn't help myself but try out a teleconverter for 1000mm of telephoto goodness. As expected, the tele significantly degrades IQ and probably isn't something I'll use much in the future (at least with this lens). Additionally, since it's a 2x tele, your widest aperture also takes a 2 stop hit, and focusing at f/16 is not exactly fun or easy. The shots following the closeup of the teleconverter are taken with it.
