Bronica SQ-B

Zenza Bronica · Bronica SQ mount · 55.6 × 55.6mm on 120 or 220 with the SQ/B back; the SQ-i backs for 120, 220, 6×4.5 (120J/220J), 24 × 36 (135N) and 24 × 54mm (135W) and the Polaroid backs also fit (camera-wiki; Tamron JP SQ-Basic page) · 1996

Also known as: Bronica SQ-B · Bronica SQB · Bronica SQ B · Bronica SQ Basic · Bronica SQ-Basic · Zenza Bronica SQ-B · Zenzabronica SQ-B · ゼンザブロニカ SQ-B · ゼンザブロニカSQ-B · ブロニカ SQ-B · ブロニカSQ-B · ブロニカ SQベーシック

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
SQ-B (1996–2003)	Bronica SQ	1996–2003	—	No production total is known to have been published. Tamron's October 2003 notice covers the SQ-Ai; the English Wikipedia table places the SQ-B's end between June 2002 and December 2004, so the 2003 end date is inferred.

The 1,460g is the figure on the specification page of the SQ-B instruction manual (the copy at 125px.com surfaced by search); it is 55g under the SQ-Ai's 1,515g with the equivalent set, which fits a body without the flash and motor electronics.
The ¥198,000 and the $2,532 are both 1996 kit prices for the same four items; the ¥198,000 is from the archived Tamron JP SQ-Basic page of 2002, where the kit is the only configuration listed.
Mirror lock-up is listed for the SQ-B in camera-wiki's model table, as on every SQ body after the original.
The end date is inferred: no source gives one for the SQ-B alone, and the English Wikipedia table places it between June 2002 and December 2004; Tamron's September 2003 end of SQ-Ai production is taken to cover the line.

How to tell them apart (expand)

ZENZA BRONICA SQ-B on the front plate; no SCA socket (camera-wiki)
Kit back marked SQ/B without dials; kit lens marked PS/B (camera-wiki; Tamron JP)

SQ-B (1996–2003):

SQ-B on the front plate; no SCA flash connector on the body (camera-wiki)
Kit back marked SQ/B with no ISO or compensation dial, so a metered prism fitted to it does not meter (camera-wiki; SQ-B manual)
Kit lens marked Zenzanon-PS/B 80mm f/2.8, without the T setting of the standard PS 80mm (Tamron JP; camera-wiki)
Four-cell LR44 holder as on the SQ-Ai, not the single 6 V cell of the SQ and SQ-A (Tamron JP; Japanese Wikipedia); camera-wiki's table says PX28, see disputed

SQ-B (1996–2003): Sold only as a kit: body, Zenzanon-PS/B 80mm f/2.8, SQ/B 120 back and WL Finder S/B (Tamron JP SQ-Basic page). Every Zenzanon-S and PS lens and every SQ finder and back mounts; what is missing is in the body's electronics, not its mount.

Specifications

Format: 55.6 × 55.6mm on 120 or 220 with the SQ/B back; the SQ-i backs for 120, 220, 6×4.5 (120J/220J), 24 × 36 (135N) and 24 × 54mm (135W) and the Polaroid backs also fit (camera-wiki; Tamron JP SQ-Basic page) · 12 on 120, 24 on 220 exposures
Finder (waist-level finder): WL Finder S/B folding hood, in the kit (Tamron JP SQ-Basic page)
Finder (prism finders): the plain, ME, MF and AE prisms of the SQ line mount, but their meters do not operate on the body (camera-wiki)
Shutter: Seiko #0 electronically controlled leaf shutter in each lens; mechanical fallback at 1/500 · 8s–1/500 in whole steps and T with standard PS lenses; the kit PS/B 80mm has no T; no B (Tamron JP SQ-Basic page; camera-wiki) · flash sync X contact at all speeds; no TTL-OTF flash (camera-wiki)
Film advance: Crank, one full turn; the SQ/SQ-A/SQ-B crank (camera-wiki)
Back: Interchangeable; the kit SQ/B 120 back has no film-speed or compensation dial; SQ-i and earlier SQ backs fit (camera-wiki; SQ-B manual)
Meter: None, and no coupling to the metered finders (camera-wiki)
Motor drive: Not compatible — The Motor Drive SQ-i does not function on the SQ-B (camera-wiki)
Weight: 1460 g
Dimensions: 1,460g with the PS/B 80mm, SQ/B 120 back and WL Finder S/B (SQ-B instruction manual, specification page); no dimensions found mm
Country: Japan
Original price: ¥198,000 for the kit of body, PS/B 80mm f/2.8, SQ/B 120 back and WL Finder S/B (Tamron JP SQ-Basic page); $2,532 for the kit on Tamron's April 1996 US list and $2,665 on its 2004 US list (today $5,060)
Accessories: WL Finder S/B; the SQ line's plain, ME, MF and AE prisms mount without metering (camera-wiki) · SQ/B 120 back; SQ-i backs 120, 220, 120J, 220J, 135N, 135W; Polaroid backs CB102 and CB103 (camera-wiki) · Speed Grip S, SQ/SQ-A/SQ-B crank, cold battery pack, extension tubes 18 and 36, auto bellows, teleconverters PS 1.4× and 2× (camera-wiki)

Where sources disagree

Battery

4LR44 / four LR44 cells — Tamron JP SQ-Basic page and Japanese Wikipedia
One 6 V PX28 — camera-wiki's model table

Better supported: 4LR44

A 4LR44 and a PX28 are the same 6 V package; the question is whether the SQ-B uses the SQ-Ai's four-cell holder or the earlier single-cell compartment, and Tamron's own page is the better witness.

Last

About September 2003, with the end of SQ-Ai production — inferred from Tamron's October 2003 notice
Between June 2002 and December 2004 — English Wikipedia model table

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The SQ-B arrived in April 1996, six years into the SQ-Ai’s run, as the cheaper way into the same 6×6 system; Japanese Wikipedia calls it the SQ Basic and camera-wiki says it is “sometimes called SQ Basic”. It is a manual-only body. Tamron’s SQ-Basic page and camera-wiki list what was left out: TTL-OTF flash and the SCA socket, the coupling that lets the metered prisms read the film speed from the back, the Motor Drive SQ-i coupling, and the B setting, so the shutter runs 8 s to 1/500 as on the SQ-A. The kit’s own parts are stripped to match: a Zenzanon-PS/B 80mm f/2.8 without the T setting, an SQ/B 120 back with no ISO or compensation dial, and a WL Finder S/B. Fit a standard PS lens and T returns; fit an SQ-i back and a metered prism and the meter works again, because the omissions are in the kit, not in the mount (camera-wiki).

Tamron sold it only as that kit, at ¥198,000 in Japan and $2,532 on its April 1996 US list, rising to $2,665 by 2004; the SQ-B instruction manual gives 1,460 g for body, lens, back and finder, 55 g under the SQ-Ai’s equivalent set. The body runs on a 4LR44, as the SQ-Ai does, by Tamron’s page and Japanese Wikipedia, though camera-wiki’s table lists the older PX28. No source dates the SQ-B’s end on its own; Tamron’s notice of October 2003 covers the SQ-Ai and its lenses and accessories, and the English Wikipedia table places the SQ-B’s discontinuation between mid-2002 and the end of 2004.

No dedicated review of the SQ-B was found. Since it takes every SQ lens, back and finder, the long-term accounts of the SQ-A and SQ-Ai on their own pages describe the same camera in use, with the proviso that on the kit back no prism meters and no flash is read off the film.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

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