Battery finder: Which battery does your Bronica camera take?
Start typing your camera model. The battery and charger appear below, with links to buy.
Bronicas are about as easy as it gets when it comes to batteries. Nearly every body in the ETR, SQ, GS and EC lines runs on the same 6V cell.
That cell is still made, sold as a 4SR44 or 4LR44, and also turns up as PX28 or Eveready 544.1 So keeping one spare in the bag covers nearly the whole Bronica system.
But worth knowing that on these bodies the battery is not just for metering — the shutter itself is electronically timed. Without a battery, most of them fall back to a single mechanical speed, and a few won’t fire at all.
Film
Medium format
| Camera | Battery | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EC | 1× 4SR44 (6V silver oxide) Also at: Amazon | Bronica specifies a 6V silver-oxide cell — Eveready or UCAR No. 544, or Mallory PX-28 — the size now sold as 4SR44. The electronic focal-plane shutter will not operate without it. |
| EC-TL | 1× 4SR44 (6V silver oxide) Also at: Amazon | One 6V silver-oxide cell (Eveready or UCAR No. 544, Mallory PX-28 — today's 4SR44) runs both the shutter and the meter. With it dead or missing, B still works and the red-dot setting gives a mechanically governed 1/40 sec. |
| ETR | 1× 4SR44 (6V silver oxide) Also at: Amazon | Bronica specifies a single 6V silver-oxide cell (Eveready or UCAR No. 544, Mallory PX-28 — today's 4SR44). Without a battery the shutter still fires, at a mechanical 1/500 sec whatever the dial says. |
| ETR-C | 1× 4SR44 (6V silver oxide) Also at: Amazon | Bronica specifies a single 6V silver-oxide cell (Eveready or UCAR No. 544, Mallory PX-28 — today's 4SR44). Without a battery the shutter still fires, at a mechanical 1/500 sec whatever the dial says. |
| ETRS / ETRC | 1× 4SR44 (6V silver oxide) Also at: Amazon | Bronica specifies a single 6V silver-oxide cell (Eveready or UCAR No. 544, Mallory PX-28 — today's 4SR44), which also powers the AE-II finder. Without a battery the shutter still fires, at a mechanical 1/500 sec whatever the dial says. |
| ETRSi | 1× 4SR44 / 4LR44 (6V) Also at: Amazon | Manual: “Single 6-volt silver oxide or alkaline-manganese battery” — the 4SR44 or 4LR44 — which also powers the AE-II Finder E. With no battery or a dead one, the shutter fires mechanically at 1/500 sec. |
| GS-1 | 1× 4SR44 / 4LR44 (6V) Also at: Amazon | A single 6V silver-oxide (No. 544 / PX28) or alkaline (4LR44) cell. With no power the shutter won't release normally, but locking up the mirror and reversing the lock-up lever gives a mechanical 1/500 sec. |
| SQ | 1× 4SR44 / 4LR44 (6V) Also at: Amazon | A 6V silver-oxide cell (Eveready No. 544, PX-28 or 4G13) or the alkaline A544 — Bronica prints that one as “SR44”, but a single SR44 is a 1.55V button cell, so the 6V 4LR44 is what's meant. Without a battery the shutter fires mechanically at 1/500 sec. |
| SQ-A | 1× 4SR44 / 4LR44 (6V) Also at: Amazon | Manual: “Single 6-volt silver oxide battery (No. 544, PX-28 or 4G13) or alkaline manganese battery (No. A544 or 4LR44).” Without a battery the shutter fires mechanically at 1/500 sec, whatever the dial says. |
| SQ-Ai | 4× LR44 (1.5V alkaline) Also at: Amazon | Four separate 1.5V LR44 cells, not a single 6V pack — the odd one out in the SQ line. They run the electronic leaf shutter and the shutter release, so it won't fire without them. |
| SQ-Am | 1× 4SR44 / 4LR44 (6V), plus 6× AA for the motor Also at: Amazon | A single 6V cell (No. 544 / PX28, or alkaline A544 / 4LR44) runs the electronic shutter, and six AA cells run the built-in motor drive. Without the 6V cell the shutter fires mechanically at 1/500 sec. |
| SQ-B | 1× 4SR44 / 4LR44 (6V) Also at: Amazon | Manual: a 6V silver-oxide 4SR44 or alkaline 4LR44. Without a battery, or with one too weak to run the shutter, it fires mechanically at 1/500 sec. |
Rangefinder
Things worth knowing
One cell, most of the system
The ETR, ETR-C, ETRS/ETRC, ETRSi, SQ, SQ-A, SQ-Am, SQ-B, GS-1, EC and EC-TL all take a single 6V cell.2 The EC, EC-TL and early ETR manuals name only the silver-oxide version (Eveready 544 or Mallory PX-28, today’s 4SR44); the later bodies list the alkaline 4LR44 as well.3 On the ETRS and ETRSi it also powers the AE-II finder when one is fitted, and on the EC-TL it runs both the shutter and the meter.4
Two break the pattern. The SQ-Ai takes four separate LR44 button cells rather than one 6V cell5, and the RF645 rangefinder takes two CR2 lithiums.6 The SQ-Am uses the usual 6V cell for its shutter but adds six AAs for its built-in motor.7
Most will still fire with a dead battery
The shutters are electronically timed, but Bronica built in a way out. On the ETR series and the SQ, SQ-A, SQ-Am and SQ-B, the shutter fires at a mechanical 1/500 sec with the battery flat or missing, whatever the dial says.8
The EC-TL keeps B and a mechanically governed 1/40 sec at its red-dot setting9, and the GS-1 will fire at 1/500 if you lock the mirror up and reverse the lock-up lever.10 The EC, SQ-Ai and RF645 have no fallback at all.11 None of the fallbacks meters, so they’ll save a shot rather than a roll — if you are shooting somewhere remote, carry the spare.
Still to verify
One Bronica body with a battery isn’t here yet: the EC-TL II, because I haven’t found its manual. I’ve also left out the early focal-plane Bronicas — the S, S2, S2A and C. Their manuals never mention a battery at all, which strongly suggests they don’t need one, but none of them says so outright, and I’d rather leave a camera out than print a guess.
This is a growing document that I keep updating as I verify more models. Every battery listed here comes from the camera’s own manual or the manufacturer’s spec sheet, not from memory or a forum post. If you spot something that needs correcting, please let me know.
Battery charts by brand
Cameras: Agfa · Bronica · Canon · Contax · Fujifilm · Hasselblad · Konica · Leica · Mamiya · Minolta · Nikon · OM System and Olympus · Panasonic Lumix · Pentax · Ricoh · Sigma · Sony · Yashica
Action cameras: DJI Osmo · GoPro · Insta360
Notes & References:
- Sources: Bronica SQ-A instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-B instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Sources: Bronica ETR instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETR-C instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETRS instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETRSi instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-A instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-Am instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-B instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica GS-1 instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica EC instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica EC-TL instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Sources: Bronica EC instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica EC-TL instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETR instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETRSi instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-A instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Sources: Bronica ETRS instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETRSi instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica EC-TL instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Source: Bronica SQ-Ai instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Source: Bronica RF645 instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Source: Bronica SQ-Am instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Sources: Bronica ETR instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETR-C instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETRS instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica ETRSi instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-A instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-Am instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-B instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Source: Bronica EC-TL instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Source: Bronica GS-1 instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
- Sources: Bronica EC instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica SQ-Ai instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive); Bronica RF645 instructions (scanned copy hosted by the Butkus archive). [↩︎]
