Zenza Bronica EC-TL II
Zenza Bronica · Bronica S mount · 55.2 × 55.2 mm on 120 (12 exposures) or 220 (24 exposures); 6×4.5 with Film Back E (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki) · 1978
Also known as: Bronica EC-TL II · Zenza Bronica EC-TL II · Bronica ECTL II · Bronica ECTLII · Bronica EC-TLII · Bronica EC-TL2 · Bronica ECTL2 · Bronica EC-TL Mark II · ゼンザブロニカ EC-TL II · ゼンザブロニカ EC-TLII · ブロニカ EC-TL II · ブロニカ ECTL2
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC-TL II (1978–80) | Bronica S | 1978–1980 | — | No production figure is known to have been published |
- All body figures are Tamron's: 55.2 × 55.2 mm, auto 1/2–1/1000 in 1/3 steps, manual B and 1/2–1/1000, 1/40 mechanical, EV 4–19, ASA 25–3200, seven-step readout, 88.7% finder, Eveready No. 544, 139 × 170 × 117 mm, 2,050 g, ¥219,500.
- The slow range is the one specification that went backwards: the EC-TL's 4 s–1 s manual speeds and 2 s auto limit were dropped (Tamron spec sheets; camera-wiki).
- The standard lens is not named on Tamron's sheet. The Amateur Photographer review of November 1978, as quoted on Robert Monaghan's archived Bronica lens page, gives the Zenzanon MC 80mm f/2.8 'by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR' as the standard lens; camera-wiki also names that lens as the Nikkor's replacement. The Nikkor 75 mm was still available.
- Auto diaphragm with every lens except the 800 mm and 1200 mm (Tamron). The 105 mm leaf-shutter Nikkor-Q's restriction on the EC-TL applies to the same metering lever here.
How to tell them apart
- Shutter dial with no speed slower than 1/2 s (Tamron spec sheet)
- 'M' lamp in the finder, lit in manual mode; a seven-step speed scale instead of the EC-TL's thirteen (Tamron spec sheet; Japanese Wikipedia)
- Otherwise an EC-TL: red 'A' and red dot on the dial, ASA ring in its centre, split mirror with lock-up, 6 V battery chamber, 139 × 170 × 117 mm, 2,050 g (Tamron; camera-wiki)
- Often found with the Carl Zeiss Jena-made Zenzanon MC 80mm f/2.8 rather than a Nikkor 75mm (camera-wiki; Amateur Photographer November 1978 via Monaghan)
EC-TL II (1978–80):
- Shutter dial whose manual range starts at 1/2 s: the 4 s, 2 s and 1 s positions of the EC-TL are gone (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki)
- Finder readout of seven shutter-speed steps with auto/manual indicators and an 'M' lamp that lights in manual, when the meter is switched off (Tamron spec sheet; Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki)
- Focusing screens specific to the II, because the printed speed scale changed (camera-wiki)
- EC-TL II (1978–80): The only form, and the last focal-plane Bronica. The 'II' is a revision of the EC-TL's electronics (Japanese Wikipedia calls the circuit digital) rather than a new body: the size, weight, mounts, mirror, back and ¥219,500 set price are the EC-TL's.
Specifications
- Format
- 55.2 × 55.2 mm on 120 (12 exposures) or 220 (24 exposures); 6×4.5 with Film Back E (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki) · 12 on 120, 24 on 220, selected on the back (Tamron spec sheet) exposures
- Finder
- Interchangeable waist-level hood opening and closing in one action, with interchangeable magnifier and interchangeable focusing screen; seven-step shutter-speed readout with exposure warning, battery check and auto/manual indicators (Tamron spec sheet) · 88.7% coverage
- Shutter
- Electronically timed vertical-travel focal plane with digital control (Tamron spec sheet; Japanese Wikipedia) · Auto: 1/2–1/1000 in 1/3-stop steps; manual: B, 1/2–1/1000; 1/40 mechanical without a battery; T by the release (Tamron spec sheet) · flash sync Auto-switching socket, manual mode only: X (electronic flash) at B, 1/2–1/60 and the mechanical 1/40; FP bulbs at B, 1/2–1/15 and 1/125–1/1000; M at B and 1/2–1/15; F at B and 1/2–1/30 (Tamron spec sheet) · no self-timer
- Film advance
- Crank, two full turns per frame, with fine advance possible (Tamron spec sheet)
- Back
- Interchangeable back fully coupled to the body, with multiple-exposure switch, 12/24 selector, separate film-advance knob and a dark-slide pocket with lid; Film Back E for 6×4.5 and a Polaroid back (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki)
- Meter
- TTL centre-weighted instantaneous stop-down metering, EV 4 (f/2.8) to EV 19 (f/22) at ASA 100, ASA 25–3200, with aperture-priority auto-exposure; the meter does not operate in manual mode, where the 'M' lamp lights instead (Tamron spec sheet; Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki)
- Weight
- 2050 g
- Dimensions
- 139 (W) × 170 (D) × 117 (H) (Tamron spec sheet) mm
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- ¥219,500 for the standard set of body, film back, standard lens and waist-level finder (Tamron spec sheet), unchanged from the EC-TL (today ¥364,000)
- Accessories
- Film backs: 6×6 120/220 back and insert, Film Back E for 6×4.5, Polaroid back (camera-wiki) · Finders: waist-level finder, magnifying hood, prism model A, viewfinder model C; focusing screens for the EC-TL II, which differ from the EC-TL's in the printed speed scale (camera-wiki) · Close-up: bellows and compact bellows, reversing ring, extension rings on the 57 mm thread (camera-wiki; Tamron spec sheet) · L-grip, T-grip, focus lever (camera-wiki)
Coverage 88.7% (Tamron). camera-wiki: the II needs its own screens, and the finder no longer shows speeds slower than 1/30.
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 EC-TL II of October 1978 is the EC-TL with new electronics. Japanese Wikipedia describes the circuit as digital; Tamron’s sheet shows what that changed at the controls. The auto range became 1/2 to 1/1000 in 1/3-stop steps instead of the EC-TL’s stepless 2 s to 1/1000, and the manual range B and 1/2 to 1/1000, so the 4 s, 2 s and 1 s settings disappeared from the dial (camera-wiki). The finder readout shrank from thirteen speeds to seven, with auto and manual indicators, and because the speed scale is printed on the focusing screen the II needs screens of its own (camera-wiki). The meter is now switched off in manual, an ‘M’ lamp lighting in its place (Japanese Wikipedia; Tamron). The mechanical 1/40 without a battery, the EV 4–19 metering range at ASA 100, the ASA 25–3200 film-speed ring and the sync table all carry over, with the sync table’s slow limit moved from 4 s to 1/2 s.
Everything else is the EC-TL and, under that, the EC: the two-part quick-return mirror with lock-up, the 6 V silver cell (Eveready No. 544), the removable 14 mm helicoid with small bayonet and 57 mm thread in front of the large body bayonet, the back with multiple-exposure switch and 12/24 selector, 139 × 170 × 117 mm, 2,050 g, and a standard-set price of ¥219,500 that did not move from 1975 (Tamron). Auto diaphragm operation covers every lens but the 800 and 1200 mm. The lens in the set had changed, though: with Nikkor supply tightening, Bronica’s standard lens for the II was the Zenzanon MC 80mm f/2.8 made by Carl Zeiss Jena on a Biometar design, which the Amateur Photographer review of November 1978 quoted on Monaghan’s archived page names as the standard lens and camera-wiki gives as the Nikkor’s replacement; the Nikkor 75 mm remained available.
It was the last focal-plane Bronica. The line that had begun with the Z of 1959 ended in March 1980 when the SQ, a leaf-shutter 6×6 on a new bayonet, replaced it (English Wikipedia). No blog or video review of the EC-TL II was found in the searches made for this entry.
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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