Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Bronica ETR

Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR mount · 55.1 × 42.5mm, a 5:4 ratio chosen to match print paper (Tamron spec sheet) · 1976

Also known as: Bronica ETR · Zenza Bronica ETR · Zenzabronica ETR · Bronica ETR 645 · Bronica ETR 6x4.5 · Bronica ETR body · Bronica ETR chrome · ゼンザブロニカ ETR · ゼンザブロニカETR · ブロニカ ETR · ブロニカETR

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
ETR, black Bronica ETR 1976–1980 — Not published. Tamron's discontinued-products list ends the ETR in March 1980; camera-wiki's table gives 1976.03–1980.03
ETR, chrome Bronica ETR 1976–1980 — Not published. camera-wiki has chrome ETR and ETRS bodies made 'probably until 1981', which on the ETR means to the end of its run
  1. Weight: 493 g is the body with battery from the 1976 user manual on butkus.org; Tamron's spec sheet gives only the set, 1,346 g with standard lens and waist-level finder.
  2. Battery: Tamron's sheet says one 6 V silver cell 'No. 544'; camera-wiki's text says PX28A and its table 4SR44. All are the same 6 V four-cell stack in alkaline or silver-oxide form, so this is naming rather than a real disagreement. Battery check is a green LED on top of the body (Tamron), where the ETRS moved it into the finder.
  3. Finder coverage: Tamron prints 96 × 94%; the single figure here takes the smaller axis.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 'ETR' on the front nameplate, without a suffix; the ETRS, ETRC and ETRSi are each named in full
  • Round lens-release button on the front and spring-catch strap studs — the two external points camera-wiki uses to separate the ETR from the ETRS
  • Green battery-check LED on top of the body; the ETRS and later bodies light a red LED inside the finder (Tamron spec sheets)
  • Lens mount is the four-claw Bronica ETR bayonet, shared with every later ETR body; MC, E and PE lenses all fit
  • Listing trap: sellers write 'ETR' for any body in the line, and the fixed-back ETR-C shares its outer body; check for the removable back and the nameplate

ETR, black:

  • Black-finished metal body panels; the ETRS of 1978 kept metal panels, so the finish alone does not separate the two
  • Round lens-release button on the front of the body (camera-wiki: the release moved to a side slider only on the second ETRS)
  • Spring-catch strap studs rather than the eyelet lugs of the ETRS (camera-wiki)

ETR, chrome:

  • Chrome body shell, offered with matching chrome 120, 220 and 70mm backs (camera-wiki)
  • Finders stayed black painted metal — camera-wiki records no chrome metal finder, so a chrome ETR with a black waist-level finder is as sold

Specifications

Format
55.1 × 42.5mm, a 5:4 ratio chosen to match print paper (Tamron spec sheet) · 15 on 120, 30 on 220 (Tamron spec sheet) exposures
Finder
folding hood with magnifier, one-action open and close; interchangeable · 4.03× magnification · 94% coverage
Shutter
Seiko #0 electronically controlled leaf shutter in each lens; speed set on the body (Tamron spec sheet) · T, 8s–1/500; no intermediate speeds; 1/500 mechanically without a battery · flash sync X contact, at all speeds
Film advance
Crank, one full turn, with small-step winding possible; the lens cannot be mounted or removed unless the shutter is cocked (green pins on body and lens), and the shutter will not cock without film unless the multiple-exposure lever is set (camera-wiki)
Back
Interchangeable ETR 120 and 220 backs at launch; 70mm and Polaroid backs later (camera-wiki lists ETR 120/220, 70mm and CB102/CB103 Polaroid backs). The shutter will not release with the dark slide in; the slide can be removed once the back is off the camera
Meter
None in the body; metering only through the AE finder
Motor drive
Speed Grip, Motor Drive — camera-wiki lists the Speed Grip and a Motor Drive among the system accessories; the Motor Winder Ei belongs to the ETRSi
Weight
493 g
Dimensions
110 × 160 × 106 (W × D × H) with 75mm lens, back and waist-level finder E (Tamron spec sheet) mm
Country
Japan
Original price
¥155,000 (1976) for the standard set of body, film back, 75mm lens and waist-level finder (Tamron Japan spec sheet, which says the price is shown as a set because of the tax-display rules of the time) (today ¥289,000)
Accessories
Waist-level finder E (standard), AE finder (first type), prism finder, rotary finder, sports finder (camera-wiki) · ETR 120 and 220 backs in black and chrome, 70mm back, CB102/CB103 Polaroid backs (camera-wiki) · Speed Grip, Motor Drive, tripod release, Polaroid tripod adapter (camera-wiki) · Interchangeable focusing screens; microprism with central matte as standard (Tamron)

Tamron's sheet gives the magnifier as 4.03× on its own and 1.25× combined with the 75mm lens; coverage 96 × 94%. The first AE finder was available for the ETR; the AE-II and AE-III finders of the ETRS carry an extra electronic contact and are not fully compatible with the ETR (camera-wiki). A standard prism, a rotary finder and a sports finder are also listed for the system.

Where sources disagree

Last
  • March 1980 — Tamron's discontinued-products list (web.archive.org); camera-wiki's table (1976.03–1980.03)
  • The ETRS went on sale in October 1978 (Japanese Wikipedia, camera-wiki), so the two overlapped for about eighteen months

Better supported: March 1980

Not a disagreement about the date so much as a note that 'replaced by the ETRS' does not mean the ETR stopped in 1978.

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 ETR of March 1976 was Zenza Bronica’s break with its own past. Every Bronica before it had been a 6×6 focal-plane camera built around Nikkor and then Zenzanon glass; the ETR was a 6×4.5 SLR with a Seiko #0 leaf shutter in every lens, electronically timed from the body, giving flash synchronisation at every speed from 8 seconds to 1/500 and a mechanical 1/500 when the battery was flat. Japanese Wikipedia reads the name as Electronics, TTL, Reflex, and records a Good Design Award for it in 1977. Tamron’s spec sheet puts the standard set, body, 120 back, 75mm lens and waist-level finder, at ¥155,000 and 1,346 g.

The frame is 55.1 × 42.5 mm, a 5:4 ratio Tamron says was chosen to match print paper, which gives fifteen exposures on 120 and thirty on 220 in interchangeable backs. Lenses, backs, finders and screens all come off, but the interlocks are strict: a lens mounts or dismounts only with the shutter cocked, the shutter will not cock on an empty back unless the multiple-exposure lever is set, and it will not fire with the dark slide in (camera-wiki). A chrome body was offered alongside the black one, with chrome 120, 220 and 70mm backs but black metal finders.

Only two and a half years separate the ETR from the ETRS of October 1978, and the later camera is the one most sellers and reviewers mean when they write “ETR”. The first body is told by its round lens-release button on the front, its spring-catch strap studs and its green battery-check LED on the top plate; the ETRS moved to eyelet lugs, a three-position release lock and a red LED inside the finder. The ETR’s AE finder is the first type, and the AE-II and AE-III finders that followed carry a contact the ETR body lacks. Tamron lists the ETR as discontinued in March 1980, so it overlapped its successor by about eighteen months. No review of the first body was found; the ETRS and ETRSi pages carry the published ones, and most of what they say about handling applies here.

Expand Collapse

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.

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $30 across 5 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half $25–$30). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 2 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Bronica ETR-C · Bronica ETRS · Bronica ETRC · Bronica ETRSi · Zenza Bronica EC-TL II · Bronica SQ

Lenses for this body: Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 (ETR) · Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 (ETR) · Zenzanon MC / E 75mm f/2.8 (ETR) · Zenzanon Macro 100mm f/4 (ETR) · Zenzanon 105mm f/3.5 (ETR) · Zenzanon MC 150mm f/4 (ETR) · Zenzanon MC / E 150mm f/3.5 (ETR) · Zenzanon MC / E 200mm f/4.5 (ETR) · Zenzanon MC 250mm f/5.6 (ETR) · Zenzanon-E 40mm f/4 (ETR) · Zenzanon-E 50mm f/2.8 (ETR) · Zenzanon-E II 75mm f/2.8 (ETR) · Zenzanon-E 150mm f/4 (ETR) · Zenzanon-E 250mm f/5.6 (ETR) · Zenzanon-E 500mm f/8 (ETR) · Zoom Zenzanon-E Variogon 70–140mm f/4.5 (ETR) · Zoom Zenzanon-E Variogon 125–250mm f/5.6 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 40mm f/4 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 50mm f/2.8 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 60mm f/2.8 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 75mm f/2.8 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE Macro 105mm f/4.5 1:1 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 135mm f/4 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 150mm f/3.5 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 180mm f/4.5 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 200mm f/4.5 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 250mm f/5.6 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 500mm f/8 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE Fisheye 30mm f/3.5 (ETR) · Zenzanon PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (ETR tilt/shift) · Zenzanon-PE Aspherical 45–90mm f/4–5.6 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE Aspherical IF 100–220mm f/4.8 (ETR)

Sources (5)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.