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

Zenza Bronica S2

Zenza Bronica · Bronica S mount · 6×6 on 120 (12 exposures) or 220 (24 exposures) with the standard back; 6×4.5 with Film Back E (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki) · 1965

Also known as: Bronica S2 · Zenza Bronica S2 · Bronica S-2 · Zenzabronica S2 · Bronica S2 6x6 · Bronica S2 Nikkor · ゼンザブロニカ S2 · ゼンザブロニカS2 · ブロニカ S2 · ブロニカS2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
S2, silver chrome Bronica S 1965–1969 — No production figure is known to have been published
S2, black chrome Bronica S 1965–1969 — No production figure is known to have been published; camera-wiki calls it the version 'without the bright chrome'
  1. Tamron's spec sheet (Tamron owns the Bronica archive) gives the ¥93,500 price and the 1,780 g and 100 × 100 × 140 mm figures; camera-wiki repeats them. Neither names the standard lens on the sheet; camera-wiki gives the 75mm f/2.8 Nikkor-P.
  2. camera-wiki's text gives 1/40 as the X sync speed, matching Tamron's X setting, but its flash table lists 'X (strobe 1/15)'; the 1/15 is the slowest speed Tamron lists for electronic flash outside the X setting, so the two agree once read together.
  3. Japanese Wikipedia and camera-wiki both say the S2 has no mirror lock-up; the earlier S had one.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Focusing helicoid with a 14 mm stroke and 250° throw that unlocks and comes off the body, exposing the large bayonet; the S and Z/D focus by a fixed rack-and-pinion tube (Tamron spec sheet; Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Three attachment standards on the one body: the small bayonet at the front of the helicoid for the 40–200 mm lenses, a 57 × 1 mm screw thread inside it for extension rings, and the large bayonet on the body for the 105 mm leaf-shutter Nikkor and the 300 mm and longer lenses (Tamron spec sheet)
  • Distance scale on the focusing ring for the 75 mm lens with depth-of-field scale and infrared index (Tamron spec sheet)
  • No 'S2A' after the serial number, and the larger advance knob (camera-wiki)
  • Flip-down instant-return mirror: the mirror drops below the film gate instead of swinging up (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki)

S2, silver chrome:

  • Brushed stainless-steel body shell (Tamron spec sheet: 18-8 stainless), with grey or black leather (camera-wiki lists silver chrome with grey leather and silver chrome with black leather)
  • PC flash socket on the shutter-knob side of the body (camera-wiki)
  • No mirror lock-up button on the base beside the release, which the earlier S has (camera-wiki)
  • Large advance/cocking knob with folding crank; the S2A's knob is smaller (camera-wiki)
  • Serial number without an 'S2A' suffix (camera-wiki)

S2, black chrome:

  • Black-chrome body with black leather (camera-wiki: 'black chrome w/ black leather')

Specifications

Format
6×6 on 120 (12 exposures) or 220 (24 exposures) with the standard back; 6×4.5 with Film Back E (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki) · 12 on 120, 24 on 220 (Tamron spec sheet) exposures
Finder
Interchangeable waist-level hood with flip-up magnifier over a Fresnel ground glass; prism finders A and C, a magnifying hood and a TTL CdS meter finder were sold (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki)
Shutter
Vertical-travel focal plane, mechanical; non-rotating single-axis dial (Tamron spec sheet) · B, 1–1/1000 s in full stops, X (1/40); T by locking the release (Tamron spec sheet) · flash sync Automatically switched PC socket: X (electronic flash) at the X setting (1/40), B and 1–1/15; FP bulbs at B and every speed except X; M bulbs at B and 1–1/125; F bulbs at B and 1–1/15 (Tamron spec sheet) · no self-timer
Film advance
Knob with folding crank, about three turns per frame (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki says three to four), which also cocks the shutter and lowers the mirror; automatic first-frame positioning on the start mark, with a 120/220 selector lever (Tamron spec sheet)
Back
Interchangeable, fully coupled film back with dark slide; the shutter will not fire with the slide in, and the back cannot come off without it (camera-wiki). Film Back E for 6×4.5 and a Polaroid pack-film back were also sold (camera-wiki)
Meter
None in the body; an optional TTL CdS meter finder replaces the hood (camera-wiki)
Weight
1780 g
Dimensions
100 × 100 × 140 (Tamron spec sheet; camera-wiki) mm
Country
Japan
Original price
¥93,500 for the standard set of body, film back, standard lens and waist-level finder (Tamron spec sheet, which notes the price had to be shown as a set because of the commodity-tax rules of the time) (today ¥418,000)
Accessories
Film backs: 6×6 120/220 back, Film Back E for 6×4.5, Polaroid pack-film back (camera-wiki) · Finders: prism finder A, prism finder C, magnifying hood, TTL exposure-meter finder (camera-wiki; English Wikipedia) · Close-up: CA extension ring with preview lever, CB, CC and CD rings; bellows attachment S2 (60–214 mm, with tilt and shift); compact bellows; lens reversing ring; copy stand (camera-wiki) · Hand grip T (pistol) and hand grip L (camera-wiki)

The Tamron spec sheet says the magnifier can be swapped for an 'outdoor' magnifier. Finders are not interchangeable with the later EC series (camera-wiki, EC page).

Where sources disagree

First
  • July 1965 — Japanese Wikipedia; English Wikipedia (1965-07); camera-wiki's text
  • 1964/1965 — camera-wiki's specification table

Better supported: July 1965

What reviewers say

History

The S2 of July 1965 is the camera that fixed the shape of the focal-plane Bronica. The Z of 1959 and the S that followed focused by a rack-and-pinion tube built into the body; the C of December 1964 moved to a removable straight helicoid, and the S2 put that helicoid on a body with the interchangeable film back the C lacked (Japanese Wikipedia; Tamron spec sheet). The result is three attachment standards on one camera: a small bayonet at the front of the helicoid for the 40 mm to 200 mm lenses, a 57 × 1 mm thread inside it for extension rings, and a large bayonet on the body itself, exposed when the helicoid comes off, for the 105 mm leaf-shutter Nikkor and the 300 mm and longer lenses with their own focusing units. The back takes 120 or 220, selected by a lever, and comes off only with the dark slide in; the shutter will not fire with the slide in place (camera-wiki).

The shutter is a mechanical vertical-travel focal plane running from 1 s to 1/1000 with B, with X flash at a 1/40 setting and a PC socket that switches itself between bulb classes (Tamron). The mirror is the Bronica flip-down type, dropping below the gate instead of swinging up, which is what allows the deep rear elements of the short Nikkors; there is no mirror lock-up, which the S had and the EC would bring back (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia). Winding is by a knob with a folding crank, about three turns per frame, and the same motion cocks the shutter and resets the mirror. Tamron’s sheet lists the body shell as brushed 18-8 stainless steel, 1,780 g and 100 × 100 × 140 mm, at ¥93,500 for the standard set with back, 75 mm lens and waist-level hood.

Japanese Wikipedia calls the S2 the best seller of the line. camera-wiki lists it in silver chrome with grey or black leather and in black chrome with black leather. Its weak point was the film-advance gear train, which the S2A of 1969 replaced with a stronger one; the two cameras are otherwise so alike that reviewers of the S2A (Herse at 35mmc, Worthington at Emulsive) spend a paragraph each on telling them apart, by the ‘S2A’ suffix on early S2A serials, the smaller advance knob and, on cameras after serial 150037, the wingless strap lugs (camera-wiki). The S2 was overshadowed by the electronic EC from 1972, but the S2/S2A line stayed in the catalogue until September 1977 (camera-wiki; English Wikipedia).

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

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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: Zenza Bronica S · Zenza Bronica C · Zenza Bronica C2 · Zenza Bronica S2A · Zenza Bronica EC

Lenses for this body: Komura 100mm f/2 (Bronica) · Komura 100mm f/2.8 (Bronica) · Komura 135mm f/2.3 (Bronica) · Komura 150mm f/3.5 (Bronica) · Komura 200mm f/3.5 (Bronica) · Komura 200mm f/4 (Bronica) · Komura 300mm f/5 (Bronica, Unihelicoid) · Komura 400mm f/6.3 (Bronica, Unihelicoid) · Komura 45mm f/4.5 (Bronica) · Komura 500mm f/7 (Bronica, Unihelicoid) · Super-Komura 50mm f/3.5 (Bronica) · Nikkor-D 40mm f/4 (Bronica) · Nikkor-H 5cm/50mm f/3.5 (Bronica) · Nikkor-H·C 75mm f/2.8 'DX' (Bronica) · Nikkor-O 50mm f/2.8 (Bronica) · Nikkor-P 1200mm f/11 (lens head + Bronica focusing unit) · Nikkor-P 200mm f/4 (Bronica) · Nikkor-P 600mm f/5.6 (lens head + Bronica focusing unit) · Nikkor-P 75mm f/2.8 (Bronica) · Nikkor-P 800mm f/8 (lens head + Bronica focusing unit) · Nikkor-P·C 300mm f/5.6 (Bronica) · Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 LS (leaf shutter, Bronica) · Nikkor-Q 13.5cm/135mm f/3.5 (Bronica) · Nikkor-Q 400mm f/4.5 (lens head + Bronica focusing unit) · Zenzanon 100mm f/2.8 · Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 · Zenzanon MC 200mm f/3.5 · Zenzanon MC 200mm f/4 · Zenzanon 300mm f/4.5 · Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 · Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 · Zenzanon MC 75mm f/2.8 · Zenzanon MC 80mm f/2.4 · Zenzanon MC 80mm f/2.8 by Carl Zeiss Jena (Biometar)

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.