Zenzanon 105mm f/3.5 (ETR)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1976
Also known as: Bronica ETR 105mm f/3.5 · Bronica ETRS 105mm F3.5 · Zenzanon MC 105mm f/3.5 · Zenzanon MC 105mm F3.5 · Zenzanon-E 105mm f/3.5 · Zenzanon E 105mm F3.5 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon MC 105mm 3.5 · Bronica 105mm f/3.5 Zenzanon lens for ETR · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン MC 105mm F3.5 · ゼンザノン E 105mm F3.5 · ブロニカ ETR 105mm F3.5
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon MC 105mm f/3.5 | Bronica ETR | — | — | — |
| Zenzanon-E 105mm f/3.5 | Bronica ETR | — | — | — |
- Element and group count, 0.9 m closest focus and 62 mm filter are Japanese Wikipedia's figures for the E 105, citing カメラ年鑑'82 p.222; the 570 g and 80 × 75 mm (read as diameter × length) are from the E-series brochure E810588 reproduced on Robert Monaghan's Bronica ETR page. The MC-badged lens is assumed to share them; no separate specification for it was found.
- The year is a floor. The MC badge belongs to the ETR's first lens generation, which began in March 1976, but the 105 is absent from the 1976 manual's table, so it arrived later in the MC years; the earliest dated listing found is カメラ年鑑'82.
- Closest focus: a Photrio poster, reached only through a search excerpt, remembers about 0.6 m, which is what makes the lens useful for head shots; the yearbook's 0.9 m is the better-evidenced figure and is the one used here.
- Aperture blade count is not given by any source found. The lens is listed in neither カメラ年鑑'98 nor Tamron USA's 2004 list, having been replaced in the PE era by the 100mm f/4 and 105mm f/4.5 macros.
How to tell them apart
- The non-macro 105: 62 mm filter, 0.9 m closest focus, f/3.5. The Zenzanon-PE Macro 105mm f/4.5 is a different, far heavier lens with a 67 mm thread and 0.35 m focus; the 100mm f/4 Macro is f/4 and 0.61 m
- A short portrait lens, about 63 mm on 35 mm film across the ETR's 42.5 × 55.1 mm frame
- A Bronica four-claw ETR bayonet with a Seiko #0 leaf shutter inside the lens, mounting only with the shutter cocked; fits every ETR body from 1976 to 2004 and nothing else. Not the Zenzanon-S 105mm f/3.5 of the 6×6 SQ, the Zenzanon-PG 100mm f/3.5 of the GS-1 or the Nikkor-P 105mm f/3.5 of the focal-plane Bronica S2
Zenzanon MC 105mm f/3.5:
- Engraved ZENZANON MC, like the 1976 launch lenses; camera-wiki lists the 105mm f3.5 as MC only
Zenzanon-E 105mm f/3.5:
- Engraved Zenzanon-E; 6 elements in 4 groups, 0.9 m closest focus, 62 mm filter (カメラ年鑑'82 via Japanese Wikipedia); 570 g and 80 × 75 mm in the E-series brochure
- Zenzanon MC 105mm f/3.5: The first badge. The 105 is not in the 1976 ETR manual's lens table (40, 50, 75, 150 and 250 mm), so it joined the range after the launch and before the E re-badging of about 1980–81; the exact year was not found. Its formula is not published separately.
- Zenzanon-E 105mm f/3.5: The E badge of the same lens: Japanese Wikipedia marks the E 105 as equivalent to the new-lens line (新レンズ相当) rather than a redesign. The E-series brochure on Monaghan's page calls it ideal for close-ups with extension tubes.
Specifications
- Formula
- 6 elements in 4 groups (E version, カメラ年鑑'82 via Japanese Wikipedia); the MC version's formula is not published
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5
- Shutter
- Seiko #0 electronically controlled between-lens leaf shutter, 8s–1/500 and T (B from the ETRSi body), mechanical 1/500 without a battery; speeds set on the body
- Min. focus
- 0.9 m
- Dimensions
- 80 × 75 mm
- Weight
- 570 g
- Filter
- 62 mm
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Multicoated — the MC of the first badge
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 Zenzanon 105mm f/3.5 is the Bronica ETR’s short portrait lens, about 63 mm on 35 mm film across the 42.5 × 55.1 mm frame, and the only non-macro lens the system ever had between the 75 and the 150. It is not in the 1976 ETR manual, whose lens table runs 40, 50, 75, 150 and 250 mm, so it joined the range after the launch; camera-wiki lists it only under the first badge, Zenzanon MC, and Japanese Wikipedia records the Zenzanon-E version from カメラ年鑑’82 as six elements in four groups, focusing to 0.9 m, with a 62 mm filter, and marks it as equivalent to the new-lens line rather than a new design. The E-series brochure reproduced on Robert Monaghan’s page adds 570 g and 80 × 75 mm, and recommends it for close-ups with the system’s extension tubes.
Like every ETR lens it has a Seiko #0 electronically controlled between-lens shutter, timed by the body from 8 s to 1/500 with T, running mechanically at 1/500 without a battery, and it mounts only with the shutter cocked. The aperture clicks in whole stops. There was no PE version: in the ETRSi era Bronica covered the focal length with two macros instead, the 100mm f/4 and the 1:1 105mm f/4.5, and the f/3.5 appears in neither カメラ年鑑’98 nor Tamron’s 2004 list. Dealers’ titles confuse the three, and the SQ system has its own Zenzanon-S 105mm f/3.5, so the ETR bayonet and the absence of “Macro” on the ring are what to check.
No published review was found. The one thread located, on Photrio, has an owner calling the MC 105 a nice little lens and another prizing a closest focus he remembers as about 0.6 m for head shots, a figure the yearbook contradicts at 0.9 m. Left open: the year it was introduced, whether the MC and E badges differ in anything but the engraving, the diaphragm blade count, and any serial-number information.
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.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Zenzanon 105mm f/3.5 (ETR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
- BRONICA ZENZANON MC 105mm F/3.5 MF Lens for ETR ETRS ETRSi
- Zenza Bronica 105MM F3.5 Zenzanon MC - Bronica ETR
- 【返品保証】 ゼンザブロニカ Zenza Bronica ZENZANON MC 105mm F3.5 レンズ e19699
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