Zenzanon PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (ETR tilt/shift)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1981
Also known as: Zenzanon PCS 55mm f/4.5 · Zenzanon-E PCS Super-Angulon 55mm F4.5 · Zenzanon PE PCS Super-Angulon 55mm F4.5 · Bronica ETR 55mm f/4.5 PCS tilt shift · Bronica 55mm f4.5 PE Super Angulon · Schneider Super-Angulon PCS 55mm f/4.5 Bronica ETR · Bronica ETRS 55mm f/4.5 shift lens · ゼンザノン PCS 55mm F4.5 · ゼンザノン E スーパーアンギュロン PCS 55mm F4.5 · ブロニカ ETR 55mm F4.5 シフト
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-E PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (c.1981–1988) | Bronica ETR | 1981 | — | — |
| Zenzanon-PE PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (1988 –) | Bronica ETR | 1988 | — | — |
- Ten elements in eight groups, 0.5 m closest focus, φ104 mm screw-in filter, shift of 12 mm left and right, rise 12 mm, fall 10 mm, tilt 10° up and down, close-range correction and Schneider-Kreuznach manufacture are from Japanese Wikipedia, citing カメラ年鑑'82年版 p.222, for the ゼンザノンEスーパーアンギュロンPCS 55mm F4.5. The same 10 elements/8 groups and the 1,650 g weight are in the Zenzanon-E brochure reproduced by Robert Monaghan; the weight has no second source.
- Generations. Monaghan's page carries a Bronica Images article of autumn 1988 presenting the lens as the Zenzanon PE PCS Super-Angulon with the same construction, and camera-wiki lists it as the 55mm f4.5 PE Super Angulon tilt shift. With no change in the element or group count, the E and PE forms are treated as one optical design in two finishes.
- Dates. 1981 is the publication year of the first annual that lists the lens, not a documented launch. The lens does not appear on Tamron USA's 2004 Bronica lens list, so it was dropped before the system ended; no source consulted gives the discontinuation year, a list price, a minimum aperture or a blade count.
- Image circle. No source consulted states the image circle the movements draw on; the 104 mm figure that appears with the lens is its filter thread.
How to tell them apart
- The only perspective-control lens made for the Bronica ETR bayonet: a large Schneider Super-Angulon in a shifting and tilting mount, 104 mm filter thread, about 1.65 kg, with the Seiko #0 leaf shutter of the ETR system inside; it mounts only with the shutter cocked
- Movements engraved on the mount: 12 mm shift either way, 12 mm rise, 10 mm fall, 10° tilt either way. The mount is the tell against Schneider's PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 sold in Rollei 6000 (PQ) and other medium-format mounts, which share the name and the glass but not the ETR bayonet or shutter coupling
- Reads Zenzanon-E or Zenzanon PE with the Super-Angulon and PCS names together; no plain-barrel 55 mm exists for the ETR
Zenzanon-E PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (c.1981–1988):
- Engraved as a Zenzanon-E with the Super-Angulon and PCS names; the E-generation finish
- Ten elements in eight groups, 1,650 g, 104 mm filter thread, 0.5 m closest focus (Zenzanon-E brochure via Monaghan; カメラ年鑑'82)
Zenzanon-PE PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (1988 –):
- Marketed from autumn 1988 as the Zenzanon PE PCS Super-Angulon (Bronica Images, Fall 1988, via Monaghan); camera-wiki lists the lens only in this form
- Same ten elements in eight groups: a badge and finish change to match the PE line, not a new optic
- Zenzanon-E PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (c.1981–1988): The lens as listed in the 1982 Japanese camera annual (published 1981) and in the Zenzanon-E brochure of the same period; the earliest form found. Built by Schneider-Kreuznach for Bronica.
- Zenzanon-PE PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (1988 –): The lens relabelled for the ETRSi era. It is absent from Tamron USA's 2004 lens list, so it was discontinued before the end of the system; no source consulted gives the date.
Specifications
- Formula
- Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon PCS, 10 elements in 8 groups, with floating elements for close-range correction
- Construction
- 10 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4.5
- Shutter
- Seiko #0 electronically controlled between-lens leaf shutter, 8s–1/500 and T (B from the ETRSi), 1/500 mechanically without a battery; the speed is set on the body
- Min. focus
- 0.5 m
- Weight
- 1650 g
- Filter
- 104 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1981
- Country
- West Germany
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 PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 is the one perspective-control lens made for the Bronica ETR, and the one ETR lens not designed in Japan: a Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon of ten elements in eight groups, with floating elements for close-range correction, built into a mount that shifts 12 mm either way, rises 12 mm, falls 10 mm and tilts 10° up or down. It takes 104 mm filters, focuses to 0.5 m and weighs about 1,650 g, three times a Zenzanon-E 50mm. Inside is the same Seiko #0 leaf shutter as every other ETR lens, timed by the body from 8 s to 1/500 with T and firing at 1/500 mechanically without a battery.
It first appears in the 1982 Japanese camera annual, published in 1981, as the Zenzanon-E Super-Angulon PCS, and in the Zenzanon-E brochure that Robert Monaghan reproduced. When the ETRSi arrived in December 1988 the lens was relabelled: Bronica’s own magazine presented it that autumn as the Zenzanon PE PCS Super-Angulon, with the same construction, and camera-wiki knows it only in that form. The optics did not change between the two badges. By 2004 it was gone from Tamron USA’s Bronica price list, so it was dropped before the system itself ended; no source consulted says when, or what it cost new.
Schneider sold the same PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 for other 6×6 and 6×4.5 systems, the Rollei 6000 among them, and those lenses turn up under the same name with different mounts; the ETR lens is told by its four-claw bayonet and the shutter coupling. No published review of the Bronica version has been found, and the record on it is thin: two Japanese annual citations, one brochure and one magazine article, with the weight resting on the brochure alone.
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 PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (ETR tilt/shift)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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