Zenzanon-E 250mm f/5.6 (ETR)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1982
Also known as: Zenzanon-E 250mm f/5.6 · Zenzanon E 250mm F5.6 · Bronica ETR 250mm f/5.6 Zenzanon-E · Bronica ETRS 250mm F5.6 E · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon E 250mm f5.6 ETR · Bronica ETRSi 250mm Zenzanon E · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン E 250mm F5.6 · ゼンザノン E 250mm F5.6 · ブロニカ ETR 250mm F5.6
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-E 250mm f/5.6 (5 elements, 5 groups) | Bronica ETR | 1982 | — | — |
- Elements, groups, 16°, f/5.6–32, 9.8 ft (3 m), 62 mm, 80 × 150 mm and 820 g are from Bronica's Zenzanon lens brochure E810588 as transcribed on the medfmt.8k.com ETR page; Japanese Wikipedia, citing Camera Yearbook '82 p.222, gives the same 5 groups / 5 elements, 3.0 m and 62 mm and calls it the new lens against the 6/6 old one.
- Years. Camera Yearbook '82 is the earliest dated listing found; the lens replaced the six-element MC 250 at some point between the 1979 White Paper, which still lists the old lens, and that yearbook. No end date is published: Tamron's ETRSi lens tables (1990s–2004) carry only the PE 250, so this lens had gone by then.
- The formula sequence at 250 mm runs 6/6 (MC, 1976) → 5/5 (this lens) → 6/6 (PE, f/45, 910 g). The PE's counts match the MC's, not this lens's; nothing found says whether the PE revived the first design or is a third computation.
- Blades and a list price were not found; the fields are left empty.
How to tell them apart
- ZENZANON-E on the name ring with an aperture scale to f/32 and a distance scale to 3 m: the MC 250 stops at f/22 and 3.5 m, the PE 250 goes to f/45 with half-stop clicks
- A 62 mm front thread on a barrel 80 mm across and 150 mm long, with its own Seiko #0 shutter, the T slide on the barrel and the four-claw ETR bayonet
- Not the Zenzanon-S 250mm f/5.6 for the SQ or the Zenzanon-PG 250mm f/5.6 for the GS-1, which carry those suffixes and other bayonets
Zenzanon-E 250mm f/5.6 (5 elements, 5 groups):
- Engraved ZENZANON-E 1:5.6 f=250mm; aperture scale f/5.6–32, distance scale to 3 m (9.8 ft)
- 80 mm across and 150 mm long, 820 g (brochure E810588)
- Zenzanon-E 250mm f/5.6 (5 elements, 5 groups): The second ETR 250, the 'new lens' of Camera Yearbook '82: five elements in five groups, focusing to 3 m, 62 mm filters. Bronica's brochure E810588 adds 16°, f/5.6–32, a fully automatic diaphragm, 80 × 150 mm and 820 g, with the comment that the telephoto pulls in distant landscapes and compresses foreground and background while eliminating background detail.
Specifications
- Construction
- 5 elements / 5 groups
- Aperture range
- f/5.6–f/32
- Shutter
- Seiko #0 electronically controlled between-lens leaf shutter, 8s–1/500 + T; B only on an ETRSi body; mechanical 1/500 without battery; the speed is set on the body
- Min. focus
- 3 m
- Dimensions
- 80 × 150 mm
- Weight
- 820 g
- Filter
- 62 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1982
- Country
- Japan
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-E 250mm f/5.6 is the middle of three 250 mm lenses Bronica made for its 6×4.5 ETR bodies, and the one that is easiest to overlook: camera-wiki lists only an MC and a PE at this focal length. Camera Yearbook ‘82 records it as the new lens, five elements in five groups focusing to 3 m with 62 mm filters, against the six-element lens of 1976 that focused only to 3.5 m. Bronica’s own Zenzanon brochure E810588 fills in the rest: a 16° angle of view, f/5.6 to f/32 on a fully automatic diaphragm, 80 mm across, 150 mm long and 820 g, the maker’s comment being that the telephoto pulls in distant landscapes and compresses foreground and background while clearing away background detail. On 6×4.5 it frames like a 150 mm on 35 mm film.
It belongs to the generation Japanese Wikipedia calls the new E lenses, which took the electronically timed Seiko #0 in place of the first series’ shutter. The shutter sits in the lens and runs from 8 s to 1/500 with the speed set on the body; T is a slide on the barrel under a locking screw, B came only with the ETRSi of December 1988, and with a flat battery the shutter fires at a mechanical 1/500. The lens can only be fitted with the shutter cocked, which is true of every ETR lens.
Its replacement was the Zenzanon-PE 250 of the ETRSi years, six elements in six groups again, stopping to f/45 with half-stop clicks and weighing 910 g. The PE’s element count matches the 1976 lens rather than this one, but no source found says the first design returned, and the PE keeps this lens’s 3 m closest focus. Opinion on the generations is thin and second-hand: a 1998 Medium Format Digest poster who had rented a PE 250 could not see a difference from his MC lenses and had only heard that the longer pre-PE telephotos fell short, while another held that the P-series lenses were higher in contrast and resolution throughout. No blog or video review of any ETR 250 has been found.
To tell it from its siblings, read the scales. An aperture ring to f/32 and a distance scale to 3 m, with ZENZANON-E on the name ring and full-stop clicks, is this lens; f/22 and 3.5 m is the MC, f/45 with half stops is the PE. Prices for the pre-PE 250s on the used market are low, in the tens to low hundreds of dollars in recent dealer and auction listings. As with every ETR lens, the shutter and diaphragm travel with the lens, so a copy that will not cock, drags at slow speeds or will not hold T needs a repair rather than a body.
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-E 250mm f/5.6 (ETR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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