Zenzanon-E 40mm f/4 (ETR)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1981
Also known as: Zenzanon-E 40mm f/4 · Zenzanon E 40mm F4 · Zenzanon-E 1:4 f=40mm · Bronica ETR 40mm f/4 Zenzanon-E · Bronica ETRS 40mm f4 Zenzanon E · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-E 40mm F4 ETR · ゼンザノン E 40mm F4 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン-E 40mm F4 ETR用 · ブロニカ ETR 40mm F4
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-E 40mm f/4 (c.1981 – 1988) | Bronica ETR | 1981 | — | — |
- Eight groups and ten elements, 0.4 m and φ62 are Japanese Wikipedia's figures for the ゼンザノンE 40mm F4 (新), citing カメラ年鑑'82年版 p.222. Monaghan's copy of the Zenzanon-E brochure E810588 gives the same 8 groups/10 elements with 508 g and '80×65 mm'; the brochure's two dimensions are read here as diameter 80 mm and length 65 mm, the usual order on Bronica tables, which is an assumption.
- Dates. 1981 is the publication year of the first annual that lists this construction, not a documented launch; the Zenzanon-E revisions of the ETR line are generally placed around 1980–81. The lens was replaced by the Zenzanon-PE 40mm f/4 (8 groups/9 elements) of the ETRSi era; the PE's own introduction date is not recorded in the sources consulted, so no end year is given.
- Minimum aperture, blade count and a list price are not given by the sources consulted.
- The three ETR 40 mm formulas: 7 groups/9 elements (Zenzanon MC, 1976), 8/10 (this lens) and 8/9 (Zenzanon-PE, 1988–2004). The E and PE share an element count only by coincidence of the group count; the PE has one element fewer. Each is a separate optical design with its own page.
How to tell them apart
- The widest rectilinear lens for the Bronica ETR bayonet (about 24 mm equivalent on 35 mm), 62 mm filter, ZENZANON-E on the front ring and a Seiko #0 leaf shutter inside; the lens mounts only with the shutter cocked
- Not the Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 for the focal-plane Bronica S2/EC bayonet, which has no shutter and a different mount; and not the 1976 ETR lens engraved ZENZANON MC, which is a nine-element, 478 g design
- Against the PE: no hyphenated PE on the ring, full-stop clicks, 0.4 m closest focus
Zenzanon-E 40mm f/4 (c.1981 – 1988):
- Front ring engraved ZENZANON-E, with the hyphen the 1976 MC lenses do not carry
- Ten elements in eight groups and 508 g, 30 g heavier than the MC lens it replaced (Zenzanon-E brochure E810588 via Monaghan)
- Full-stop aperture clicks and the earlier coating; the PE lens of 1988 has half-stop clicks and focuses to 0.35 m against this lens's 0.4 m
- Zenzanon-E 40mm f/4 (c.1981 – 1988): The recomputed ETR 40 mm of the early 1980s, first found in the 1982 Japanese camera annual (published 1981). It was superseded by the nine-element Zenzanon-PE 40mm of the ETRSi era; no source consulted dates either end of its production more closely.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus wide-angle, 10 elements in 8 groups (the second of three formulas used for the ETR 40 mm)
- Construction
- 10 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4
- 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
- 0.4 m
- Dimensions
- 80 × 65 mm
- Weight
- 508 g
- Filter
- 62 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1981
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Multicoated
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 40mm f/4 is the second of three optical designs Bronica sold under the ETR 40 mm name: ten elements in eight groups, 508 g, focusing to 0.4 m through a 62 mm filter thread, replacing the nine-element, 478 g lens of 1976. It is first found in the 1982 Japanese camera annual, published in 1981, and in the Zenzanon-E brochure that Robert Monaghan reproduced, which are the only two documents consulted that describe it; camera-wiki’s ETR list, which knows the 40 mm only as MC and PE, passes over it. In the field it is the ETR 40 with the hyphenated ZENZANON-E engraving, full-stop aperture clicks and the heavier barrel.
The lens belongs to the revision of the ETR line that accompanied the ETRS of 1978 and the early 1980s, when the original MC lenses were reworked under the E name and the 75 and 500 went further to E II. Its mechanics are those of every ETR lens: a Seiko #0 leaf shutter inside the lens, electronically timed by the body from 8 s to 1/500 with T, firing at 1/500 mechanically without a battery, and a bayonet that accepts the lens only with its shutter cocked. It fits the ETR, ETR-C, ETRS, ETRC and ETRSi alike.
With the ETRSi of December 1988 came the Zenzanon-PE 40mm, computed again as eight groups and nine elements, heavier by two grams on Tamron’s tables and focusing closer, to 0.35 m, with the half-stop aperture ring of the PE generation. When the E lens stopped being made is not recorded in the sources consulted, nor is a list price, a blade count or a minimum aperture, and no published review treats the E 40 as distinct from the MC and PE lenses that bracket it.
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 40mm f/4 (ETR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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