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

Zenzanon MC 250mm f/5.6 (ETR)

Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1976

Also known as: Zenzanon MC 250mm f/5.6 · Zenzanon MC 250mm F5.6 · Bronica ETR 250mm f/5.6 MC · Bronica ETRS 250mm F5.6 Zenzanon MC · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon MC 250mm f5.6 ETR · Bronica ETRSi 250mm MC · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン MC 250mm F5.6 · ゼンザノン MC 250mm F5.6 · ブロニカ ETR 250mm F5.6

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Zenzanon MC 250mm f/5.6 (6 elements, 6 groups) Bronica ETR 1976 — —
  1. Elements, groups, 16°, f/5.6–22, 3.5 m, 62 mm and 148 mm are from the Bronica ETR instruction manual (1976 camera) on butkus.org, which leaves the weight blank; Japanese Wikipedia, citing the 1979 Camera & Lens White Paper p.380, gives the same 6 groups / 6 elements, 62 mm and 3.5 m. No source found gives weight, diameter or blades for this generation.
  2. Naming. The 1976 manual calls every ETR lens 'Zenzanon E' and the 1979 White Paper calls this the old E lens, while the lenses are engraved ZENZANON MC and dealers and camera-wiki list them as MC. The names describe the same lens.
  3. Years. Launched with the ETR in March 1976 (the manual lists it among the five original lenses). No end date is published: by Camera Yearbook '82 the 250 is a different, five-element lens, so this one had been replaced by then.
  4. The three 250s. This 6/6 lens was followed by a 5-element, 5-group Zenzanon-E (Camera Yearbook '82; 820 g in brochure E810588) and then by the Zenzanon-PE, again 6 elements in 6 groups but stopping to f/45 at 910 g; the PE counts match this lens without any source saying the design returned.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The only ETR 250 whose aperture scale ends at f/22 and whose focusing scale stops at 3.5 m; the E and PE lenses stop to f/32 and f/45 and focus to 3 m
  • ZENZANON MC on the name ring, a 62 mm front thread, the four-claw ETR bayonet and a Seiko #0 shutter in the lens with the T slide and locking screw on the barrel
  • 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 MC 250mm f/5.6 (6 elements, 6 groups):

  • Engraved ZENZANON MC 1:5.6 f=250mm; aperture ring stopping at f/22, full-stop clicks; 148 mm long
  • Closest focus 3.5 m (11.5 ft) on the distance scale: the later E and PE 250s reach 3 m

Specifications

Construction
6 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/5.6–f/22
Shutter
Seiko #0 between-lens leaf shutter, 8s–1/500 + T; mechanical 1/500 without battery; the speed is set on the body
Min. focus
3.5 m
Dimensions
148 mm long
Filter
62 mm
Years manufactured
1976
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 250mm f/5.6 was the long lens of the ETR system at launch in March 1976, one of five Zenzanons the first manual lists with the 40, 50, 75 and 150. The manual calls it the Zenzanon E 250mm F5.6 and gives six elements in six groups, a 16° angle of view, f/5.6 to f/22, closest focus at 3.5 m, a 62 mm screw-in filter, a length of 148 mm and the Seiko #0 shutter of the system, timed from 8 s to 1/500 with T; it leaves the weight blank. The lenses themselves are engraved ZENZANON MC, which is how dealers and camera-wiki list them, and the 1979 Camera & Lens White Paper records the same six-element lens as the old E design against a new one. On 6×4.5 film it frames like a 150 mm on 35 mm.

Everything about the shutter is shared with the rest of the line. The Seiko #0 sits in the lens, the timing circuit and dial on the body, so the lens only mounts with the shutter cocked; the T setting is a slide on the barrel released by unscrewing a locking screw, which is how long exposures were made before the ETRSi body added B in 1988; and without a battery the shutter fires at a mechanical 1/500.

This first 250 had a short life as a design. By Camera Yearbook ‘82 the ETR 250 is a different lens, five elements in five groups focusing to 3 m, the one Bronica’s brochure E810588 lists at 820 g, and the Zenzanon-PE of the ETRSi years is six elements in six groups again, stopping to f/45 and weighing 910 g. The counts of the PE match this lens, but no source says the original formula came back, and the PE’s 3 m focus and f/45 scale argue otherwise. A 1998 Medium Format Digest poster who used MC lenses on an ETRSi had heard that the longer MC telephotos were not up to the PE versions without having seen it himself; another held that every P-series lens was higher in contrast and resolution than its MC predecessor. No review of this lens in any generation has been found.

The identifying points are on the scales: an aperture ring that ends at f/22 and a distance scale that ends at 3.5 m belong to this lens alone among the three ETR 250s. Expect full-stop clicks and no coupling to the AE-II or AE-III prisms. Used examples are the cheapest of the three; recent dealer and auction prices sit in the tens to low hundreds of dollars. Check that the shutter cocks and fires at every speed, that the T slide works, and that the diaphragm closes cleanly, since the shutter and diaphragm are the lens’s and not the body’s.

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.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Zenzanon MC 250mm f/5.6 (ETR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

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: Zenzanon-E 250mm f/5.6 (ETR) · Zenzanon-PE 250mm f/5.6 (ETR) · Zenzanon MC / E 200mm f/4.5 (ETR)

Sources (4)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, 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.