Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 (ETR)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1976
Also known as: Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 · Zenzanon MC 40mm F4 · Zenzanon-MC 40mm f/4 ETR · Bronica ETR 40mm f/4 MC · Bronica ETRS 40mm f4 Zenzanon MC · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon MC 1:4 f=40mm · Zenzanon E 40mm F4 · ゼンザノン MC 40mm F4 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン MC 40mm F4 ETR用 · ブロニカ ETR 40mm F4
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZENZANON MC 40mm f/4 (1976 – c.1981) | Bronica ETR | 1976 | — | — |
- Nine elements in seven groups, 82°30' angle of view, 40 cm closest focus, 62 mm screw-in filter, 62 mm length and 478 g are from the lens table of the Bronica ETR instruction manual on butkus.org, which names the lens Zenzanon E 40mm F4. Japanese Wikipedia, citing カメラ・レンズ白書1979年版 p.380, gives the same 7群9枚, 0.4 m and φ62 for the lens it calls ゼンザノンE 40mm F4 (旧).
- Naming. The lenses shipped with the ETR in 1976 are engraved ZENZANON MC, and camera-wiki lists the original ETR lenses as MC, with E II for the later revisions of the 75 and 500 and PE for the final generation. The 1976 manual and the 1979 annual call the same lenses Zenzanon E. This page follows the engraving.
- Three formulas. The ETR 40mm was computed three times: 7 groups/9 elements (this lens), 8 groups/10 elements (the Zenzanon-E of c.1981) and 8 groups/9 elements (the Zenzanon-PE of 1988), per Japanese Wikipedia's three annual citations, Monaghan's Zenzanon-E brochure and Tamron's PE tables. Each is a different optical design and has its own page.
- Minimum aperture, diaphragm blade count and a list price are not given by the sources consulted for the MC lens; the manual's table does not carry them.
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 MC 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, larger mount; sellers list both as 'Zenzanon MC 40mm'. Only the ETR lens has a shutter-speed coupling and the four-claw ETR bayonet
- Told from the later ETR 40s by the engraving: ZENZANON-E (ten elements, 508 g) and ZENZANON-PE (nine elements, half-stop clicks, 0.35 m closest focus)
ZENZANON MC 40mm f/4 (1976 – c.1981):
- Front ring engraved ZENZANON MC; the 1976 instruction manual and the 1979 カメラ・レンズ白書 list the same lens as the Zenzanon E 40mm F4, so period paperwork and the engraving disagree
- Nine elements in seven groups, 478 g, 62 mm long with a 62 mm filter thread (1976 manual)
- Full-stop aperture clicks; the half-stop ring arrived with the PE barrels of 1988
- ZENZANON MC 40mm f/4 (1976 – c.1981): The original ETR wide-angle of March 1976. It was replaced by a recomputed eight-group, ten-element Zenzanon-E 40mm that appears in the 1982 camera annual (published 1981); no source consulted dates the changeover more closely, so the end year is left open.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus wide-angle, 9 elements in 7 groups (the first of three formulas used for the ETR 40 mm)
- Construction
- 9 elements / 7 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
- 62 mm long
- Weight
- 478 g
- Filter
- 62 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1976
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Multicoated; the MC of the engraving
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 MC 40mm f/4 was the wide-angle the Bronica ETR launched with in March 1976, the widest rectilinear lens the 6×4.5 system would ever have, at roughly a 24 mm equivalent. Nine elements in seven groups, 82°30’ across the frame, focusing to 40 cm, a 62 mm filter thread shared with most ETR primes, 62 mm long and 478 g: those are the figures of the camera’s own instruction manual, which lists it under the name Zenzanon E 40mm F4. The barrel says otherwise, ZENZANON MC, and the lists on camera-wiki and in the 1979 Japanese lens annual follow one or the other, so a seller may call the same lens by either name.
Like every lens for the ETR bayonet it carries its own Seiko #0 leaf shutter, electronically timed from 8 s to 1/500 with T, firing at 1/500 mechanically when the body has no battery. The speed is set on the body, and the lens can only be mounted or removed with the shutter cocked, a rule the manual prints in capitals. It fits all five bodies of the line, ETR, ETR-C, ETRS, ETRC and ETRSi, and the half-stop aperture ring and new multicoating of the PE lenses never came to it.
The formula did not last. By the 1982 camera annual, published in 1981, the ETR 40 mm was an eight-group, ten-element Zenzanon-E of 508 g, and in 1988 it was recomputed again as the eight-group, nine-element Zenzanon-PE that Tamron sold until 2004. Three different optical designs under one focal length, each with its own page; the MC is the lightest of them and the one with the longest closest focus after the E. No published review of the MC 40 specifically has been found, and the sources consulted give neither a list price nor a production end date for 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 MC 40mm f/4 (ETR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
The listings collector hasn't run for this family yet — check back soon, or search the marketplaces directly meanwhile.