Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 (ETR)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1976
Also known as: Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 · Zenzanon MC 50mm F2.8 · Zenzanon-MC 50mm f/2.8 ETR · Bronica ETR 50mm f/2.8 MC · Bronica ETRS 50mm f2.8 Zenzanon MC · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=50mm · Zenzanon E 50mm F2.8 · ゼンザノン MC 50mm F2.8 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン MC 50mm F2.8 ETR用 · ブロニカ ETR 50mm F2.8
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZENZANON MC 50mm f/2.8 (1976 – c.1981) | Bronica ETR | 1976 | — | — |
- Eight elements in seven groups, 70° angle of view, 50 cm closest focus, 62 mm screw-in filter, 62.5 mm length and 464 g are from the lens table of the Bronica ETR instruction manual on butkus.org, which names the lens Zenzanon E 50mm F2.8. Japanese Wikipedia, citing カメラ・レンズ白書1979年版 p.380, gives the same 7群8枚, 0.5 m and φ62 for the ゼンザノンE 50mm F2.8 (旧).
- Naming. The 1976 lenses are engraved ZENZANON MC, and camera-wiki lists the original ETR lenses as MC; the manual and the 1979 annual call them Zenzanon E. This page follows the engraving. Sellers use both names.
- Three formulas. The ETR 50 mm was built as 7 groups/8 elements (this lens), 8 groups/9 elements (the Zenzanon-E of c.1981) and 7 groups/9 elements (the Zenzanon-PE of 1988), per Japanese Wikipedia's annual citations, Monaghan's Zenzanon-E brochure and Tamron's PE tables. The MC to E change added an element and is a different design; each has its own page.
- Minimum aperture, diaphragm blade count and a list price are not given by the sources consulted for the MC lens.
How to tell them apart
- The 50 mm wide-angle for the Bronica ETR bayonet, 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 50mm f/2.8 for the focal-plane Bronica S2/EC bayonet, which has no shutter and a different, larger mount; only the ETR lens has the four-claw ETR bayonet and shutter coupling
- Told from the later ETR 50s by the engraving: ZENZANON-E (nine elements, 480 g) and ZENZANON-PE (nine elements, 490 g, half-stop clicks, 0.46 m closest focus)
ZENZANON MC 50mm f/2.8 (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 50mm F2.8
- Eight elements in seven groups, 464 g, 62.5 mm long with a 62 mm filter thread (1976 manual); the lightest of the three ETR 50s
- Full-stop aperture clicks; the half-stop ring arrived with the PE barrels of 1988
- ZENZANON MC 50mm f/2.8 (1976 – c.1981): The moderate wide-angle the ETR launched with in March 1976, about a 30 mm equivalent on the 6×4.5 frame. Replaced by a nine-element Zenzanon-E 50mm that appears in the 1982 camera annual (published 1981); no source consulted dates the changeover more closely.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus wide-angle, 8 elements in 7 groups (the first of three formulas used for the ETR 50 mm)
- Construction
- 8 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8
- 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
- Dimensions
- 62.5 mm long
- Weight
- 464 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 50mm f/2.8 was the moderate wide-angle in the Bronica ETR’s launch range of March 1976, about a 30 mm equivalent on the 42.5 × 55.1 mm frame and one of two wides alongside the 40mm f/4. The camera’s own instruction manual gives eight elements in seven groups, 70° across the frame, a closest focus of 50 cm, a 62 mm filter thread, 62.5 mm in length and 464 g, and lists it as the Zenzanon E 50mm F2.8; the barrel is engraved ZENZANON MC, which is the name camera-wiki and most sellers use, and the name this page uses too.
It is an ETR lens in every mechanical respect: a Seiko #0 leaf shutter inside, electronically timed by the body from 8 s to 1/500 with T, firing at 1/500 mechanically when the battery is flat, and a bayonet that will not take or release the lens unless the shutter is cocked. It fits the ETR, ETR-C, ETRS, ETRC and ETRSi without distinction, and takes the same 62 mm filters as the 40, 75, 150 and 200 mm primes.
The design was reworked early. By the 1982 Japanese camera annual, published in 1981, the ETR 50 mm had become a nine-element, eight-group Zenzanon-E of 480 g, and in 1988 the PE generation brought a nine-element, seven-group lens of 490 g that focused to 0.46 m and stopped down in half stops. The MC is the lightest and simplest of the three. No published review of the MC 50 on its own has been found, and the sources consulted give neither a list price nor a production end date.
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 50mm f/2.8 (ETR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
- 【美品】 ZENZA BRONICA ゼンザブロニカ ZENZANON MC 50mm F2.8 ETR用 #YS04356
- ゼンザブロニカ Zenza Bronica ETR Si / Zenzanon MC 50mm F2.8
- ゼンザブロニカ ZENZA BRONICA ZENZANON MC 50mm F2.8 ETR用 #Z7822
- ZENZA BRONICA ETR 中判 ボディ AE-II プリズムファインダー ZENZANON MC F2.8 50mm スピードグリップ付 遮光板欠品 ジャンク Y11828829
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.