Zenzanon-PE 250mm f/5.6 (ETR)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1988
Also known as: Zenzanon-PE 250mm f/5.6 · Zenzanon PE 250mm F5.6 · Bronica PE 250mm f5.6 · Bronica ETRSi 250mm f/5.6 PE · Bronica ETR-Si 250mm F5.6 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon PE 250mm f/5.6 ETR · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン PE 250mm F5.6 · ゼンザノン PE 250mm F5.6 · ブロニカ ETRSi 250mm F5.6
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-PE 250mm f/5.6 | Bronica ETR | 1988–2004 | — | — |
- Construction, angle of view, aperture range, closest focus, filter size, 147 × 82 mm and 910 g are from Tamron's ETRSi lens table (tamron.co.jp) and Tamron USA's 2004 product page, which agree in every figure; Japanese Wikipedia, citing プロフェッショナル中判カメラ p.112, gives the same 6 groups / 6 elements, 3.0 m and 62 mm.
- Formula. Its 6 elements in 6 groups match the count of the original MC 250 of 1976 (f/5.6–22, 3.5 m, 148 mm) rather than the 5/5 Zenzanon-E that came between (f/32, 3 m, 820 g). No source says the PE revived the first design; its f/45 scale, 3 m focus and 910 g weight are its own, and the PE coatings are new.
- Years. The PE series arrived with the ETRSi, released December 1988 (Japanese Wikipedia); no source dates the PE 250 itself, so 1988 is the series date. It was still on Tamron USA's list in 2004; Japanese Wikipedia says the remaining Bronica lines were withdrawn one by one before the RF645 ended on 20 October 2005.
- Blades and a yen list price were not found; the fields are left empty.
How to tell them apart
- ZENZANON-PE on the name ring, half-stop aperture clicks and an aperture scale running to f/45: the MC 250 stops at f/22 and the E 250 at f/32, both in full stops
- A 62 mm front thread on a barrel 82 mm across and 147 mm long, with its own Seiko #0 leaf shutter and the four-claw ETR bayonet; mounts only with the shutter cocked
- Not the Zenzanon-PS 250mm f/5.6 for the SQ bodies or the Zenzanon-PG 250mm f/5.6 for the GS-1, which carry those suffixes and other bayonets
Zenzanon-PE 250mm f/5.6:
- Engraved ZENZANON-PE 1:5.6 f=250mm; aperture ring with half-stop detents from f/5.6 to f/45, the smallest stop of any ETR prime below 500 mm
- Takes lens hood E, shared with the PE 135 to 200; 82 mm across and 147 mm long
- Zenzanon-PE 250mm f/5.6: The only version. Tamron's Japanese and American ETRSi pages agree on 6 groups / 6 elements, 16.2°, f/5.6–45 with half-stop detents, 3 m, 62 mm, 147 × 82 mm and 910 g. Tamron USA listed it in 2004 at $2,001 as 'a true telephoto lens well suited for blurring the background from the subject', with PE coatings for interiors and indoor sports.
Specifications
- Construction
- 6 elements / 6 groups
- Aperture range
- f/5.6–f/45
- Shutter
- Seiko #0 electronically controlled between-lens leaf shutter, 8s–1/500 plus T and B (B on an ETRSi body); mechanical 1/500 without battery; the speed is set on the body
- Min. focus
- 3 m
- Dimensions
- 82 × 147 mm
- Weight
- 910 g
- Filter
- 62 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1988–2004
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- PE multicoating; Tamron USA: 'PE coatings reduce internal flare'
- Original price
- US$2,001 list (Tamron USA, 2004) (today $3,320)
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-PE 250mm f/5.6 is the last of three 250 mm lenses for Bronica’s 6×4.5 ETR bodies, the PE generation that arrived with the ETRSi in December 1988. Tamron’s specification gives six elements in six groups, a 16.2° angle of view, f/5.6 to f/45 in half-stop clicks, closest focus at 3 m, a 62 mm filter thread, 147 mm long by 82 mm across and 910 g, the heaviest of the three. The count matches the original MC 250 of 1976 rather than the five-element Zenzanon-E that came between, but nothing published says the first design was revived; the PE’s f/45 minimum, its 3 m focus and its coatings are its own.
What the PE series changed across the line, as a long-time user set it out on the medfmt page in 2001, was half-stop aperture detents coupled to the AE-II and AE-III metering prisms, improved optics, and an easier T setting; a 1998 poster added that the P-series lenses were reformulated on MTF theory and tested in the British photo press against Zeiss lenses for Hasselblad. Tamron USA’s copy for the 250 presents it as a true telephoto for separating a subject from its background, with PE coatings against internal flare for interiors and indoor sports. As on every ETR lens the shutter is the lens’s own, an electronically timed Seiko #0 running from 8 s to 1/500 with the speed set on the body, T on the lens, B on an ETRSi, and a mechanical 1/500 when the battery is dead; it mounts only with the shutter cocked. Lens hood E, shared with the PE 135 and 200, fits the 82 mm barrel.
No review of it has been found. The only user comparison on record, from 1998, is a Medium Format Digest poster who rented a PE 250 to shoot beside his MC lenses and could not find a difference, while admitting he had heard the longer pre-PE telephotos fell short of the PE. For anyone with a metered prism the half-stop coupling is the practical argument for the PE over the two earlier 250s, whichever glass is sharper.
It listed at $2,001 from Tamron USA in 2004, in the system’s final years, against $1,835 for the PE 200; the Bronica lines were withdrawn one after another before the RF645 closed the company’s history in October 2005. Used, recent dealer and auction prices range from under a hundred to a few hundred dollars, with the PE commanding more than the MC and E lenses. Check that the Seiko shutter cocks, runs true at the slow end and holds on T, that the diaphragm closes to f/45, and that the half-stop clicks are crisp, since worn detents lose the prism coupling that is the lens’s point.
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-PE 250mm f/5.6 (ETR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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