Zenzanon-PE 50mm f/2.8 (ETR)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica ETR · 1988
Also known as: Zenzanon-PE 50mm f/2.8 · Zenzanon PE 50mm F2.8 · Zenzanon-PE 1:2.8 f=50mm · Bronica ETR 50mm f/2.8 PE · Bronica ETRSi 50mm f2.8 Zenzanon PE · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-PE 50mm F2.8 ETR · Bronica PE 50mm F2.8 · ゼンザノン PE 50mm F2.8 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン PE 50mm F2.8 ETR用 · ブロニカ ETRSi 50mm F2.8
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-PE 50mm f/2.8 (1988–2004) | Bronica ETR | 1988–2004 | — | — |
- Seven groups and nine elements, 490 g, 0.46 m and the US$1,811 list price are from Tamron USA's Bronica product page for the lens as archived in 2004. Japanese Wikipedia, citing プロフェッショナル中判カメラ p.112, gives the same 7群9枚, 0.46 m and φ62; Tamron Japan's archived English table gives 7-9.
- Length 50.5 mm, maximum diameter 82 mm, the f/2.8–22 range, 0.46 m and 490 g are from the live Tamron Japan ETRSi lens table (column 全長×最大径). The PE 40mm f/4 shares the same two dimensions on that table.
- Dates: 1988 is the start of the PE generation, which arrived with the ETRSi of December 1988 (Japanese Wikipedia); no source consulted names a launch date for the 50 mm itself. Still listed by Tamron USA in 2004, the last year of ETR production.
- E to PE. The Zenzanon-E 50mm of c.1981 has nine elements in eight groups; the PE has nine in seven, in every source consulted. No cross-section of either is published, so the PE may be the same glass regrouped with one more cemented pair rather than a new computation; on the published counts they are different designs, and the E has its own page, as does the eight-element MC of 1976.
- The diaphragm blade count is not given by any source consulted.
How to tell them apart
- The 50 mm wide-angle for the Bronica ETR bayonet, 62 mm filter, ZENZANON-PE on the front ring, half-stop aperture clicks 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 not the Zenzanon-PS 50mm f/3.5 for the 6×6 Bronica SQ, which is an f/3.5 on its own bayonet. The ETR lens is the f/2.8 marked PE
- Against the earlier ETR 50s: ZENZANON MC (eight elements, 464 g) and ZENZANON-E (nine elements in eight groups, 480 g) both have full-stop clicks and focus no closer than 0.5 m
Zenzanon-PE 50mm f/2.8 (1988–2004):
- Front ring engraved ZENZANON-PE; aperture ring with half-stop click stops, f/2.8 to f/22
- Nine elements in seven groups, 490 g, 82 mm across and 50.5 mm long, focusing to 0.46 m (Tamron tables)
- The same 82 × 50.5 mm barrel as the Zenzanon-PE 40mm f/4, so the focal length on the ring is the tell
- Zenzanon-PE 50mm f/2.8 (1988–2004): The final ETR 50 mm, sold from the ETRSi era until Tamron's 2004 price list. The PE line is dated from the ETRSi of December 1988; no source consulted gives this lens's own launch date.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus wide-angle, 9 elements in 7 groups (the third of three formulas used for the ETR 50 mm)
- Construction
- 9 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- 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
- 0.46 m
- Dimensions
- 82 × 50.5 mm
- Weight
- 490 g
- Filter
- 62 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1988–2004
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Multicoated (PE generation)
- Original price
- US$1,811 list (Tamron USA, 2004) (today $3,010)
What reviewers say
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History
The Zenzanon-PE 50mm f/2.8 is the last of three lenses Bronica sold as the ETR 50 mm, the 30 mm-equivalent wide-angle of the 6×4.5 leaf-shutter system and, with the PE 40mm, one of the two wide primes of the PE generation that came with the ETRSi of December 1988. Nine elements in seven groups, 490 g, 82 mm across and 50.5 mm long, half-stop clicks from f/2.8 to f/22 and the PE multicoating; it focuses to 0.46 m, a little closer than its predecessors, through the 62 mm filter thread shared by most ETR primes. On Tamron’s tables it and the PE 40 have exactly the same two outside dimensions.
The earlier 50s were an eight-element, seven-group ZENZANON MC of 1976 at 464 g and a nine-element, eight-group ZENZANON-E of about 1981 at 480 g. The E and the PE have the same number of elements, and every source consulted gives them a different number of groups; without a published cross-section it cannot be said whether the PE is the E glass with one more pair cemented or a new computation, only that on the record they are two designs. All three fit all five ETR bodies, each carrying its own Seiko #0 leaf shutter timed by the body from 8 s to 1/500 with T, B being added on the ETRSi, and firing mechanically at 1/500 without a battery; none mounts or dismounts unless the shutter is cocked.
Tamron USA still listed the lens in 2004 at US$1,811, a little below the US$1,987 PE 40mm, in the year Tamron’s Bronica line ended. No published review of the PE 50 has been found; a search returns dealer stock and the 60mm f/2.8 PE that sits between it and the 75 mm normal. The sources consulted give neither a diaphragm blade count nor a launch date for the lens itself.
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 50mm f/2.8 (ETR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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