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

Zenzanon-RF 135mm f/4.5

Zenza Bronica · Bronica RF · 2000 · Modified Gauss-type, 6 elements in 5 groups

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Zenzanon-RF 135mm f/4.5 · Zenzanon RF 135mm F4.5 · ZENZANON-RF 135mm F4.5 · Bronica RF 135mm f/4.5 · Bronica RF645 135mm f4.5 · Bronica Zenzanon-RF 135/4.5 · Zenza Bronica RF 135mm · ゼンザノンRF 135mm F4.5 · ゼンザノン RF 135mm F4.5 · ブロニカ RF645 135mm

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Zenzanon-RF 135mm f/4.5 (2000–2001, withdrawn) Bronica RF 2000–2001 — —
  1. Construction (5群6枚), the 1.8 m closest focus and the 62 mm screw-in attachment are Japanese Wikipedia's, which lists the lens as planned and 急遽発売中止, abruptly withdrawn, with the 100 issued as its substitute. The owner's manual (Tamron export edition) lists it as the system's telephoto with a 62 mm filter, f/4.5–32 and a 60° focus-ring rotation. Tamron Japan's surviving lens table omits it.
  2. No weight, length, angle of view, blade count or price was found in any source; the fields are left empty. The modified Gauss description is camera-wiki's.
  3. What happened to it: Mike Johnston (2009) says Bronica promised it for a long time, that some were made, that the rangefinder base was too short to focus it accurately without calibrating each body to its lens, and that production stopped and the 100 was offered instead; the UK dealer Robert White reportedly bought most of the remaining stock and sold a lens only with the buyer's body calibrated to it. Greenspun (2001) says Tamron USA chose not to import it. camera-wiki puts it in the launch set and says it was replaced by the 100; English Wikipedia says it was soon discontinued. Owners' reports of Tamron exchanging 135s for 100s and refitting finder masks were not reached directly.
  4. The 2001 end date is the year the 100 arrived and the year Greenspun reported it unavailable in the United States; no source gives a withdrawal date.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The rarest RF lens: a 135 mm f/4.5 (about an 80 mm equivalent on 35 mm film, Camera Legend) with the 62 mm thread it shares with the 100; read the ring, the two are not the same length but no measured length for the 135 was found
  • Needs a body whose finder carries a 135 mm frame, serial prefix 0, and by Johnston's account a body calibrated to the individual lens for reliable focus at full aperture
  • Not the Zenzanon-S 150mm, the Zenzanon-PE 135mm or Mamiya's 150mm f/4.5 for the Mamiya 7: this one reads RF and fits only the RF645

Zenzanon-RF 135mm f/4.5 (2000–2001, withdrawn):

  • 'ZENZANON-RF 135mm F4.5' on the front ring; 62 mm filter thread; aperture ring f/4.5 to f/32; a 60° focusing throw where the 45 and 65 turn 90° (owner's manual)
  • Matches the 135 mm bright frame of serial-prefix-0 bodies; on a prefix-1 body the finder has no frame for it

Specifications

Formula
Modified Gauss-type, 6 elements in 5 groups
Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/4.5–f/32
Shutter
Bronica #00 electronically controlled leaf shutter in the lens, cocked by a motor in the lens; B, 1–1/500 manual, 8s–1/500 aperture-priority, 8s–1/750 program (timed by the body)
Min. focus
1.8 m
Filter
62 mm
Years manufactured
2000–2001
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 Zenzanon-RF 135mm f/4.5 is the lens the Bronica RF645 was meant to have and briefly did. It was announced with the camera in 2000 as the system’s telephoto, and the owner’s manual printed for the first bodies describes it as a matter of course: a 135 mm f/4.5 with a 62 mm filter thread, f/4.5 to f/32, a 60° focusing throw, and a 135 mm bright frame in the body finder that switched in when it was mounted. Japanese Wikipedia gives six elements in five groups and a closest focus of 1.8 m, camera-wiki calls the design a modified Gauss, and Camera Legend puts it at about an 80 mm equivalent on 35 mm film. No weight, length or price survives in any source found, and Tamron Japan’s own lens table for the system, which lists the 45, 65 and 100, does not mention it.

What went wrong is told in pieces. Japanese Wikipedia says only that the release was abruptly cancelled and the 100mm f/4.5 issued instead. Mike Johnston, writing in 2009, says Bronica had promised the lens for a long time, that some were made, and that the RF645’s rangefinder base, 53.5 mm and 33 mm effective, was not enough to focus a 135 accurately unless each body was individually calibrated to its lens, which is why production stopped and the 100 was offered in its place; the British dealer Robert White reportedly bought most of the remaining stock and would sell a lens only to a customer who agreed to have the body calibrated to it. Philip Greenspun, reviewing the camera in November 2001, could name the 135 as the only telephoto and reported that Tamron USA had chosen not to import it, suggesting grey-market dealers instead. Bodies made after the change carry serial numbers beginning 1 and a 100 mm frame in place of the 135’s, and there are owners’ reports, not reached directly here, that Tamron exchanged 135s for 100s and refitted early finder masks.

It is now the rarest lens of a rare system, and sells accordingly: Camera Legend quoted $1,600 to $2,000 and more in early 2022, against $900–1,400 for the 100. Anyone buying one needs a serial-prefix-0 body for the frame, should expect to focus at full aperture only after the pair have been checked together, and should test the shutter and the electromagnetic diaphragm on that body, since neither works without one.

Left open: the weight and dimensions, the angle of view, the blade count, a price in any currency, how many were made, when exactly the withdrawal came, and whether Tamron ever documented the exchange programme.

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-RF 135mm f/4.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $300 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half $230–$300). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Zenzanon-RF 45mm f/4 · Zenzanon-RF 65mm f/4 · Zenzanon-RF 100mm f/4.5

Sources (8)

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.