Komura 200mm f/3.5 (Bronica)
Sankyo Koki · Bronica S · 1965 · 5 elements in 5 groups (air-spaced)
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Komura 200mm f/3.5 Bronica · Komura 200mm F3.5 for Zenza Bronica · Sankyo Koki Komura 200mm f3.5 Bronica · Sankyo Kohki Komura 200mm F3.5 Bronica S2 · Komura 200/3.5 Bronica · Komura 200mm f/3.5 for Bronica S2 S2A EC · Zenza Bronica Komura 200mm f3.5 · コムラー 200mm F3.5 ブロニカ · 三協光機 コムラー 200mm F3.5 ゼンザブロニカ用 · コムラー 200mm F3.5 ゼンザブロニカ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Komura 200mm f/3.5 for Zenza Bronica, automatic diaphragm | Bronica S | 1965 | — | — |
- Construction (5 groups, 5 elements), automatic diaphragm and the 67 mm screw-in attachment are from Japanese Wikipedia's Komura list on the ゼンザブロニカ page, which gives no years, prices, weights or close-focus figures for any Komura lens. camera-wiki's Bronica lens list confirms the focal length and aperture and adds only 'focus mod I'. No maker catalogue for the Bronica Komuras has been read.
- Date: no source dates the Bronica Komuras. The year given here is approximate. Mike Eckman reproduces a 1965 EPOI dealer catalogue listing some forty Komura lenses from 28 mm to 800 mm, and the Unihelicoid II focusing mounts of the Komura tele heads exist for the large bayonet introduced with the Bronica C in December 1964, so the Bronica range belongs to the mid-1960s; which year this lens first appeared, and when it was dropped, is not recorded.
- Fit: Japanese Wikipedia does not say which of the Bronica's bayonets the 200 mm Komuras use. An automatic-diaphragm lens of this length on the focal-plane Bronica would be expected to sit on the small front bayonet of the focusing unit, as the 200 mm Nikkor does, and sellers offer it for the S2, S2A and EC; neither point is confirmed by a document read for this page.
- Not to be confused with Sankyo Koki's 200mm f/3.5 for 35 mm SLRs, sold with Unidapter interchangeable mounts (Exakta, Minolta, Olympus OM and others appear on forum copies) and as the 'Super Komura Uni Auto 200mm f/3.5'. Those are different lenses for a different format; their reviews say nothing about the Bronica lens.
How to tell them apart
- Engraved Komura with the Sankyo Koki (Sankyo Kohki) maker's name; a 200 mm, f/3.5, automatic diaphragm, 67 mm filter thread, on a focal-plane Bronica bayonet rather than a Unidapter screw mount
- Two Komura 200 mm lenses exist for the Bronica, f/3.5 and f/4; both are 5-element, 5-group designs with 67 mm filters by Japanese Wikipedia's figures, so the engraved aperture is the one sure distinction
- Not the Zenzanon MC 200mm f/3.5 or the Nikkor-P 200mm f/4 for the same bodies, which carry their own names; not a Komura 200mm f/3.5 with a 39 mm Unidapter thread, which is the 35 mm-format lens
Komura 200mm f/3.5 for Zenza Bronica, automatic diaphragm:
- A Komura-badged 200 mm with an automatic diaphragm and a 67 mm filter thread, for the focal-plane Bronica (Japanese Wikipedia)
- Listed by camera-wiki as '200mm f3.5 Komura (focus mod I)', against 'focus mod II' for the 300, 400 and 500 mm Unihelicoid heads; the page does not define either term
- Komura 200mm f/3.5 for Zenza Bronica, automatic diaphragm: The only version that can be described. Japanese Wikipedia prints the identical line 'コムラー200mmF3.5 - 5群5枚。自動絞り。アタッチメントはφ67mmねじ込み。' twice in its Komura list without explaining the duplication; it may be a simple editing error or a trace of two barrel versions. No source read for this page settles it, and no barrel, coating or mount change is documented.
Specifications
- Formula
- 5 elements in 5 groups (air-spaced)
- Construction
- 5 elements / 5 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1965
- 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 Komura 200mm f/3.5 was the faster of the two 200 mm lenses that Sankyo Koki, the Tokyo maker of the Komura brand, sold for the focal-plane Zenza Bronica of the 1960s and 1970s. Bronica’s own long lenses in the 1960s were Nikkors; Komura, by 1960 one of Japan’s largest independent lens makers, offered a parallel range for the camera that ran from a 45 mm wide-angle through 50, 100, 135, 150 and 200 mm lenses to the 300, 400 and 500 mm heads on its Unihelicoid focusing mounts, plus a 2× Telemore 66 converter. Japanese Wikipedia gives this lens as five elements in five groups, with an automatic diaphragm and a 67 mm screw-in filter thread; camera-wiki lists it with the note “focus mod I”, which it does not explain, against “focus mod II” for the three Unihelicoid heads.
Nothing else about it is well recorded. No source gives a launch year, a price, a weight or a closest focusing distance, and no maker’s catalogue for the Bronica Komuras has been read for this page; the mid-1960s date rests on the Komura line as a whole, which Mike Eckman’s reproduction of a 1965 EPOI dealer catalogue shows running from 28 mm to 800 mm, and on the existence of Unihelicoid II mounts for the large bayonet that arrived with the Bronica C in December 1964. Japanese Wikipedia prints its line for the lens twice, which may be an editing slip or may hint at two barrel versions; no photographed pair has been compared to say which. Whether it mounts on the small front bayonet of the Bronica’s focusing unit, as a 200 mm automatic-diaphragm lens on this camera would be expected to, is likewise not stated in a document read for this page, though sellers offer it for the S2, S2A and EC.
It should not be confused with the Komura 200mm f/3.5 for 35 mm SLRs, a preset lens sold with Sankyo Koki’s Unidapter interchangeable mounts, nor with the later Super Komura Uni Auto 200mm f/3.5. Those are different lenses for a smaller format, and the forum reports of their colour and bokeh say nothing about the Bronica lens, for which no review has been found. On the Bronica it competed with Nikon’s Nikkor-P 200mm f/4 and, from the 1970s, Bronica’s own Zenzanon MC 200mm f/3.5; a buyer today should check that the automatic diaphragm still closes and opens cleanly with the body’s release, that the 67 mm thread is undamaged, and that the lens actually carries a Bronica bayonet rather than an adapted 35 mm-format barrel.
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 Komura 200mm f/3.5 (Bronica)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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