Komura 45mm f/4.5 (Bronica)
Sankyo Koki · Bronica S · 1965 · Retrofocus wide-angle, 7 elements in 7 groups
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Komura 45mm f/4.5 Bronica · Komura 45mm F4.5 for Bronica · Sankyo Koki Komura 45mm f/4.5 · Sankyo Kohki Komura 45mm F4.5 Bronica · KOMURA 45mm F4.5 For BRONICA · Komura 4.5/45 Zenza Bronica S2A · Auto Komura 45mm F4.5 · コムラー 45mm F4.5 ブロニカ · 三協光機 コムラー 45mm F4.5 · ゼンザブロニカ用 コムラー 45mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Komura 45mm f/4.5 for Bronica, automatic diaphragm (1965–66 on) | Bronica S | 1965 | — | — |
- Element and group count, automatic diaphragm and 82 mm filter are from Japanese Wikipedia's Komura table alone; camera-wiki's Bronica lens list and Monaghan's consolidated list name the lens without specifications. Neither weight, length, minimum focus, blade count nor minimum aperture has been published.
- Date: Myron Seiden's lens history, as given on Monaghan's page, puts the Komura lenses at 1965–66, between the first Nikkors (1958–65) and the Zenzanons (1966 on), with the 45mm f/4.5 in that list. No source dates the lens itself more closely or gives an end of sale.
- Who sold it: Seiden says the Komura lenses were marketed by the US Bronica importer and never appeared in Bronica's own Japanese literature; Japanese Wikipedia says they were sold by Sankyo Koki itself. The two are compatible — the maker sold the lens under its own name, and the American importer carried it alongside the Nikkors — but no price list from either side has been found.
How to tell them apart
- Engraved Komura with the maker's name Sankyo Kōki (Sankyo Kohki in the US importer's spelling), not Nikkor or Zenzanon, on a Bronica small-bayonet mount with an automatic diaphragm
- The widest Komura for the Bronica and the only one with an 82 mm filter thread; the Bronica-made alternatives at this end of the range are the Nikkor-D 40mm f/4 and the Zenzanon 40mm f/4 (Japanese Wikipedia; Monaghan's consolidated list)
- Not a Komura lens for a 35 mm camera: a 45 mm Komura is not recorded in the Leica-thread, Nikon-S or Uni-mount lines, so a Komura engraved 45mm is a Bronica lens
Komura 45mm f/4.5 for Bronica, automatic diaphragm (1965–66 on):
- Automatic diaphragm, so it carries the small-bayonet coupling and mounts on the front of the Bronica focusing helicoid like the Nikkors from 40 to 200 mm (Japanese Wikipedia's lens table; the mount description on the same page)
- 82 mm screw-in filter, the widest front of the small-bayonet Komuras; the 50 mm takes 77 mm and the 100, 150 and 200 mm lenses 62–67 mm (Japanese Wikipedia)
- Komura 45mm f/4.5 for Bronica, automatic diaphragm (1965–66 on): The only version recorded. Japanese Wikipedia's table gives seven elements in seven groups, an automatic diaphragm and an 82 mm screw-in filter, and no other source adds a figure. Seiden's history on Monaghan's page places the Komura line in 1965–66, after the first Nikkors and before the Zenzanons; no end date is published.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus wide-angle, 7 elements in 7 groups
- Construction
- 7 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4.5
- Filter
- 82 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 45mm f/4.5 was the wide-angle of the lens line that Sankyo Koki, the Tokyo maker of the Komura lenses for 35 mm rangefinders and SLRs, built for the focal-plane Bronica around 1965–66. Myron Seiden’s history of the Bronica lenses, as given on Robert Monaghan’s page, puts the Komuras between the first Nikkors of 1958–65 and the Zenzanons that began in 1966, and names the 45mm f/4.5 at the head of that list; Seiden also records that the Komura lenses were marketed by the US importer and never appeared in Bronica’s own Japanese literature, while Japanese Wikipedia says they were sold by Sankyo Koki itself. Neither account gives a price.
Japanese Wikipedia’s table is the only source of its specification: seven elements in seven groups, an automatic diaphragm and an 82 mm screw-in filter, the largest front in the Komura range for the Bronica. The automatic diaphragm means the lens carries the small-bayonet coupling and sits on the front of the Bronica focusing helicoid, as the Nikkors from 40 to 200 mm do, so it fits every focal-plane body from the Z/D to the EC-TL II. The small bayonet did not change when the large bayonet did at the C of 1964. Nothing has been published on its weight, length, minimum focus or blade count.
Its nearest rivals in the system were the Nikkor-D 40mm f/4 and the later Zenzanon 40mm f/4, both a little wider and a third of a stop faster. No review of the Komura 45 has been found; the one user verdict on record is Gene Pallat’s, on the Bronica mailing list in 2000, who had used the 45 and the 150 with a 75mm Nikkor on an S2A and found both Komuras “very good”. Copies are uncommon on the market and the lens is usually offered as a Sankyo Kohki or Komura 45mm for Bronica S2, S2A or EC.
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 45mm f/4.5 (Bronica)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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