Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4
Zenza Bronica · Bronica S · 1975 · Retrofocus wide-angle, 9 elements in 7 groups
Also known as: Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 · Zenzanon MC 40mm F4 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon MC 40mm F4 · Bronica Zenzanon 40mm f4 S2 · Zenzanon MC 1:4 f=40mm · Zenzanon 40mm F4 EC-TL · ゼンザノン MC 40mm F4 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン 40mm F4 · ZENZANON MC 40mm F4 ブロニカ S2
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon MC 1:4 f=40mm, small bayonet | Bronica S | 1975–1976 | — | — |
- Construction (9 elements in 7 groups), weight (about 330 g) and the 67 mm filter are from shiura.com, which also gives the multicoating as partial; Japanese Wikipedia gives the same 7群9枚; English Wikipedia's lens table gives 9e/7g, 0.27 m, 67 mm, 330 g and f/4–22; Sam Seiden's lens list as reproduced by Robert Monaghan gives 9e/7g, 27 cm, 67 mm and 330 g.
- Maker: Norita Kogaku, per English Wikipedia ('Manufactured by Norita Optical') and shiura.com, whose author adds that material is still being collected; Japanese Wikipedia names no maker for the 40 mm. The lens carries the Zenza Bronica name only.
- Years: shiura.com dates the lens to the EC-TL period, about 1975, and says it was sold only briefly before the 40 mm reverted to the Nikkor; the author attributes the halt of the Norita-built lenses to rumours of Bronica's financial trouble, which ended dealings with Norita ('ブロニカ経営状態悪化の噂が流れたことにより'), presented as the apparent reason rather than confirmed fact. No source gives a list price.
How to tell them apart
- A Bronica wide-angle the size of a standard lens: about 330 g and a 67 mm front, where the Nikkor-D 40mm f/4 is a large lens with a built-in hood (shiura.com)
- Engraved ZENZANON MC 1:4 f=40mm; the Bronica ETR and SQ systems also had 40mm f/4 Zenzanons (Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 for the ETR, Zenzanon-S 40mm f/4 for the SQ), but those carry a leaf shutter and the ETR or SQ bayonet; the focal-plane lens has no shutter, an open rear with the small bayonet and 57 mm thread, and fits only the Z/D, S, C, C2, S2, S2A, EC, EC-TL and EC-TL II
- On the camera it covers a slightly wider field than the Nikkor-D 40mm f/4, within the tolerance allowed for marked focal lengths (shiura.com)
Zenzanon MC 1:4 f=40mm, small bayonet:
- Nameplate reads ZENZANON MC 1:4 f=40mm; the barrel is the same unit as the Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 and 80mm f/2.4, differing only in the engraved scales, so with the caps on it is hard to tell from the 80mm f/2.4 (shiura.com)
- Small (inner) bayonet with the 57 mm thread inside it; no helicoid of its own, the body's focusing mount does the focusing
- 67 mm filter thread, the standard-lens size, against the much larger front of the Nikkor-D 40mm f/4 it replaced for a year (shiura.com)
- Zenzanon MC 1:4 f=40mm, small bayonet: The only version. Sold briefly around the launch of the EC-TL in 1975 together with the Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 and 80mm f/2.4, then withdrawn, after which the 40 mm focal length was again offered only as the Nikkor-D (shiura.com). The end year is not stated by any source; shiura.com says the Norita-built lenses had a short life, and the 1976 shown here is the latest year that fits that account rather than a documented date.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus wide-angle, 9 elements in 7 groups
- Construction
- 9 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.27 m
- Weight
- 330 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1975–1976
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Multicoated on some surfaces only (shiura.com)
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 MC 40mm f/4 was the shortest of the lenses Zenza Bronica sold under its own name for the focal-plane 6×6 bodies, and one of the shortest-lived. It appeared around 1975, when the EC-TL was launched, as one of three multicoated Zenzanons that shiura.com attributes to Norita Kogaku, the Tokyo lens maker better known for the Norita 66 reflex; the others were the 50mm f/2.8 and the 80mm f/2.4, and all three share one barrel, so that with caps on the 40 and the 80 are hard to tell apart. English Wikipedia’s lens table also credits the 40 to Norita; Japanese Wikipedia names no maker for it.
Its point was size. The Nikkor-D 40mm f/4 that Nippon Kogaku had supplied since the early 1960s is a large lens; the Zenzanon has nine elements in seven groups, weighs about 330 g, only 30 to 100 g more than a standard lens, and takes the same 67 mm filters as the standard lenses. Shiura found that on the camera it covered a slightly wider field than the Nikkor 40, within the deviation permitted for a marked focal length. It focuses to 0.27 m through the body’s focusing mount, like every small-bayonet Bronica lens, and stops down to f/22.
The sale did not last. Shiura’s account is that rumours of Bronica’s worsening finances circulated, dealings with Norita stopped, and the 40 mm focal length went back to being a Nikkor-only item; the author presents this as the apparent reason rather than a confirmed one. No source gives a list price or a production figure, and no review of the lens has been found. It fits every focal-plane Bronica from the Z/D to the EC-TL II, but not the later leaf-shutter ETR and SQ systems, which had 40mm f/4 Zenzanons of their own.
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 MC 40mm f/4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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