Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8
Zenza Bronica · Bronica S · 1975
Also known as: Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 · Zenzanon MC 50mm F2.8 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon MC 50mm F2.8 · Bronica Zenzanon 50mm f2.8 S2 · Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=50mm · Zenzanon 50mm F2.8 EC-TL · ゼンザノン MC 50mm F2.8 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン 50mm F2.8 · ZENZANON MC 50mm F2.8 ブロニカ S2
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=50mm, small bayonet | Bronica S | 1975–1976 | — | — |
- Construction: 7 groups/8 elements per shiura.com and Japanese Wikipedia; English Wikipedia's table gives 8e/7g, f/2.8–22, 0.33 m, 67 mm and 320 g; Sam Seiden's list as reproduced by Robert Monaghan gives 8e/7g and 67 mm. Weight: 320 g (English Wikipedia) against about 330 g (shiura.com).
- Maker: Norita Kogaku per English Wikipedia ('Manufactured by Norita Optical') and shiura.com, whose author notes that material is still being collected; Japanese Wikipedia names no maker. shiura.com attributes the end of the Norita-built lenses to rumours of Bronica's financial trouble, which stopped dealings with Norita, presented as the apparent reason rather than confirmed fact.
- No source gives a list price for the 50 mm; it is absent from the EC-TL catalogue list that shiura.com reproduces for the 75, 80 and 100 mm Zenzanons.
How to tell them apart
- A 50 mm for the focal-plane Bronica that is the size of a standard lens, with a 67 mm front; the Nikkor-O 50mm f/2.8 and Nikkor-H 50mm f/3.5 are both much larger (shiura.com)
- Engraved ZENZANON MC 1:2.8 f=50mm, with no shutter and an open rear carrying the small bayonet and 57 mm thread; the Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 for the Bronica ETR has the same name but a Seiko leaf shutter and the ETR bayonet, and the SQ's wide is a 50mm f/3.5
- Fits the Z/D, S, C, C2, S2, S2A, EC, EC-TL and EC-TL II through the body's focusing mount
Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=50mm, small bayonet:
- Nameplate reads ZENZANON MC 1:2.8 f=50mm; the barrel is the same unit as the Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 and 80mm f/2.4, differing only in the engraved aperture scale (shiura.com)
- Small (inner) bayonet with the 57 mm thread inside it; no helicoid of its own
- Much smaller and lighter than either Bronica Nikkor 50, the Nikkor-O f/2.8 and the Nikkor-H f/3.5 (shiura.com)
- Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=50mm, small bayonet: The only version. Released around 1975 with the EC-TL, alongside the Zenzanon MC 40mm f/4 and 80mm f/2.4, and soon removed from the catalogue (shiura.com). The end year is not stated by any source; the 1976 shown here is the latest year that fits shiura.com's account of a short life, not a documented date.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus wide-angle, 8 elements in 7 groups — the same power arrangement as the Nikkor-O 50mm f/2.8 with shorter air spaces (shiura.com)
- Construction
- 8 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.33 m
- Weight
- 320 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1975–1976
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Multicoated (MC on the nameplate)
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 50mm f/2.8 is the compact 50 mm that Zenza Bronica sold for about a year around 1975, when the EC-TL came out, in place of the two Nikkor 50s that Nippon Kogaku had supplied since the early 1960s. It was one of three multicoated Zenzanons that shiura.com attributes to Norita Kogaku, with the 40mm f/4 and 80mm f/2.4, and the three share a single barrel in which only the engraved scales differ. English Wikipedia also credits it to Norita; Japanese Wikipedia gives the construction and no maker.
Optically it is a retrofocus design of eight elements in seven groups. Shiura describes its power layout as the same as the Nikkor-O 50mm f/2.8’s but with shorter air spaces, a more modern arrangement that brought the size down: the Zenzanon is much smaller and lighter than either the Nikkor-O f/2.8 or the slower Nikkor-H f/3.5, at 320 g by English Wikipedia’s table or about 330 g by Shiura’s scales, and it takes the 67 mm filters of the standard lenses. Like every small-bayonet Bronica lens it has no helicoid of its own and focuses through the body’s focusing mount, to 0.33 m, and it stops down to f/22.
Its life was short. Shiura’s account is that rumours of Bronica’s worsening financial state put an end to its dealings with Norita, and the lens disappeared from the catalogue; the author offers this as the apparent reason rather than an established one. No list price has been found, it is absent from the EC-TL catalogue list that Shiura reproduces, and no review of it has been found. It fits every focal-plane Bronica from the Z/D to the EC-TL II; the later Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 for the ETR is a different, leaf-shutter lens that only shares the name.
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 50mm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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