Zenzanon MC 80mm f/2.8 by Carl Zeiss Jena (Biometar)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica S · 1978 · Biometar type, 5 elements in 4 groups
Also known as: Zenzanon MC 80mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Jena · Zenzanon MC 80mm F2.8 by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR · Carl Zeiss Jena Zenzanon 80mm f2.8 Bronica · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon MC 80mm F2.8 Zeiss · Bronica Biometar 80mm f/2.8 · Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=80mm Carl Zeiss Jena DDR · Bronica EC-TL II 80mm f2.8 Zeiss Jena · ゼンザノン MC 80mm F2.8 カールツァイス イエナ · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン 80mm F2.8 ツァイス · ビオメター 80mm F2.8 ブロニカ · ZENZANON MC 80mm F2.8 Carl Zeiss Jena DDR ブロニカ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biometar 80mm f/2.8 MC, Zeiss name, Bronica small bayonet | Bronica S | — | — | A small number (Japanese Wikipedia), no figure given |
| Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=80mm 'by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR' | Bronica S | 1978–1980 | — | — |
- Construction: 4 groups/5 elements per Japanese Wikipedia, with a φ67 mm screw-in filter; English Wikipedia's table gives 5e/4g, f/2.8–22, 0.70 m and 67 mm, and no weight; Sam Seiden's list as reproduced by Robert Monaghan gives 5e/4g. camera-wiki calls it a 'Biometa type design', its spelling of Biometar. No source gives a weight, so the field is left empty.
- Why it exists: camera-wiki says the Nikkor 75 was the usual bundled lens, that 'problems with Nikon forced Bronica to consider other options', and that the lens changed to one 'marked 80mm f2.8 MC Zenzanon by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR'. Marc Small's view, recorded on Monaghan's page, is that Carl Zeiss Jena built it as licensing work for hard currency. Japanese Wikipedia names Carl Zeiss as the OEM; shiura.com calls it a double-brand lens made by Carl Zeiss Jena, the only Zenzanon whose maker is written on it.
- Price: ¥39,500 per shiura.com, which notes the lens is absent from the EC-TL catalogue list and was sold after that catalogue was issued; the year is therefore approximate, c.1978, the year of the EC-TL II.
- Years: Amateur Photographer of November 1978 (via Monaghan) reviewed it as the EC-TL II's standard lens; camera-wiki gives no year for the EC-TL II and 1980 for the end of the EC-TL line. The 1978 start is the earliest documented appearance, not a release date.
How to tell them apart
- The only Zenzanon of any Bronica system with a maker's name on the plate: 'by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR' beside the Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=80mm engraving
- No shutter and an open rear with the small bayonet and 57 mm thread; the Zenzanon-S and Zenzanon-PS 80mm f/2.8 of the SQ are leaf-shutter lenses with the SQ bayonet and no Zeiss marking
- Not to be confused with the Biometar 80mm f/2.8 in Pentacon Six or Exakta 66 mount, Zeiss Jena's own version of the same design with its own helicoid; the Bronica lens has none
- Fits the Z/D, S, C, C2, S2, S2A, EC, EC-TL and EC-TL II through the body's focusing mount
Biometar 80mm f/2.8 MC, Zeiss name, Bronica small bayonet:
- Carries the Biometar name rather than Zenzanon; otherwise the same 5-element MC lens in the Bronica small-bayonet barrel (Japanese Wikipedia)
Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=80mm 'by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR':
- Double-branded nameplate: ZENZANON MC 1:2.8 f=80mm with 'by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR' on the same ring (camera-wiki; shiura.com: the Zeiss origin 'is stated on the nameplate itself')
- Small (inner) bayonet with the 57 mm thread inside it; no helicoid and no shutter
- Biometar 80mm f/2.8 MC, Zeiss name, Bronica small bayonet: Japanese Wikipedia records that a small number were first sold under the Biometar name before the Zenzanon name was applied. No source dates the change or describes the plate in detail, and no photograph of one has been found; it is listed on that single report.
- Zenzanon MC 1:2.8 f=80mm 'by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR': The standard lens of the EC-TL II, reviewed as such by Amateur Photographer in November 1978 (reproduced by Robert Monaghan), and the form nearly every surviving example takes. The end year is the end of EC-TL/EC-TL II production in 1980, when the SQ replaced the line (camera-wiki); no separate date for the lens was published.
Specifications
- Formula
- Biometar type, 5 elements in 4 groups
- Construction
- 5 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.7 m
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1978–1980
- Country
- East Germany
- Coating
- Multicoated (MC on the nameplate)
- Original price
- ¥39,500 (c.1978, after the EC-TL catalogue) (today ¥65,000)
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 80mm f/2.8 “by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR” was the last standard lens of the focal-plane Bronica line, and the one with the most unusual origin. Since 1959 the camera’s normal lens had been the Nikkor-P 75mm f/2.8, but by the late 1970s Nippon Kogaku’s supply had become a problem; camera-wiki puts it that “problems with Nikon forced Bronica to consider other options”. Bronica had already tried a Topcon-built 75 and a Norita-built 80, each sold for about a year. The lasting answer came from East Germany: a five-element, four-group lens of the Biometar type, the design Zeiss Jena used for the standard lens of its own 6×6 reflexes, rehoused in a Bronica small-bayonet barrel without helicoid or shutter and engraved with both names. Marc Small’s reading, recorded on Robert Monaghan’s page, is that Carl Zeiss Jena took the work for hard currency. It is the only Zenzanon of any Bronica system to say who made it.
Japanese Wikipedia records that a small number went out first under the Biometar name before the Zenzanon name was applied; no further description of those has been found. In its usual form the lens was the standard lens of the EC-TL II, the last revision of the EC series, and Amateur Photographer reviewed the pair in November 1978. Shiura.com gives its price as ¥39,500, the same as the earlier Topcon-built 75, and notes that it does not appear in the EC-TL catalogue, having been issued after it. It focuses to 0.7 m through the body’s mount, stops down to f/22, takes 67 mm filters, and is multicoated; no source gives a weight. Production ended with the EC-TL II when the leaf-shutter SQ replaced the line in 1980.
No formal review has been found beyond the 1978 magazine piece; forum users who own one tend to compare it favourably with the Nikkor-P 75. It fits every focal-plane Bronica from the Z/D to the EC-TL II. When buying, look for the “by Carl Zeiss Jena DDR” wording on the ring: the Zenzanon-S and PS 80mm f/2.8 of the SQ are unrelated leaf-shutter lenses, and Zeiss Jena’s own Biometar 80 in Pentacon Six or Exakta 66 mount has its own helicoid and will not fit a Bronica without an adapter.
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 80mm f/2.8 by Carl Zeiss Jena (Biometar)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
- Carl Zeiss Jena DDR 80mm f/2.8 MC Biometar
- Carl Zeiss Jena DDR カールツァイス イエナ DDR MC BIOMETAR ビオメター 80mm F2.8
- BRONICA ブロニカ ZENZANON MC 80mm F2.8 Carl Zeiss Jena DDR S2/EC用
- ★実用美品★ BRONICA ZENZANON MC 80mm F2.8 CARL ZEISS JENA DDR S2A/EC用
- 【長期保管】BRONICA ブロニカ ZENZANON MC 80mm F2.8 Carl Zeiss Jena DDR ケンコー Kenko PLフィルター 偏光フィルター 67mm レンズ
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