Zenzanon 50mm f/3.5 (SQ)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica SQ · 1980
Also known as: Zenzanon-S 50mm f/3.5 · Zenzanon-PS 50mm f/3.5 · Zenzanon PS 50mm F3.5 · Zenzanon S 50mm F3.5 · Bronica SQ 50mm f/3.5 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-PS 50mm 3.5 · Bronica Zenzanon 50/3.5 SQ · ZENZANON-PS 1:3.5 f=50mm · ゼンザノン PS 50mm F3.5 · ゼンザノン S 50mm F3.5 · ゼンザブロニカ SQ 50mm F3.5 · ブロニカ SQ 50mm F3.5
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-S 50mm f/3.5 (1980–) | Bronica SQ | 1980 | — | — |
| Zenzanon-PS 50mm f/3.5 (–2003) | Bronica SQ | 1996–2003 | — | — |
- Ten elements in eight groups for both versions: Japanese Wikipedia gives 8群10枚 for the S and the PS alike, and camera-wiki's table agrees. The two are variants of one design; the change is the barrel and the filter thread, 67 mm on the S and 77 mm on the PS.
- S figures (67 mm, 62 mm, 0.5 m, 560 g) are camera-wiki's; PS figures (77 mm, 61.7 mm long, 82 mm across, 590 g, f/3.5–22) are Tamron Japan's SQ-Ai table, with camera-wiki agreeing on 77 mm, 61.7 mm and 590 g, and the 76° angle of view Tamron's. The family filter, length and weight above are the S lens's; the PS variant carries its own 77 mm thread. Adrian Vila's complaint that his PS 50 needs a step-up ring to share 67 mm filters with his other lenses confirms the PS size from use.
- Dates. 1980 is the SQ launch (camera-wiki: it replaced the EC from August 1980), and the S 50 is in the 1982 Camera Nenkan list. The PS 50's first year, 1996, is the April 1996 US price list, the earliest dated document naming it; when the PS replaced the S is not established. Production of the SQ-Ai and its lenses ended at the end of September 2003 (Tamron notice via camera-wiki).
- Prices are Tamron US list prices for the PS: $2,093 in April 1996 and $2,372 in 2004. No price for the S version and no yen price have been found. A retailer's listing gives the S lens five aperture blades; it is a sales page, not a document, and the blade field is left empty.
How to tell them apart
- Bronica SQ four-claw bayonet with the Seiko #0 leaf shutter inside the lens and no shutter-speed ring; aperture and focus rings and a T setting only
- The filter thread tells the versions apart at a glance: 67 mm on the ZENZANON-S, 77 mm on the ZENZANON-PS, whose front is the odd one out in a kit of 67 mm lenses
- Not the Zenzanon MC 50mm f/2.8 for the focal-plane Bronica S2/EC, the Zenzanon MC/E/PE 50mm f/2.8 for the ETR or the Zenzanon-PG 50mm f/4.5 for the GS-1: different apertures, different mounts, none fits an SQ
Zenzanon-S 50mm f/3.5 (1980–):
- Engraved ZENZANON-S; 67 mm filter thread, the same as the 80 and the other mid-range SQ lenses; 62 mm long, 560 g (camera-wiki)
Zenzanon-PS 50mm f/3.5 (–2003):
- Engraved ZENZANON-PS; 77 mm filter thread, the odd size in an SQ kit otherwise on 67 mm; 61.7 mm long, 82 mm across, 590 g (Tamron Japan SQ-Ai table)
- Zenzanon-S 50mm f/3.5 (1980–): The first version, in the 1982 Camera Nenkan's SQ lens list: ten elements in eight groups, 67 mm filter, 0.5 m closest focus. No list price has been found.
- Zenzanon-PS 50mm f/3.5 (–2003): The later barrel on the same 10-element, 8-group formula, with a larger 77 mm front: 30 g heavier, 0.3 mm shorter, the same 0.5 m close focus and Tamron's 76° angle of view. $2,093 in Tamron's US list of April 1996, $2,372 in 2004. The first year given is the earliest dated listing found, not the launch of the PS version.
Specifications
- Construction
- 10 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5–f/22
- Shutter
- Seiko #0 electronic leaf shutter, timed by the body: 8 s–1/500 + T on the SQ, SQ-A and SQ-Am, 16 s–1/500 + T/B on the SQ-Ai, 8 s–1/500 on the SQ-B; mechanical 1/500 without a battery
- Min. focus
- 0.5 m
- Dimensions
- 62 mm long
- Weight
- 560 g
- Filter
- 67 mm (Zenzanon-S 50mm f/3.5 (1980–)) · 77 mm (Zenzanon-PS 50mm f/3.5 (–2003))
- Years manufactured
- 1980–2003
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- $2,093 (April 1996 US list, PS version); $2,372 (2004 US list) (today $4,180)
What reviewers say
- Adrian Vila (Emulsive), SQ-Ai with the PS 50, 80, 150 and 250 (blog) — A camera review with the PS 50 as his wide lens: the Zenzanon-PS lenses are "very, very sharp" and "not the fastest". His one specific note on the 50 is practical — its filter thread does not match the 67 mm of his other lenses, so it needs a step-up ring.
History
The 50mm f/3.5 is the Bronica SQ’s general-purpose wide-angle, 76° across the 6×6 frame by Tamron’s figure, and one of the lenses the system had from its launch in 1980: the Zenzanon-S 50mm f/3.5 is in the 1982 Camera Nenkan’s SQ list. It is a ten-element, eight-group retrofocus design focusing to 0.5 m, with the Seiko #0 leaf shutter that every SQ lens carries and the body times electronically — 8 s to 1/500 on the SQ, SQ-A and SQ-Am, 16 s to 1/500 with T and B on the SQ-Ai, and a mechanical 1/500 when the battery is dead. The S lens takes 67 mm filters like the 80 and the rest of the mid-range primes, is 62 mm long and weighs 560 g.
The Zenzanon-PS 50mm f/3.5 that succeeded it keeps the eight groups and ten elements on both Japanese Wikipedia’s lists and camera-wiki’s table, so it is a variant of the same lens, but the barrel changed: the front grew to a 77 mm filter thread, the length stayed at 61.7 mm and the weight rose to 590 g. That 77 mm front is the one practical nuisance in use — Adrian Vila, who carries the PS 50 with a PS 80, 150 and 250 on an SQ-Ai, notes that it is the lens in his kit that needs a step-up ring to share filters, and otherwise finds the Zenzanon-PS lenses very sharp and not very fast. Both versions mount on every SQ body. When the PS replaced the S is not dated; the PS is the version in Tamron’s US price list of April 1996, at $2,093, and in the 2004 list at $2,372, after production had ended in September 2003.
No dedicated test of the 50 in either version has been found in English or Japanese. Left open: a price for the S version, a yen price, the blade count and the year of the change to PS.
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 50mm f/3.5 (SQ)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
- 【返品保証】 ゼンザブロニカ Zenza Bronica ZENZANON-S 50mm F3.5 中判レンズ e12754
- 【返品保証】並品｜ZENZA BRONICA ZENZANON-PS F3.5 50mm 中判カメラ用 カメラレンズ ゼンザブロニカ #C260420-01
- [AB- Exc] ZENZA BRONICA ZENZANON-S 50mm f/3.5 Lens for SQ A Ai From JAPAN 9822
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