Zenzanon-PS 135mm f/4 (SQ)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica SQ · 1996
Also known as: Zenzanon-PS 135mm f/4 · Zenzanon PS 135mm F4 · Bronica SQ 135mm f/4 · Bronica Zenzanon-PS 135mm F4 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-PS 135mm f4 · Bronica SQ-A 135mm f4 · Bronica SQ-Ai 135mm F4.0 · ZENZANON-PS 1:4 f=135mm · ゼンザノン PS 135mm F4 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノンPS 135mm F4 · ブロニカ SQ 135mm F4
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-PS 135mm f/4 | Bronica SQ | 1996–2003 | — | — |
- Six elements in four groups: Tamron USA's 2004 page and Japanese Wikipedia (4群6枚, citing プロフェッショナル中判カメラ p.113), matched by camera-wiki. Closest focus 1.0 m, f/4–32, 67 mm filter, 79 × 83 mm and 755 g: Tamron Japan (2001), Tamron USA (2004) and camera-wiki agree. Tamron USA adds a 32.8° angle of view and calls it a 76 mm equivalent on 35 mm. No source gives the blade count.
- Years. The lens is listed from 1996, the date of Tamron USA's SQ-Ai price list of 15 April 1996, the earliest document read that names it; the PS line is older, but no source gives the year it or this lens appeared. Production ended with the SQ-Ai in September 2003 (camera-wiki).
- Prices: $1,933 on Tamron USA's list of 15 April 1996, the cheapest PS lens after the $1,465 PS 80; $2,191 on Tamron USA's 2004 page. No yen price was found.
- Shutter and aperture ring are system values from Tamron Japan's SQ-Basic specification (Seiko #0 electronically controlled, 8 s–1/500, mechanical about 1/500, half-stop clicks) and camera-wiki (T on every lens; 16 s and bulb on the SQ-Ai).
How to tell them apart
- An SQ lens, with the four-claw SQ bayonet and its own Seiko #0 leaf shutter (Tamron Japan); the Zenzanon-PE 135mm f/4 for the 6×4.5 ETR bodies and the Nikkor-Q 135mm f/3.5 of the focal-plane Bronicas are different lenses on mounts that do not interchange
- Told from the PS 150mm f/4 beside it by the focal length on the ring and the closer 1.0 m focus (the 150 stops at 1.5 m); same thread, same 83 mm diameter, 5 mm longer and 5 g heavier
Zenzanon-PS 135mm f/4:
- 79 mm long and 83 mm across at 755 g, with a 67 mm thread — the same length as the 110mm f/4 macro and 5 mm longer than the PS 150 (Tamron Japan; camera-wiki)
- Product code BQ1266 on Tamron USA's 1996 list; hood BQ1404, shared with the PS 180, 200 and 250 (1996), later sold as 'lens hood S for PS 135' (2004)
- Zenzanon-PS 135mm f/4: The only version, and a PS-only focal length: the S line had a 105mm f/3.5 in this slot and no 135. It is listed from 1996, the earliest document that names it, and ran until SQ production ended in September 2003; Tamron USA's product page was still live in June 2004.
Specifications
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4–f/32
- Shutter
- Seiko #0 electronic leaf in the lens, 8 s–1/500 and T (16 s and B with the SQ-Ai body), mechanical 1/500 without power; f/4–32 with half-stop detents
- Min. focus
- 1 m
- Dimensions
- 83 × 79 mm
- Weight
- 755 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1996–2003
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- $1,933 (Tamron USA SQ-Ai list, 15 April 1996); $2,191 (Tamron USA list, 2004) (today $3,860)
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-PS 135mm f/4 is a short telephoto that exists only in Bronica’s second SQ lens line. The first line had a 105mm f/3.5 in this place; when the range was redrawn as Zenzanon-PS the 105 was dropped and a 135 appeared between the new 110 mm macro and the 150. It is a six-element, four-group lens focusing to 1.0 m — half a metre closer than the 150 — stopping down to f/32 in half-stop clicks, 79 mm long and 755 g, on the 67 mm thread most SQ lenses share. Tamron USA, which sold Bronica in the United States, gives its angle of view as 32.8° and calls it the equivalent of a 76 mm on 35 mm film.
Its dates are the dates of the PS line, which no source read for this page fixes: the earliest document naming the lens is Tamron USA’s price list of April 1996, where it was $1,933, the least expensive PS lens after the 80 mm standard. It was still in the Japanese range in 2001 and on Tamron USA’s site in 2004 at $2,191, and production ended with the last SQ-Ai in September 2003. Tamron’s 2004 copy sold it on the close focus, “just over 3 feet”, and on the separation of subject from background at full aperture.
No published review of the 135 was found; the 150 was the telephoto most SQ users bought, and the writing is about that lens. Like every SQ lens it carries its own Seiko #0 electronic leaf shutter, 8 seconds to 1/500 with a mechanical 1/500 without power, a T setting, and the four-claw bayonet that fits every SQ body from 1980 to the SQ-B. The 1996 hood for it was the screw-in BQ1404 shared with the 180, 200 and 250; by 2004 Tamron listed a hood S for the PS 135 by 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-PS 135mm f/4 (SQ)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.