Zenzanon-PS 180mm f/4.5 (SQ)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica SQ · 1996
Also known as: Zenzanon-PS 180mm f/4.5 · Zenzanon PS 180mm F4.5 · Bronica SQ 180mm f/4.5 · Bronica Zenzanon-PS 180mm F4.5 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-PS 180mm f4.5 · Bronica SQ-A 180mm f4.5 · Bronica SQ-Ai 180mm F4.5 · ZENZANON-PS 1:4.5 f=180mm · ゼンザノン PS 180mm F4.5 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノンPS 180mm F4.5 · ブロニカ SQ 180mm F4.5
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-PS 180mm f/4.5 | Bronica SQ | 1996–2003 | — | — |
- Nine elements in eight groups: Tamron USA's 2004 page and Japanese Wikipedia (8群9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/4.5–32, 67 mm filter, 96 × 83 mm and 865 g: Tamron Japan (2001), Tamron USA (2004) and camera-wiki agree. Tamron USA adds a 24.7° angle of view and calls it a 100 mm equivalent on 35 mm. No source read 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: $2,660 on Tamron USA's list of 15 April 1996 — above every other PS prime except the $13,847 fluorite 500 — and $2,740 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 180mm f/4.5 for the 6×4.5 ETR bodies is a different lens on a mount that does not interchange
- Told from the PS 200mm f/4.5 by the focal length on the ring, 11 mm less length and the 1.0 m close focus against the 200's 2.5 m; same f/4.5, same thread, same hood and hard case
Zenzanon-PS 180mm f/4.5:
- Engraved ZENZANON-PS with f/4.5 on the ring; 96 mm long, 83 mm across, 865 g, 67 mm thread (Tamron Japan; Tamron USA) — between the 74 mm PS 150 and the 107 mm PS 200 in the same 83 mm barrel diameter
- Focuses to 1.0 m, closer than the 150 (1.5 m) and the 200 (2.5 m) on either side of it
- Product code BQ1268 on Tamron USA's 1996 list; hood BQ1404 shared with the PS 135, 200 and 250; hard case BQ1432 'for PS 180/200mm'
- Zenzanon-PS 180mm f/4.5: The only version, and a PS-only focal length: the S line went 150 → 200 with nothing between. Nine elements in eight groups, it is the most complex lens of the PS range short of the 500 and the zoom, and the dearest prime after the 500. Listed from 1996, the earliest document that names it, until SQ production ended in September 2003; Tamron USA's product page was still live in June 2004.
Specifications
- Construction
- 9 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4.5–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/4.5–32 with half-stop detents
- Min. focus
- 1 m
- Dimensions
- 83 × 96 mm
- Weight
- 865 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1996–2003
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- $2,660 (Tamron USA SQ-Ai list, 15 April 1996); $2,740 (Tamron USA list, 2004) (today $5,320)
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 180mm f/4.5 is the long portrait lens of Bronica’s second SQ line and a focal length the first line never had: the Zenzanon-S range went straight from 150 to 200 mm. It is also the most elaborate prime in the PS range below the 500, nine elements in eight groups, and its closest focus of 1.0 m is nearer than either neighbour, the 150 at 1.5 m and the 200 at 2.5 m. It stops down to f/32 in half-stop clicks, is 96 mm long and 865 g in the 83 mm barrel the PS telephotos share, and takes 67 mm filters. Tamron USA gave its angle of view as 24.7°, called it a 100 mm equivalent on 35 mm, and sold it on the combination of focal length and close focus as “one of the most versatile and valuable lenses in the PS series”, a favourite of fashion photographers.
It was priced accordingly. On Tamron USA’s list of April 1996 it was $2,660, more than any other PS prime but the fluorite 500 and well above the $2,093 of the 150; by 2004 it was $2,740. The PS line’s starting date is not fixed by any source read for this page — the 1996 list is the earliest document that names the 180 — and it was sold until SQ production ended in September 2003, with Tamron USA’s page still up the following June. 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 and a T setting, and mounts on every SQ body from 1980 to the SQ-B, where Tamron Japan lists it by name.
No published review of the 180 was found; the SQ writing that exists is about the 80 and the 150, and the 180 turns up in it only as a lens people wish they owned. Its 1996 accessories were the screw-in hood BQ1404, shared with the 135, 200 and 250, and the hard case BQ1432 it shared with the 200.
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 180mm f/4.5 (SQ)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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