Zenzanon-S 150mm f/3.5 (SQ)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica SQ · 1980
Also known as: Zenzanon-S 150mm f/3.5 · Zenzanon S 150mm F3.5 · Bronica SQ 150mm f/3.5 · Bronica Zenzanon-S 150mm F3.5 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-S 150mm · Bronica SQ-A 150mm f3.5 · Bronica SQ-Ai 150mm F3.5 · ZENZANON-S 1:3.5 f=150mm · ゼンザノン S 150mm F3.5 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノンS 150mm F3.5 · ブロニカ SQ 150mm F3.5
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-S 150mm f/3.5 (1980–) | Bronica SQ | 1980 | — | — |
- Five elements in five groups, 1.5 m closest focus and the 67 mm screw-in filter: Japanese Wikipedia from the 1982 Camera Nenkan (p.223), matched by camera-wiki's SQ lens table; the 61 mm length and 590 g are camera-wiki's alone. No source read gives the blade count, the minimum aperture or a list price.
- Years. The SQ went on sale in August 1980 (Japanese Wikipedia, citing クラシックカメラ専科 No.57; camera-wiki) and the lens is in the 1982 yearbook; whether it was in the launch set is not stated. Its end is undocumented: on Tamron USA's SQ-Ai price list of 15 April 1996 the 150 is the PS f/4 and the only S lens left is the 500mm f/8. One SQ-A user review dates the S lenses to 1980–86 and the PS to 1986–89 without citing anything; the PS lenses were in fact sold until 2003.
- Shutter and aperture ring are system values: Tamron Japan's SQ-Basic specification gives the Seiko #0 electronically controlled shutter, 8 s–1/500 with no intermediate speeds, a mechanical shutter of about 1/500, and an aperture ring in equal steps with half-stop clicks; camera-wiki adds T on every lens and the 16 s and bulb settings of the SQ-Ai.
How to tell them apart
- An SQ lens carries its own leaf shutter and the system's four-claw bayonet (Tamron Japan). Bronica made 150mm f/3.5 Zenzanons for two other mounts — the shutterless lens for the focal-plane S2A/EC bodies and the MC/E/PE lenses for the 6×4.5 ETR — and none of them fits an SQ
- Against the PS 150mm f/4: f/3.5 on the ring, the shorter and lighter barrel, and the S engraving
Zenzanon-S 150mm f/3.5 (1980–):
- Engraved ZENZANON-S with f/3.5 on the aperture ring; 61 mm long and 590 g (camera-wiki) — 13 mm shorter and 160 g lighter than the Zenzanon-PS 150mm f/4 that replaced it
- Five elements in five groups, every surface air-spaced (Japanese Wikipedia from the 1982 Camera Nenkan); the PS is six in four
- Zenzanon-S 150mm f/3.5 (1980–): The only version of the S 150. Its successor is a different lens: the Zenzanon-PS 150mm f/4, a third of a stop slower, with a new six-element, four-group formula, 74 mm long and 750 g, at the same 1.5 m closest focus and 67 mm thread. By Tamron USA's price list of April 1996 the S 150 had gone and only the PS was sold; Tamron Japan's SQ-Basic page of 2001 still names the S 150 among the lenses the body accepts.
Specifications
- Construction
- 5 elements / 5 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5
- 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
- Min. focus
- 1.5 m
- Dimensions
- 61 mm long
- Weight
- 590 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1980
- Country
- Japan
What reviewers say
- Anthony Pearson (dankspangle.com) (blog) — Portraits on an SQ-A at f/3.5 on Ektar were "exactly what I was hoping for. All the bokeh, sharp but a more soulful sharpness than digital"; the complaint is the 1.5 m close focus, "nearly a mile" when he wanted to get in tighter. He later put the same lens on a Fuji X-T1 through a two-part SQ-to-EOS adapter.
History
The Zenzanon-S 150mm f/3.5 is the portrait telephoto of the first lens line for Bronica’s SQ, the leaf-shutter 6×6 reflex of August 1980. It is a five-element lens with every element standing alone — five groups — focusing to 1.5 m, 61 mm long and 590 g, with the 67 mm filter thread most SQ lenses share, and like all of them it carries its own Seiko #0 electronic shutter, 8 seconds to 1/500 with a mechanical 1/500 when the battery is dead. The Japanese 1982 yearbook has it, and it mounts on every SQ body made, the manual-only SQ-B of 1996 included.
It was replaced rather than revised. The Zenzanon-PS 150mm f/4 that took its place is a different design, six elements in four groups, a third of a stop slower, 13 mm longer and 160 g heavier, with the same 1.5 m limit. When the change happened is not documented in any source read here; by Tamron USA’s price list of April 1996 the S 150 was gone and the only S lens still sold was the 500mm f/8. An SQ-A owner writing in 2013 put the S lenses at 1980–86 and the PS at 1986 on, without citing anything, and he had heard that the PS lenses were “supposed to” be better coated — that is the trade’s received view, not a test.
In use the one account found is Anthony Pearson’s: shooting an SQ-A wide open on Ektar 100 he got the look he wanted, bokeh and a sharpness he found gentler than digital, and his only complaint was that 1.5 m is a long way off for a tight head shot. Bronica’s answer to that was the S-18 and S-36 automatic extension tubes. The hood sold for it in 1996 was the screw-in BQ1403, shared with the S 105 and the PS 110 and 150. Blade count, minimum aperture and original price have not been found.
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-S 150mm f/3.5 (SQ)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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