Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Zenzanon-S 250mm f/5.6 (SQ)

Zenza Bronica · Bronica SQ · 1980

Also known as: Zenzanon-S 250mm f/5.6 · Zenzanon S 250mm F5.6 · Bronica SQ 250mm f/5.6 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-S 250/5.6 · Bronica Zenzanon S 250mm · ゼンザノンS 250mm F5.6 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン S 250mm F5.6 · ブロニカ SQ 250mm F5.6

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Zenzanon-S 250mm f/5.6 Bronica SQ 1980 — —
  1. Construction (five elements in five groups), 3 m closest focus and the 67 mm screw-in filter are from Japanese Wikipedia, which cites the 1982 edition of the Camera Nenkan, p.223. camera-wiki's SQ lens table gives the same construction and focus distance and adds the 129 mm length and 870 g weight.
  2. The 1980 start is the SQ body's launch (August 1980, Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki agrees on the year); the lens is in the 1982 yearbook, and no earlier or later dated document for the S 250 itself was found. The end date is absent: Tamron USA's April 1996 SQ price list carries only the PS 250, so the S version was out of the catalogue by then.
  3. Minimum aperture, blade count and list price are not given by any source consulted for the S generation. Tamron's 2004 page for the PS 250 gives f/5.6–45 for that lens only.
  4. The Zenzanon-PS 250mm f/5.6 that succeeded it is a different optical formula (seven elements in five groups, Japanese Wikipedia) and has its own page; the two share focal length, aperture, filter size and closest focus but differ by 21 mm in length and 140 g in weight (camera-wiki).
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • ZENZANON-S on the name ring, not ZENZANON-PS; the PS version of the same focal length is 150 mm long and 1,010 g against 129 mm and 870 g here (camera-wiki)
  • 67 mm filter thread, the common SQ size; the same weight as the PS 200 (870 g), so weight alone does not separate the SQ telephotos
  • SQ bayonet with the lens-mounted leaf shutter; the 250mm f/5.6 Zenzanons marked MC, E or PE are for the 6×4.5 ETR and the PG 250 is the 6×7 GS-1 lens

Zenzanon-S 250mm f/5.6:

  • Name ring reads ZENZANON-S 1:5.6 f=250mm; the S suffix is the only generation this page covers
  • Five elements in five groups, 3 m closest focus, 67 mm screw-in filter (Japanese Wikipedia, citing the 1982 Camera Nenkan); 129 mm long and 870 g (camera-wiki)
  • Seiko #0 electronic leaf shutter inside the lens and the four-claw SQ bayonet; it does not fit the focal-plane Bronica S/EC bodies or the ETR

Specifications

Construction
5 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/5.6
Shutter
Seiko #0 electronic leaf shutter in the lens, speeds set by the body; mechanical 1/500 without battery power
Min. focus
3 m
Dimensions
129 mm long
Weight
870 g
Filter
67 mm
Years manufactured
1980
Country
Japan

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-S 250mm f/5.6 is the longest of the first-generation SQ primes short of the 500, sold from the SQ’s launch in August 1980 and recorded in the 1982 Camera Nenkan as a five-element, five-group lens focusing to 3 m with a 67 mm screw-in filter. camera-wiki’s table adds 129 mm of length and 870 g, which is lighter than the Zenzanon-PS 200 that came later. The Seiko #0 leaf shutter is in the lens and timed by the body, with 1/500 mechanical when the battery fails, and the four-claw SQ bayonet fits every SQ body but not the focal-plane Bronica S and EC or the 6×4.5 ETR, whose 250mm f/5.6 lenses carry the MC, E or PE suffixes.

Bronica later recomputed the lens as the Zenzanon-PS 250mm f/5.6 with seven elements in five groups, 21 mm longer and 140 g heavier, with the same closest focus and filter size. Japanese Wikipedia records both constructions from different books without a changeover date, and Tamron USA’s April 1996 price list carries only the PS 250, so the S version had left the catalogue by then. The S 150, 200 and 250 all gave way to PS versions; only the S 500 stayed on sale alongside its PS successor.

No published review of the S 250 was found in English or Japanese. On 6×6 a 250 frames like a 135 on 35mm film, and at f/5.6 it is a tripod or bright-light lens on the SQ’s waist-level screen. Buying notes follow from the construction: a working lens shutter at all speeds and at the mechanical 1/500, clean aperture blades, and five air-spaced groups free of haze. The S and PS share every headline figure, so the name ring in a listing photograph is the tell; the PS is the longer and heavier lens and has its own page.

Open points: the minimum aperture, blade count and list price of the S generation, and the year it left production.

Expand Collapse

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 250mm f/5.6 (SQ)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Zenzanon-PS 250mm f/5.6 (SQ) · Zenzanon-S 150mm f/3.5 (SQ) · Zenzanon-S 200mm f/4.5 (SQ) · Zenzanon-S 500mm f/8 (SQ) · Zoom Zenzanon-S Variogon 140-280mm f/5.6 (SQ)

Sources (4)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.