Zenzanon-S 500mm f/8 (SQ)
Zenza Bronica · Bronica SQ · 1980
Also known as: Zenzanon-S 500mm f/8 · Zenzanon S 500mm F8 · Bronica SQ 500mm f/8 · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-S 500/8 · Bronica Zenzanon S 500mm · ゼンザノンS 500mm F8 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン S 500mm F8 · ブロニカ SQ 500mm F8
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenzanon-S 500mm f/8 | Bronica SQ | 1980–2003 | — | — |
- Construction (seven elements in six groups), f/8–45 with full-stop detents, 8.5 m closest focus, 95 mm filter, 255 mm length and 1,890 g are from Tamron USA's product page as archived in June 2004, which presents the S and PS 500 side by side. Japanese Wikipedia, citing the 1982 Camera Nenkan p.223, and camera-wiki give the same construction, focus distance and filter; camera-wiki also gives the same length and weight.
- Years: 1980 is the SQ body's launch (August 1980, Japanese Wikipedia), and the lens is in the 1982 yearbook; no document dates the lens itself earlier. The 2003 end is the end of SQ-Ai production (September 2003, camera-wiki); Tamron USA still listed the S 500 in 2004.
- Prices: $3,732 is Tamron USA's April 1996 list price, quoted without a case, and $4,229 the 2004 list price; both are US distributor figures. No Japanese yen list price was found.
- The blade count is not given by any source consulted.
- The Zenzanon-PS 500mm f/8 is a different lens, not a revision of this one: eleven elements in ten groups, a 122 mm filter, 307.5 mm and 3,760 g, at roughly four times the price. It has its own page.
How to tell them apart
- ZENZANON-S on the name ring and a 95 mm front thread; the PS 500 takes 122 mm filters and weighs twice as much (Tamron USA, camera-wiki)
- 255 mm long and 1,890 g, the only SQ lens between the 250 primes and the PS 500 in size
- SQ bayonet with the lens-mounted leaf shutter; the 500mm f/8 lenses marked E or PE are for the 6×4.5 ETR, and the Zenzanon-PG 500mm f/8 is the 6×7 GS-1 lens
Zenzanon-S 500mm f/8:
- Name ring reads ZENZANON-S 1:8 f=500mm; the S suffix is the only generation this page covers
- Seven elements in six groups, f/8–45 in full-stop detents, 8.5 m closest focus, 95 mm screw-in filter, 255 mm long, 1,890 g (Tamron USA's 2004 page; Japanese Wikipedia and camera-wiki agree on construction, distance and filter)
- Seiko #0 electronic leaf shutter inside the lens and the four-claw SQ bayonet; half the weight and 25 mm shorter than the 122 mm-filter Zenzanon-PS 500
- Zenzanon-S 500mm f/8: The original SQ 500, listed in the 1982 Camera Nenkan among the Zenzanon-S lenses of the system's first years. Unlike the S 150, 200 and 250, which gave way to PS recomputations, the S 500 stayed in the catalogue beside the far heavier and dearer Zenzanon-PS 500: Tamron USA listed both in April 1996 and again in 2004, the S at $3,732 and $4,229 against $13,847 and $15,688 for the PS.
Specifications
- Construction
- 7 elements / 6 groups
- Aperture range
- f/8–f/45
- Shutter
- Seiko #0 electronic leaf shutter in the lens, speeds set by the body; mechanical 1/500 without battery power
- Min. focus
- 8.5 m
- Dimensions
- 255 mm long
- Weight
- 1890 g
- Filter
- 95 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1980–2003
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- $3,732 without case (April 1996 US list); $4,229 (2004 US list) (today $7,460)
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 500mm f/8 is the long telephoto of the Bronica SQ system’s first lens line, in the 1982 Camera Nenkan as a seven-element, six-group lens focusing to 8.5 m with a 95 mm screw-in filter. Tamron USA’s page, which sets it beside the later PS 500, gives f/8 to f/45 in full-stop detents, 255 mm of length and 1,890 g. The Seiko #0 leaf shutter is in the lens and timed by the body, with a mechanical 1/500 when the battery fails, and the four-claw SQ bayonet fits every SQ body from the 1980 SQ to the SQ-B. On 6×6 it frames like a 270 on 35mm film.
Its history differs from the other S telephotos. The S 150, 200 and 250 were each replaced by a Zenzanon-PS recomputation and dropped; the S 500 stayed. When Bronica added the Zenzanon-PS 500mm f/8, an eleven-element lens with a 122 mm filter at twice the weight and roughly four times the price, the S 500 remained in the catalogue as the affordable 500: Tamron USA listed both in April 1996, the S at $3,732 without a case against $13,847 for the PS with its aluminium case, and again in 2004 at $4,229 against $15,688. The two are different lenses rather than generations of one design, and the PS has its own page.
No published review of the S 500 was found in English or Japanese. At f/8 on a waist-level screen it is a tripod lens, and the 8.5 m closest focus rules out close work. A buyer should check the lens shutter at every speed and at the mechanical 1/500, the aperture detents through f/45, and the six groups for haze; the 95 mm front and the ZENZANON-S ring separate it at a glance from the PS 500, and from the 500mm f/8 lenses marked E or PE for the ETR and PG for the GS-1, none of which fits the SQ.
Open points: the blade count, a Japanese list price, the year the PS 500 joined it, and any first-hand account of its rendering.
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 500mm f/8 (SQ)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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