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

Zenzanon-S 80mm f/2.8 (SQ)

Zenza Bronica · Bronica SQ · 1980

Also known as: Zenzanon-S 80mm f/2.8 · Zenzanon S 80mm F2.8 · Bronica SQ 80mm f/2.8 S · Zenza Bronica Zenzanon-S 80mm 2.8 · Bronica Zenzanon S 80/2.8 · ZENZANON-S 1:2.8 f=80mm · ゼンザノン S 80mm F2.8 · ゼンザブロニカ ゼンザノン S 80mm F2.8 · ブロニカ SQ 80mm F2.8 · ZENZANON-S 80mm F2.8 SQ用

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Zenzanon-S 80mm f/2.8 Bronica SQ 1980 — —
  1. Six elements in four groups: Japanese Wikipedia's S lens list, which cites the 1982 edition of カメラ年鑑 (pp.222–223), and camera-wiki's table agree. The PS 80 is 6 in 5 by the same Japanese Wikipedia list and by Tamron's 2004 US overview, which is why it has a page of its own.
  2. 67 mm filter, 52 mm length, 0.8 m closest focus and 470 g are from camera-wiki's table. The maximum diameter is not given there and Tamron's surviving SQ-Ai specification lists only the PS lenses, so the field is left empty.
  3. Dates. 1980 is the launch of the SQ (Japanese Wikipedia; camera-wiki: it replaced the EC from August 1980), with which the S 80 appeared. No end date is documented: the S lenses were superseded by the PS line, and the April 1996 US price list carries only the PS 80.
  4. No list price has been found in yen or dollars; Tamron's April 1996 list, the earliest price document found, already lists the PS.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Bronica SQ four-claw bayonet with the Seiko #0 leaf shutter inside the lens and no shutter-speed ring: the body times the shutter electronically, so the lens carries only aperture and focus rings and a T setting
  • ZENZANON-S on the front ring tells it from the later ZENZANON-PS 80mm f/2.8 and the PS/B kit lens of the SQ-B; the S is the 4-group lens, 470 g against 490 g
  • Not the Zenzanon MC 80mm f/2.8 for the focal-plane Bronica S2/EC bodies, the Zenzanon-PE 75mm f/2.8 for the ETR or the Zenzanon-PG 80mm f/3.5 for the GS-1: none of those mounts on an SQ

Zenzanon-S 80mm f/2.8:

  • Engraved ZENZANON-S on the front ring; 470 g, 20 g lighter than the PS at the same 52 mm length (camera-wiki)

Specifications

Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Shutter
Seiko #0 electronic leaf shutter, timed by the body: 8 s–1/500 + T on the SQ, SQ-A and SQ-Am, 16 s–1/500 + T/B on the SQ-Ai, 8 s–1/500 on the SQ-B; mechanical 1/500 without a battery
Min. focus
0.8 m
Dimensions
52 mm long
Weight
470 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 80mm f/2.8 is the lens the Bronica SQ was sold with when the 6×6 leaf-shutter system replaced the focal-plane EC in August 1980. It is a six-element, four-group lens by the 1982 Camera Nenkan as cited on Japanese Wikipedia, with a 67 mm filter thread, 0.8 m closest focus, 52 mm length and 470 g. The shutter is the Seiko #0 leaf unit built into every SQ lens, timed by the body’s electronics from 8 s to 1/500 on the SQ, SQ-A and SQ-Am and from 16 s on the SQ-Ai, with a mechanical 1/500 when there is no battery; the lens has aperture and focus rings and a T setting, and no speed ring.

The S lenses were Bronica’s first SQ line, marked ZENZANON-S, and were superseded by the ZENZANON-PS lenses that Tamron’s US price list of April 1996 lists alone. The PS 80 kept the S lens’s focal length, aperture, filter size, length and close focus but is a different design, six elements in five groups, 20 g heavier; Japanese Wikipedia and Tamron’s 2004 overview give the five groups, while camera-wiki repeats the S figure of four for both. The two lenses are therefore on separate pages here. Both mount on every SQ body, the original SQ through the SQ-Ai of 1991 and the SQ-B of 1996; Adrian Vila’s SQ-Ai review confirms the point from use and passes on the general view that the PS has slightly better glass and coating, without testing it.

No price in yen or dollars, no end date and no review of the S 80 on its own have been found. It is the 80 that reads ZENZANON-S, with no PS, on the front ring.

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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 80mm f/2.8 (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 40mm f/4 (SQ) · Zenzanon 50mm f/3.5 (SQ) · Zenzanon-PS Fisheye 35mm f/3.5 (SQ) · Zenzanon-PS 65mm f/4 (SQ) · Zenzanon-PS 80mm f/2.8 (SQ) · Zoom Zenzanon-S Variogon 75-150mm f/4.5 (SQ)

Sources (5)

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.