Bronica* Zenzanon PG | Frank Titze

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Bronica* Zenzanon PG

Overview

Zenzanon-PG lenses are a specific line of lenses designed for the Zenza Bronica GS-1 medium format camera system. The "Zenzanon" name was Bronica's brand for their lenses, and the "PG" stands for "Professional Grade," indicating that they were the top-of-the-line optics for this particular camera.
Key Characteristics:

Dedicated to the Bronica GS-1: The PG mount is unique to the Bronica GS-1, a modular, electronic medium format SLR that produces a large 6x7cm negative. The lenses are not natively compatible with other Bronica systems (like the ETR or SQ series) or other brands. Der PG-Anschluss ist einzigartig für die Bronica GS-1, eine modulare, elektronische Mittelformat-SLR, die ein großes 6×7 cm Negativ erzeugt. Die Objektive sind nicht nativ mit anderen Bronica-Systemen (wie der ETR- oder SQ-Serie) oder mit Fremdmarken kompatibel.
Integrated Electronic Leaf Shutter: Each Zenzanon-PG lens contains a built-in electronic Seiko leaf shutter. This is a crucial feature for professional photography as it allows for flash synchronization at all shutter speeds, up to 1/500 second. This capability is highly sought after by studio and location photographers who use flash.
Electronic Communication with the Body: The GS-1 camera body electronically controls the shutter speed of the lens, which is a key difference from many other medium format systems where the shutter speed is set on the lens itself. The aperture, however, is still set manually on the lens ring.
High Optical Quality: Zenzanon-PG lenses are known for their excellent optical performance, including sharpness, contrast, and color rendition. They were designed using computer-aided technology and multi-coating to minimize flare and ghosting.
Manual Focus: All Zenzanon-PG lenses are manual focus. The photographer focuses using a ring on the lens barrel, and the camera's focusing screen is used to achieve sharp focus.
"Professional Grade" Design: The "PG" designation reflected a complete redesign of the lens system, incorporating improvements in both optics and mechanics over earlier Bronica lenses. This included multi-coated elements and a more robust mechanical structure to address common issues found in earlier lens lines.
Lens Lineup: The lens lineup for the GS-1 was comprehensive, ranging from wide-angle to telephoto, including a macro lens. This provided versatility for a wide range of photographic applications.

In summary, Zenzanon-PG lenses represent the pinnacle of Bronica's lens development for their 6x7 format. They are a high-quality, specialized line of manual-focus, leaf-shutter lenses that are a key component of the Bronica GS-1 camera system, celebrated for their flash synchronization capabilities and robust construction.

Evaluation

(++) Modular System
(++) 6x7 cm and 6x6 cm (and 6×4,5 cm ) Backs; Horizontal Filmtransport allowed to mod a 220 6x7 to a 24x69 mm Back
(++) Light and Compact due to waiving of a rotatatimg Back

26.08.25

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