Some sample images showing the bokeh of various standard lenses from the Bronica D/Z/S/S2/S2A/EC/EC-TL/II system.

I own the following “standard” lenses for the system and they have the following number of diaphragm blades:

75mm Nikkor HC f/2.8 (6 element version): 7 blades

80mm Zeiss Jena f/2.8 (Biometar?): 8 blades

80mm Zenzanon f/2.4: 9 blades

100mm Zenzanon f/2.8: 9 blades

100mm Komura f/2.8: 6 blades

105mm Nikkor f/3.5: 5 blades

All of these test shots were shot on a Bronica EC-TL using T-Max 100 which was developed in 1+50 Rodinal, and most were shot using the mirror lock up feature on the camera. Images were scanned on an Epson V850 using Silverfast. The camera was set up on a tripod about 1-1.5 meters from the subject and was not moved after being set up.

Nikkor 75mm f/2.8

Nikon NIKKOR H·C 75mm, 6 elements in 4 groups (from Lens-db.com)

This is the “deluxe” or upgraded standard lens that was offered for the Bronica system and features a 6 element double gauss vs the xenotar-esque standard 75mm lens. I wish I had the standard 5 element lens to compare with, maybe in the future.

This lens features a very classic Nikon Diaphragm featuring 7 blades, the lens stops down to f/22. The lens is Multicoated and a lens hood was used in these test images.

This lens is plenty sharp wide open with a mild vignette and quite sharp when stepped down. The bokeh features a very slight soap bubble effect but is smooth and very pleasing wide open. Once stopping down, the shapes of the aperture can be seen but the background still looks quite nice.

Nikon NIKKOR H·C 75mm vs Nikon NIKKOR P(·C) (from Lens-db.com)

f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6

Zeiss Jena 80mm f/2.8

Carl Zeiss Jena DDR ZENZANON 80mm 5 elements in 4 groups (from Lens-db.com)

Ah the Zeiss Jena, as far as I know this is basically a repackaged 80mm f/2.8 Biometar from the Pentacon Six system. It features 5 elements in 4 groups which is very similar to the Nikon NIKKOR-P(·C) If you look at the optical diagrams. This lens has 8 aperture blades, when purchasing I would make sure they are snappy as this lens suffers similar issues as some of the Pentacon Six lenses with oil migrating to the aperture blades and making them slow. This (Zeiss 80mm) lens compared to the next lens, the 80mm Zenzanon, has a slightly tighter field of view even though both lenses are “80mm”.

This lens is nice to use and wide open has some really nice and very classic “Xenotar” bokkeh, the mechanical vignetting combined with some outlining in the highlights makes it a kind of fun swirly looking bokeh. There is a bit of nervousness in the bokeh with some mild double imaging but I think it works with the overall character of the lens. The bokeh starts to change from circular to a longer shape faster than on the 75mm Nikkor HC. I would love to be able to compare this to the Nikon P(C) version since the optical layouts are so similar (I believe the Nikon P(C) also has 9 bladed aperture vs the 7 on the HC)

Zeiss Jena Zenzanon 80mm vs Nikon NIKKOR P(·C) 75mm (from Lens-db.com)

f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6

Zenzanon 80mm f/2.4

Bronica Zenzanon 80mm f/2.4 6 elements in 5 groups (from Lens-db.com)

When I was researching the Bronica System and all of the various lenses, I came across this lens. It is as fast as the 105mm f/2.4 for the Pentax 6x7 and also features a very similar 6 elements in 5 groups optical layout. This lens is one of faster lenses for the Bronica system, but there were 2 other lenses that were even faster! There is a Komura 135mm f/2.3 (very rare) and a even rarer Komura 100mm f/2! Of course getting my hands on any of those is probably impossible. Anyways, this lens has some very pleasing out of focus highlights, although I was a little surprised by the onion rings in the highlights. The lens has a little spherical aberration going on wide open adding a bit of glow to the highlights. Stopped down the aperture the points of light stay pretty round and the lens becomes very sharp.

f/2.4, f/4 (MLU not used), f/5.6

Zenzanon 100mm f/2.8

Bronica Zenzanon 100mm f/2.8 6 elements in 4 groups (from Lens-db.com)

Moving onto a slightly longer focal length, the 100mm lenses give us a slightly closer perspective for a standard lens. Equivalent to about a 55mm in 35mm terms, at f/2.8 it gives us the equivalent dof of a f/1.5 lens in 35mm terms an in combination with the double gauss layout, the bokeh is nice and smooth. Minimal outlining and really smooth transitions make this lens a real delight to use for portraits. The only downside is the minimum focus distance is not as close as the 80mm lenses due to the shared helicoid.

Be very careful mounting this lens! I recommend only mounting it when the helicoid is at its minimum focus distance/pulled out all the way as you can scratch the mirror of some of the cameras if you do not mount it properly!

f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6

Komura100mm f/2.8

Komura Super Komura 100mm f/2.8 5 elements (from Lens-db.com)

Featuring one less element than the 100mm f/2.8 Zenzanon lens and a much lower chance of scratching the mirror when mounting this lens, the Komura 100mm f/2.8 is a wonderful lens. Wide open, it has a bit more vignetting than the Zenzanon, and the Bokeh is clean with minimal outlining. I believe due to the much smaller rear element than the Zenzanon, the lens has much more mechanical vignetting and the highlights turn to cat eye shapes much faster than the Zenzanon as you get closer to the edges of the frame. This all combined makes a really wonderful portrait lens, with some nice vignetting and swirly bokeh. The bokeh is a little bit more nervous vs the Zenzanon but still a wonderful lens.

f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6

Nikkor 105mm f/3.5

Nikon Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 4 elements in 3 groups (from Lens-db.com)

This is the only leaf shutter lens in the system, but with its built in shutter offering speeds from 1 sec to 1/500, it will allow you to sync a flash at all speeds. This lens is a very classic Tessar design, but do not let a simple optical formula scare you away. Tessars can be very good and this one is no different. It is rumored that this lens is the same/similar to the one found on the Koni Omega press cameras. It has its own focusing helicoid and has its own shutter cocking lever and speed dial. You wind your camera, cock the shutter and fire. Using the stop down feature/button on the camera may cause the leaf shutter to fire so there is a separate stop down preview lever on the lens itself. I will need to retest this lens at some point as I believe I did something wrong when shooting as 2 of my frames were blank.

f/5.6 (I messed something up with the leaf shutter because my other 2 shots were blank)