Mamiya

Mamiya was founded in May 1940 as Mamiya Kōki Seisakusho (マミヤ光機製作所, Mamiya Optical Works), and its first camera was the Mamiya Six, a 6×6 folder with coupled rangefinder that was focused by moving the film plane. There were many versions in the Mamiya Six series, but it was the only Mamiya model for eight years. Mamiya began to make its own Stamina shutters and Neocon lenses from 1947.

From 1948 the Mamiya range became more diversified, with the introduction of the Mamiyaflex series of 6×6 TLRs in 1948, the Mamiya 35 series of 35mm fixed lens rangefinder in 1949 and the Mamiya 16 series of 16mm film subminiature cameras in the same year. Together with the Mamiya Six, these four series were the basis of the Mamiya range throughout the 1950s. In 1950, yhe company name was changed to Mamiya Kōki Kabushiki Kaisha (マミヤ光機株式会社, Mamiya Optical Co Ltd). The last Mamiya Six version appeared in 1958.

In 1957 Mamiya introduced two innovative designs, the Magazine 35, a 35mm camera with interchangeable backs, that only met a limited success, and the Mamiyaflex C, a 6×6 TLR with interchangeable lens pairs, that would be the first of a long series.

The first Mamiya 35mm SLR was the Prismat, launched in 1960. The same year Mamiya introduced the Mamiya Press, a medium format press camera inspired by some Linhof models. Mamiya dropped the 35mm rangefinders around the mid 1960s, and the range at the end of the 1960s was formed by the Press, the Mamiya C and the 35mm SLRs.

The RB67 Professional 6×7 SLR in 1970, the M645 4.5×6 SLR in 1975 and the RZ67 Professional 6×7 SLR in 1982 confirmed Mamiya's orientation towards the medium format professional market. Mamiya made a last attempt towards the amateur market at the end of the 1970s with some rangefinder and point and shoot 35mm cameras, together with their continuing series of 35mm SLRs, but the company went bankrupt in 1984 and it stopped producing 35mm cameras.

After that, Mamiya continued as a specialized medium format camera maker, with the M645 Super 4.5×6 SLR from 1985, new versions of the RB67, RZ67 and Mamiya C, the new Mamiya 6 6×6 format rangefinder from 1989 and its successor the Mamiya 7 6×7 rangefinder from 1995. In 1993, the company name was changed to Mamiya-OP (マミヤ・オーピー株式会社).

Mamiya introduced the autofocus in the 645 AF 4.5×6 SLR in 1999, and tried to catch on the digital move with the release of the Mamiya ZD 22 megapixel "digital medium format camera" in 2004.

On Apr 21st, 2006, Mamiya announced that it transfered all the camera activity to a company called Cosmo Digital Imaging (コスモ・デジタル・イメージング株式会社).

35mm film

SLR

Fixed Lens Mamiya

• Mamiya Auto-Lux 35
• Mamiya Family
• Mamiya 528TL
• Mamiya 528AL

Mamiya Prismat

• Mamiya PRISM FLEX
• Mamiya PENTAFLEX
• Mamiya PRISMAT
• Mamiya PRISMAT NP
• Mamiya PRISMAT PH
• Mamiya PRISMAT CPH
• Mamiya PRISMAT CWP

Mamiya DTL/TL-Series

• Mamiya TL 500
• Mamiya TL 1000
• Mamiya DTL 500
• Mamiya DTL 1000
• Mamiya DTL 1000 (black)
• Mamiya DTL 2000

Mamiya X-Series

• Mamiya/Sekor Auto XTL
• Mamiya Auto X-1000

Mamiya SX-Series

• Mamiya MSX 500
• Mamiya DSX 500
• Mamiya MSX 1000
• Mamiya DSX 1000

Mamiya NC-Series

• Mamiya NC 1000

Mamiya Z-Series

• Mamiya ZE (ZE, ZE quartz, ZE silver)
• Mamiya ZE-2
• Mamiya ZM
• Mamiya ZE-X
• Mamiya ZF prototype

Medium format

6×6 TLR

• Mamiyaflex Junior
• Mamiyaflex I
• Mamiyaflex II
• Mamiyaflex Automat A
• Mamiyaflex Automat AII
• Mamiyaflex Automat AIII
• Mamiyaflex Automat B
• Mamiyaflex Automat BII
• Mamiyaflex C (1956-58)
• Mamiyaflex PF
• Mamiyaflex C2 (1958-62)
• Mamiya C3 (1962-65)
• Mamiya C22 (1966-68)
• Mamiya C33 (1965-69)
• Mamiya C220 (1968-82?)
• Mamiya C330 (1969-74)
• Mamiya C220f (1982-95)
• Mamiya C330f (1972-82)
• Mamiya C330s (1983-94)

6×4.5 SLR

• Mamiya M645
• Mamiya M645 1000S
• Mamiya M645 J
• Mamiya M645 Super
• Mamiya M645 E
• Mamiya 645 Pro
• Mamiya 645 Pro TL
• Mamiya 645 AF
• Mamiya 645 AFD
• Mamiya 645 AFD II

6×7 SLR

• Mamiya RB67 Professional
• Mamiya RB67 Professional S
• Mamiya RB67 Professional SD
• Mamiya RB67 Professional GL
• Mamiya RZ67 Professional
• Mamiya RZ67 Professional IID

6×6 Folder

• Mamiya Six (folder), see the page for the different versions

6×6 Rangefinder

• Mamiya 6
• Mamiya 6 MF

6×7 Rangefinder

• Mamiya 7
• Mamiya 7 II

6×9 Rangefinder

• Mamiya Press
• Mamiya Press G
• Mamiya Press S
• Mamiya Press Standard
• Mamiya Press Super 23
• Mamiya Universal Press

See also Polaroid 600 and Polaroid 600SE.

16mm film

• Mamiya 16
• Mamiya Super 16
• Mamiya Super 16 II
• Mamiya Super 16 III
• Mamiya 16 Automat
• Mamiya 16 Deluxe
• Mamiya 16 EE Deluxe

Links

• Mamiya official history page in English, and the Mamiya official history site in Japanese, much more complete
• Ron Herron's "Collecting Mamiya 35mm Cameras" - the Net's most comprehensive Mamiya 35mm site
• Roland Stauber's very comprehensive Mamiya NC1000 Site
• Joerg Krueger's Mamiya 35mm SLR homepage
• The Mamiya XTL homepage, all about the Mamiya X-series (in German)
• Mamiya ZE homepage (in German)
• http://www.butkus.org/chinon/ Listing of many Mamiya PDF instruction manuals (Adobe 5.0 or above required) and some in HTML that can be translated. Site includes 35mm Mamiya camera manuals (alphabetical listing) and Mamiya professional models (at bottom of page under Professional)