Mamiya was a long-standing name in the Japanese camera industry but, despite many attempts, it never really had success with its 35mm cameras. However, in the medium-format roll-film camera market, Mamiya has long been a name to reckon with, as it produced some of the finest 6x6 TLR (twin lens reflex) cameras ever made.
Mamiya started in 1940 with the formation of Mamiya Koki Seisakusho, by camera designer Seichi Mamiya, and the introduction of the Mamiya Six, a 6x6 folder with an unusual focusing mechanism that moved the film plane rather than the lens.
Then came a series of 6x6 TLRs under the Mamiyaflex Junior name, which were all inspired by the basic Rollei designs.
Success came in 1949 with the introduction of the Mamiyaflex Automat A, which was the first Japanese TLR with an automatic film advance, rather than looking for a number through a red window in the camera’s back.
In 1956 the Mamiyaflex C was introduced, which revolutionized TLR design by offering interchangeable lenses. It beat out the Koni-Omegaflex, the only other TLR to offer interchangeable lenses, by 12 years!
Offered were 80mm, 105mm and 135mm lenses – each with its own leaf shutter. Lenses could be swapped without exposing film, thanks to an interlocking baffle that protected the film.
The C also introduced Mamiya’s now-famous double extension bellows for close focusing and a never-before-seen flat film path. In conventional TLR designs, film from the bottom supply spool bends sharply upward to reach the film gate and then the top take-up spool. This can cause uneven film flatness or worse, scratches during the film’s transport.
Mamiya’s more direct path solved these problems, with only a slight addition in height. Its TLRs were truly professional.
In 1958 the C became the C2, which added a second focusing knob on the left side, facilitating right- or left-handed operation. Both used rack-and-pinion focusing with distance and bellows extension scales, but the C2 redesigned the base to provide better stability without front feet.
Both the C and C2 models use a knob to advance the film, with the automatic advance of the original C, but the C2 offered an additional two lenses, at 65 and 180mm.
The "Mamiyaflex" name would be dropped in favour of the simpler “Mamiya" when the C3 was introduced in February 1962. The C3 offered a faster crank lever film advance, while the C33 of 1965 added automatic shutter cocking (when the crank lever was advanced) and a pointer in the finder to indicate parallax compensation.
I was in high school when a friend acquired a nice, new C3 with a pair of lenses – and I thought it was one of the most beautiful creations ever devised. But, as luck would have it, I never managed to own one.
The "C" system proved very successful, and a series of popular Mamiya models followed until 1994. Mamiya also made both the C220 and C330 model TLRs and a series of successful, professional-level 6x7 and 6x4.5 film cameras that used either 120 or 220 film.
In 2004 Mamiya released its ZD, a 22MP digital back designed to fit its 645AF cameras, but production of all Mamiya cameras ceased around 2011.
After Phase One bought Mamiya, in 2015 a few 645 models were produced with digital backs, under the Mamiya / Phase One brand, but the Mamiya name was soon dropped. Still, a few compatible C-series, Sekor lenses remain in limited production – even today.
Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras.
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