Welcome Mamiya Collectors!

The Purpose of This Site
This site began in mid-October 2000 from my personal interest in Mamiya 35mm cameras.

Almost twenty years after they ceased manufacture of their last 35mm model, Mamiya USA could not answer my inquiries about their old 35mm camera line. They simply didn't have the references available any more. Unable to find any other dependable information sources, online or otherwise, I finally realized my own collecting had provided a great deal of data about these cameras that many other people might find interesting.

This web site is my attempt to share it with you. However, since I can't claim to know everything about these cameras, I also depend on each Gentle Reader to share what information they may have, and you have all been terrific!

Of one thing I am certain. You will find Mamiya 35mm camera information on this site that you will not find anywhere else, not even from Mamiya Corporation!

A Little Mamiya History


Tsunejiro Sugawara (left) and Seichi Mamiya
(right); c. May 1940.

The Mamiya company, which is still a strong player in the medium-format professional market, was founded in May 1940 by businessman Tsunejiro Sugawara and engineer Seichi Mamiya (pronounced ma-MEE-yah; above, right), as Mamiya Koki Seisakusho.

The stylized symbol (below), seen on early Mamiya cameras, was designed in July 1940 by students of Japan Fine Arts School (the predecessor to the Japan Art College), and stands for the initials of the two founders (and not Mamiya/Sekor, as some have reported).

Their first product was the medium-format (120 film) folder Mamiya-6 (pictured, above right). A fascinating feature of this vintage folder is the way it focuses. The lens and bellows do not move - the film plane does! Well made and highly successful, it was the predecessor of Mamiya's first 35mm camera, the Mamiya 35-I, which debuted in 1949.

Unfortunately, Mamiya's Tokyo facilities were destroyed during WWII, and Mamiya had to rebuild the entire company. Their first postwar cameras were sold entirely to Allied Forces personnel, not to the Japanese public.

In 1950, the company was incorporated as the Mamiya Camera Company, Ltd. In February, 1953, a Mamiya USA branch was opened in New York, and in May, 1956, Mamiya exhibited cameras for the first time at the Photokina Show. Mamiya went on to make major technological advances in the science of photography, making popular equipment in both the 35mm and medium-format professional market.

The year 1984 brought the untimely bancruptcy of Osawa Precision Co. (formerly Bell & Howell Japan), Mamiya's major international distributor. It was, at the time, the largest financial failure in modern Japanese history. It also caused severe financial difficulties for Mamiya and led to the unfortunate end of their 35mm camera production. Osawa itself eventually recovered, but not before Mamiya had already shifted its entire marketing priority into the medium-format camera market.

More Mamiya History
Immediately following WWII, shutters and lenses were in such short supply manufacturers began to make their own to meet demand. Mamiya, unable to buy a sufficient supply from their former supplier, Chiyoda, purchased a factory in Setagaya (Tokyo) to manufacture them.

It was the Setagaya factory (later called Setagaya Koki) that originated the Sekor lens name. For a short time, Mamiya also bought lenses from Olympus Optical, to whom they sold Koho shutters. Curiously, it was Olympus that had made and sold Koho to Mamiya before the war.

Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL, c. July 1968.

Mamiya-6 Folding Camera (120 film), c. 1940.

Mamiya Camera Pricing
I receive many requests for price quotations on old Mamiya cameras. So many, I can't always send a personal answer. Besides, it's a hard question, for two reasons. One, I'm not a camera dealer. I merely collect these cameras, and that is my only connection point with prices. Two, I truly believe the value of any older camera has little to do with book value. It is always the price the buyer and seller agree upon at any particular moment! That means it can fluctuate wildly! Still, I have tried to answer your value questions with my Auction Prices page.*

* Price references are derived from "McKeown's Price Guide," © 2001; "McBroom's Camera Bluebook," © 2000; the "Camprice" online pricing subscription service; or my own experience. An actual buy-or-sell price could be considerably different from one listed, and the table should be used only as a benchmark of the market. Remember too, the interest in old Mamiya 35mm cameras tends to be from a much narrower range of the collecting market than for cameras such as Leica or an old Nikon.

Mamiya Lens Pricing!
I also receive many requests for price quotations on just the lenses for Mamiya 35mm cameras and, like so much other old Mamiya data, that information was simply not readily available anywhere. So, I set about to create it -- and have been recording and compiling average auction prices for Mamiya 35mm SLR lenses for almost three years. Check out my Mamiya Lenses Auction Price page!

  Mamiya Instruction Manuals
Instruction manuals for old Mamiya 35mm cameras are increasingly difficult to find. Operating instructions, service manuals, period articles and references have just not been readily available -- until now! Quality reprints of many of these hard-to-find manuals are now available for sale on my Instruction Manuals page!

Other Mamiya 35mm
I have compiled as much information as I can find on the rest of the Mamiya 35mm heritage -- primarily the point-and-shoot models they created. If you are interested, you check out this new information on my Other Mamiya 35mm page!

Mamiya 35mm Rangefinders
Mamiya SLR models have distinctive identities, but their early rangefinders might not be so familiar. Here is a listing of major ones, to help you find them:

• Mamiya Rangefinders
   
  • Mamiya 35-I
    
    
  • Mamiya Magazine 35
    
  • Mamiya Elca
    
  • Mamiya Crown
    
  • Mamiya Ruby
    
  • Mamiya EE Merit
    
  • Mamiya Super Deluxe