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| Home | Auto Mamiya-Sekor FISHEYE CS 14mm f/3.5 Lens One of the rarest (and hardest-to-find) lenses for the Mamiya NC series. I swapped a similar 14mm Mamiya SX lens with Roland Stauber, in Germany, to get it! You will find the optical performance of this lens is very good wide open, and corner sharpness becomes excellent when stopped down to f/8. This is a really good lens that belongs in any serious collection.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 21mm f/2.8 Lens The Mamiya-Sekor 21mm CS lens provides impressive optical performance, with stopped-down corner sharpness that becomes very, very good. Like the 14mm CS Fisheye lens, this lens is also extremely rare today. However, the angle of view of such a super-wide lens lets you create very dramatic landscape shots, even though it does take some practice to use it effectively. Definitely one to look for in your collection, although it could get pricey.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 28mm f/2.8 Lens
This is the standard wide angle lens for the NC series. I can readily imagine that most people who bought the camera added a 28mm wide-angle and/or a 135mm telephoto lens to their system, which is why these lenses are readily available on the used market. The performance of this lens is pretty standard for a 28mm lens from a reputable manufacturer such as Mamiya. Sharpness in the center and contrast are very good. Corner sharpness could be a little bit better when stopped down. Nothing really damaging -- or very exciting, but very useable. However, while relatively good overall, it doesn't seem to perform quite as well as the 21mm CS lens.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 35mm f/2.8 Lens Although I wouldn't call it extremely rare, don't be surprised if it takes you some time to find this lens. Back in the heyday of the NC1000, I can imagine that most users preferred adding a 28mm lens to their standard lens, instead of the 35mm. Actually, the 200mm prime lens and the 80-200mm zoom lenses seem to be available more often on the used market than this one. However, the performance of this lens is also very good, and superior to the Mamiya CS 28mm lens (especially in corner sharpness).
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 50mm f/1.4 Lens This is the large aperture standard lens for the NC-series cameras. This lens makes manual focusing very easy due to the bright image in the viewfinder and the shallow depth of field. It is often hard to find. The performance of this lens is excellent when stopped-down to f/2.8 or more. Wide open, however, some may find it just a little bit soft.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 50mm f/1.7 Lens This is, by far, the most common lens found on NC-series cameras. It seems like almost every NC1000 or NC1000S came equipped with this lens. However, because of this abundance the market value is not very high, even if the lens is in almost mint condition. Mamiya is renowned for their lens design, especially for their standard lenses (in both 35mm and medium-format photography). When you take pictures with this lens, you will know why. The performance is outstanding. It is probably the best of all the Mamiya NC-series lenses. This lens alone makes the NC1000 camera extremely usable even today.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 50mm f/2.0 Lens This lens is not listed in many Mamiya NC brochures or manuals I have seen. This could be because it was introduced just shortly before the whole NC-series was discontinued. The lens is very compact and the focusing ring is quite narrow. This might also be the reason that the focusing action is not quite as smooth as other CS lenses. However, the optical performance is excellent and almost equals that of the f/1.7 version. An advantage would be its very low weight.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 50mm MACRO f/3.5 Lens This excellent lens is very rare. Do not be surprised if takes you a long time to track one down, or if bidding becomes fierce in any auction where you might find it. Mamiya NC cameras were usually sold with a standard 50mm lens, and very few people were willing to spend the extra money on a macro lens with the same focal length -- particularly since this macro lens was, even when new, also one of the more expensive Mamiya lenses. The Mamiya-Sekor 50mm CS Macro focuses down to a maximum magnification of 1:2. There is also a hard-to-find extension tube "Macro CS" available for this lens for 1:1 magnification.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 135mm f/2.8 Lens This was considered the standard telephoto lens for the NC-series camera. I can imagine most people who bought the camera added a 28mm wide-angle and/or a 135mm telephoto lens to their system, which is why these lenses are readily available in the used market, often at a relatively low price (exceptionally nice examples may fetch considerably more). The performance of this lens is excellent. It is one of the best lenses available for the NC series. It is very contrasty and delivers excellent sharpness, even when wide open. This is very important for a telephoto lens, since it is used wide open most of the time, for faster shutter speeds and beautiful background blur when shooting portraits.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 200mm f/3.5 Lens This is lens is beautifully crafted and has a unique feature: the name "Mamiya" is engraved on a ring around the center of the lens barrel which makes this lens look very classy. While not abundant, this lens can be found with some regularity on the used market, although mint versions can get very pricey. However, although this is a very good lens, I was a little bit disappointed by its optical performance. While very good, it does not seem quite as good as the 135mm Mamiya CS lens.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 300mm f/3.5 Lens This is another one of the rare and hard-to-find lenses for the Mamiya NC series. In all the time I have been observing, I have only seen it a half dozen times on eBay. The lens is surprisingly light-weight for its size. It has a built-in lens hood and a tripod mount. However, the large minimum-focusing distance of five (5) meters is quite a drawback in my opinion. I have not tested the optical performance of this lens, but I would assume that there is quite a bit of chromatic aberration due to the lack of special dispersion glass.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 45-90mm f/3.5 Lens This is another one of those almost impossible-to-find lenses for the NC-series. When you do manage to get your hands on one it is, unfortunately, often dysfunctional. The zoom function of the lens is frequently thwarted due to some very sticky material inside (looks like a melted plastic or rubber part). It can be cleaned, but you may spend a considerable amount of time to get it to work again. However, the cleaning is definitely worth the effort. The optical quality of the Mamiya CS 45-90mm Zoom is excellent.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 50-135mm f/3.8 Lens In all honesty, it is hard to be 100% certain this lens really exists. In all the time I have been collecting, I have never actually seen one, and it does not appear in much Mamiya literature. However, that's the rub…there is direct evidence in some literature. This lens was listed in a 1978 German brochure for Mamiya cameras, and also in a German Mamiya "New Product" brochure. It is conceivable that this was a lens that was only distributed in the German market.
Auto Mamiya-Sekor CS 80-200mm f/3.8 Lens This lens is a real gem! Very well built and an outstanding performer (especially from 80mm to 150mm). You can find it on the used market occasionally and the price is generally not terribly steep, making it a great value. According to Roland Stauber, in Germany, on some samples of this lens you can focus this "beyond infinity." This doesn´t hurt the performance of the lens at all, but it does mean you have to be careful when you shoot landscapes. When you want to focus on a distant subject, make sure you do not focus the lens all the way to the end stop.
Additional Mamiya Accessories Available for the NC1000 The following are the original Mamiya accessories that were available for this camera:
© 2000-2010 R.L. Herron All Rights Reserved. Saved from 50 meg site for Historical Reference |
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