Mamiya

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Mamiya C330 twin-lens reflex camera
Mamiya C330 twin-lens reflex camera

Mamiya-OP Co., Ltd. (マミヤ・オーピー株式会社 Mamiya Ōpī Kabushiki-gaisha?) (TYO: 7991 ) is a Japanese company that today manufactures golf equipment and specialty electronics. With headquarters in the city of Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, it has a capitalization of about 3 000 000 000 yen, sales of 12 500 000 000 and a workforce of over 200 people [1].

Mamiya is best known for its professional film cameras, especially medium-format film cameras such as the Mamiya RB 67, RZ 67, and C-220/C-330, used by advanced amateur and professional photographers. Mamiya also produced the digital Mamiya ZD.

On September 1, 2006, Mamiya Corporation sold its optical instruments business to Cosmo Scientific Systems [2]. A new company, called Mamiya Digital Imaging [3], was formed on that date. It has been reported that the Mamiya brand name for medium-format film and digital cameras, will be continued. Service for those cameras will also continue in the existing Mamiya network.

Contents

Mamiya 645 Super
Mamiya 645 Super

The Mamiya 645 manual focus series

  • The M645 (discontinued) was manufactured from 1975 to 1987. Non-interchangeable back.
  • The M645 1000S (discontinued) was manufactured from 1976 to 1990. Non-interchangeable back.
  • The M645J (discontinued) was manufactured from 1979 to 1982. Basic entry-level camera, non-interchangeable back.
  • The Mamiya 645 Super (discontinued) was manufactured from 1985 to 1993.
  • The Mamiya 645 Pro (discontinued) was manufactured from 1993 to 1998.
  • The Mamiya 645 Pro-TL (current model) was first released in 1997.
  • The Mamiya 645E (current model) was first released in 2000. Entry-level camera, non-interchangeable back, popular among beginners.

The Mamiya 645 auto focus series

  • The Mamiya 645AF was first released in 1999.
  • The Mamiya 645AFD was first released in 2001.
  • The Mamiya 645AFD II was first released in 2005.

Mamiya does not yet manufacture digital backs for its cameras, but they are available through other manufacturers [4]. The 22 megapixel ZD Back for the 645AFD II and, with an adapter, the RZ ProIID, was announced at the 2006 Photokina.

As of spring 2007 the Mamiya ZD was available in Europe but not in the USA.

35mm SLR Mamiya ZE
35mm SLR Mamiya ZE

Many Mamiya models over the past six decades have become collectors' items. The earliest Mamiya-6 medium-format folding camera, the 35mm Mamiya-Sekor 1000DTL, the lightweight 35mm Mamiya NC1000, the 6x6cm medium-format C series of twin-lens reflex (TLR) cameras, and the press cameras of the Super/Universal series are highly valued. Mamiya also manufactured the last models in the Omega line of medium format cameras.

In 1970, Mamiya introduced the RB 67 6x7 cm professional single lens reflex (SLR). The RB 67, a large, heavy, medium-format camera with built-in closeup bellows was innovative and successful. Previous medium-format professional cameras used the square 6x6cm format which did not require the camera to be rotated for photographs in portrait orientation, problematical with large and heavy cameras when tripod-mounted. The RB 67 had a rotating back which enabled photographs to be taken in either landscape or portrait orientation without rotating the camera, at the expense of additional weight and bulk. The RB 67 soon became widely used by professional studio photographers.

The RB 67 was followed by the improved RZ 67. These cameras established Mamiya as medium-format professional camera manufacturers, together with Hasselblad, Rollei, and Bronica.

The Mamiya ZD and the Mamiya ZD Digital Back were announced in September 2004 and first shipped to Europe in March 2006. The ZD is a large, professional digital SLR camera with a 22 megapixel digital sensor manufactured by Dalsa. The ZD Digital Back fits the 645AFD and provides it with digital functionality.

Mamiya started manufacturing 35mm cameras in 1949, with 35mm point-and-shoot compact cameras being introduced later. The Mamiya 35 series of rangefinder cameras was followed by the Mamiya Prismat SLR in 1961 and the Mamiya TL/DTL in the mid-to-late 1960's. One of Mamiya's last 35mm SLR designs was the ZE-series. The original entry-level ZE model was an aperture-priority-only SLR; the ZE-2 added manual exposure; the ZE-X added shutter priority and full program automated mode, and (with a dedicated flash and an EF-series lens) focus-priority flash exposure). In these models the aperture ring had no direct connection to the diaphragm, allowing the camera body to override the set aperture, and the lenses could communicate a considerable amount of information to the camera body via electrical contacts on the mount.

The Mamiya ZM introduced in 1982, an advanced version of the ZE-2, with some of the features of the ZE-X, was the last Mamiya 35mm camera. It had an aperture-priority automatic time control, based on center-weighted TTL readings, an automatic shutter-speed range from 4 seconds to 1/1000, and a manual range from 2 seconds to 1/1000. Visual and audio signals indicated over- or under-exposure, pending battery failure, or excessive camera shake. Metering modes, shutter release, self-timer, manual time settings and the ergonomics of the camera body were also improved.

In 1984 Osawa, one of Mamiya's major distributors, became bankrupt and Mamiya discontinued 35mm camera production.

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