MAMIYA 35-III (c.1957) from the R.L. Herron collection.

Mamiya 35-III
Another significant advance came in September 1957, on the release of the Mamiya 35-III, (left). It was a helical focus camera with a self-cocking lever and linked finder. It had a flash mount shoe (cold), manually-set dials for film type and shot counting (on the film advance).

Its lens is a fixed 5cm f/2.8 Mamiya-Sekor in a Seikosha-MXL shutter (speeds from 1 sec. - 1/500 including B). Slightly more expensive, a version with an f/2.0 lens in the same Seikosha shutter was also available. Both versions are rare today.


ALSO PICTURED from the R.L. Herron collection (above, left to right):
MAMIYA WIDE (c.1957)
Essentially a 35-III equipped with a 35mm lens

MAMIYA WIDE E (c.1959)
Improved Mamiya Wide with selenium meter

MAMIYA PROTOTYPE (c.1957)
Apparently a one-of-a-kind item, this prototype image,
identified as a Mamiya 35-2 prototype, was received
from Mamiya Japan

Mamiya Magazine 35
Introduced in April 1957, the fascinating Mamiya Magazine 35 is one of the truly unique commercial cameras introduced by Mamiya. Available for years in medium- and large-format cameras, a 35mm interchangeable back had been found previously only in the ultra expensive Kodak Ektra, which was introduced in 1939 and discontinued less than a year later. The Adox 300 (c.1956) also had an interchangeable 35mm back but it, too, was short-lived, and there is no evidence it was ever imported into the U.S. market. Thus, years ahead of its time, the Mamiya Magazine 35 was the first mass-produced, mass-marketed 35mm format camera with a film-back interchange system.

Using a fixed 50mm f/2.8 Mamiya-Sekor lens in a Seikosha MXL shutter, it has a fast-focusing parallel-action helical mount with 90º sweep-lever throw for 3½ feet to infinity focusing. An f/2 lens was also available, but finding one is rare. The shutter boasts nine speeds, from 1/500 to 1 sec. and B, and full flash synchronization. It has a contrasty coupled rangefinder and the single window viewfinder also provides a parallax indicator.

The magazine "Popular Photography," in its November 1957 edition, called it "an intelligently designed" and highly dependable camera "which combines optical and mechanical excellence." The camera was not, however, as commercially successful as Mamiya, or the early critics, had anticipated. In 1957 the Mamiya Magazine 35, with one film magazine, sold for $89.50. Check my Auction Prices tables for the current auction average prices. A remarkably sturdy camera, with good optics, it can still be found in auctions today, although finding one in good working condition is becoming increasingly rare.

Mamiya Elca
The Mamiya Elca (right), was introduced in April 1958, as Japan's first camera with match-needle metering. The aperture, shutter and film speeds were connected by resistors, and the needle was aligned against a fixed pointer. It had a coupled rangefinder with a selenium meter. The exposure metering, shutter cocking and rangefinder setting were operated simultaneously by the film advance lever.

It was furnished with a fixed 5cm (50mm) Mamiya-Sekor f/2.8 lens in a Copal-Special-MXV shutter, with speeds from 1 - 1/500 and B. It is one of the rarer Mamiya rangefinders today.

Mamiya Ruby
In September 1959, Mamiya introduced another leaf shutter 35mm camera, the Mamiya Ruby. It was a front-lens focusing linked rangefinder with a point matching exposure meter, read in a dial on top of the camera, not through the lens (see picture at right). It had a 48mm f/2.8 Mamiya-Sekor lens. A more advanced version, featuring lens and aperture control, with an f/1.9 Mamiya-Sekor lens, was introduced in May 1960. The Ruby was to become the style basis for several Mamiya rangefinders.

Building on the Ruby line was the Mamiya M3, a less expensive cousin, introduced in May 1961. It featured a fully synchro flash contact, shutter speeds from 1 to 1/500, and came with a fixed 48mm Mamiya-Kominar f/2.0 lens. Yet another related camera, the Mamiya 4B, released in 1963, came with a selenium-cell meter, a fixed 40mm Mamiya-Kominar f/2.8 lens and a much more limited shutter (1/4 - 1/250). Similar Mamiya rangefinders were often rebranded as Rank Mamiya cameras when sold in the U.K.

MAMIYA EE MERIT (c.Feb 1962) from the R.L. Herron collection.

MAMIYA EE SUPER MERIT (c.Sept 1962)
from the R.L. Herron collection.

Mamiya EE Merit
Pictured at left is the Mamiya EE Merit, a lens shutter 35mm rangefinder first released in February 1962. An advanced version, the Mamiya EE Super Merit, was released in September of the same year. Featuring shutter priority, focus in this coupled rangefinder is identified by marks in the distance-linked viewfinder.

Both the EE Merit and Super Merit had a fixed 40mm f/2.8 Mamiya-Kominar lens, an automatic shot counter and four shutter speed settings: 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and 1/250. The Super Merit is distinguishable by a slightly wider, black-framed bezel around the front rangefinder window. Both versions were also marketed by Honeywell as the Honeywell Electric Eye 35. Yet another version was sold as the Mansfield Eye-Tronic R. Mansfield was a division of Argus, Inc.

There was another name variant, known as the Vulcan, but until recently I had no information as to where this version was marketed. Thanks to reader Maurice Fisher, it is confirmed that the Mamiya Vulcan was a rebranded Mamiya EE Super Merit, sold in the UK through the retailer Dixons.

Mamiya Super Deluxe
The Mamiya Super Deluxe was released in August 1964. This leaf shutter 35mm had a point-matching exposure control and an auto counter. It came with either a fixed Mamiya-Sekor 48mm f/1.7 or a Mamiya Kominar f/2.0 lens -- both in a Copal-SVE shutter, synched to either manual or electronic flash. In November 1964, a version featuring an even faster f/1.5 Mamiya-Sekor lens was released. Earliest versions have "Super Deluxe" on the front of the top housing, below the meter cell (see picture, right). Later versions have "Super Deluxe" in script letters, on the front left-hand side of the camera body. All versions use a single 1.3v PX-675 mercury battery (almost universally banned).

Mamiya 135
At left is the Mamiya 135 (c.1977), a programmed EE camera with a linked rangefinder and flash charge lamp (for dedicated flash). It has a fixed 38mm Mamiya-Sekor f/2.8 lens, a self-timer, a hot shoe and a built-in light meter, read through the viewfinder.

Similar to many small 35mm rangefinders produced about this time (the small Rollei XF35, c.1974, or the Minolta Hi-Matic F come to mind), it used a 1.3v PX-675 mercury battery. Mercury batteries are now banned in most countries (see Battery Note above).