Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Mamiya Press Super 23

Mamiya · Mamiya Press mount · 6×9cm (56×84mm) on 120 or 220 with the 6×9 roll film holder, 6×7cm with the 6×7 holder; 6×6 and 6×4.5 by masks in either holder; 6.5×9cm dry plates and 2¼×3¼ inch cut film in the Type J and Type A holders, film packs in the film pack adapter (Super 23 manual). · 1967

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Mamiya Press Super 23 · Mamiya Super 23 · Super 23 · Super23 · Mamiya Press Super23 · Mamiya 23 Super · マミヤプレス スーパー23 · マミヤ スーパー23 · スーパー23 · Mamiya Super 23 100mm

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Super 23 Mamiya Press 1967 — —
  1. Weight and dimensions are the Super 23 instruction manual's figures: 2 lb 7 oz (1,100 g) body, 1 lb 3 oz (540 g) for the 100mm f/3.5, 10 oz (290 g) for the grip. Beyond the Aperture's own scale gave the same 2 lb 7 oz for the body.
  2. The launch date is August 1967 by English Wikipedia and late 1966 by the Japanese Wikipedia product list and Sunrise Camera; see `disputed`.
  3. The finder magnification and effective base (0.72×, 61.2mm) are English Wikipedia's figures only; the manual gives neither.
  4. No list price in yen or dollars was found for the Super 23. Emulsive's US$299.50 is a late-1965 price for the earlier Press Deluxe kit and is on the Mamiya Press page.
  5. The 250mm f/5 in the manual's lens table couples to the rangefinder; the earlier 250mm f/8, listed for the Universal, does not (Universal manual, Chemical Cameras).
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Bright-line frames for 100, 150 and 250 with 6×9 and 6×7 fields: a Super 23 or a Universal; masks over the finder window and no bright lines: a first-generation Press
  • Bellows with locking struts behind the body: a Press or a Super 23; SUPER 23 on the front plate settles which
  • Breech-lock bayonet lens mount with the shutter in the lens; the 100mm f/3.5 retracts and the finder shows a warning until it is pulled out
  • Left-hand grip with the cable release built in, removable; two-stroke advance lever on the roll film holder

Super 23:

  • SUPER 23 engraved on the front plate below the finder windows, MAMIYA on the right (manual cover)
  • Larger finder with selectable bright-line frames for 100, 150 and 250mm in 6×9 and 6×7 fields, automatic parallax compensation and a warning signal for a retracted lens (Super 23 manual specifications, p.49); a first-generation Press has masks over the window and no bright lines
  • Rear mount on a bellows with locking struts, tilting or swinging 15 degrees in four directions and extending about 30mm (manual); the Universal has a flat back plate instead
  • Silver (satin chrome) top with rubberised covering carrying raised M lettering (Photo Thinking); a black version from October 1969 (English Wikipedia; camera-wiki: silver and black)

Serial-range notes

No published scheme
No source consulted relates Super 23 serial numbers to years. Silver and black are the only dated distinction (black from October 1969 per English Wikipedia).

Specifications

Format
6×9cm (56×84mm) on 120 or 220 with the 6×9 roll film holder, 6×7cm with the 6×7 holder; 6×6 and 6×4.5 by masks in either holder; 6.5×9cm dry plates and 2¼×3¼ inch cut film in the Type J and Type A holders, film packs in the film pack adapter (Super 23 manual). · 8 at 6×9 or 10 at 6×7 on 120; 16 or 20 on 220 (Super 23 manual) exposures
Finder
combined coupled rangefinder/viewfinder with selectable bright-line frames, coincidence-type rangefinder · 0.72× magnification · 100mm, 150mm, 250mm framelines · selectable · automatic parallax correction
Effective baselength
61.2 mm
Shutter
none in body; Seikosha-S #0 leaf shutter in each lens with M and X synchronisation; press-focus lever (blade arrester) on the 100mm f/3.5, T setting on the others (manual lens table, p.51) · B, 1s to 1/500 (manual specifications for the 100mm f/3.5) · flash sync all speeds, M and X selectable · no self-timer
Film advance
in the roll film holder: two-stroke lever with automatic resetting counter on the 6×9 and 6×7 holders; the holders take 120 and 220 with a pressure-plate setting and a film indicator window (manual)
Back
interchangeable, M-type (Mamiya) mount on a tilting and swinging bellows; roll film holders, focusing screen holder, cut film and plate holders, film pack adapter
Meter
none
Motor drive
Not compatible
Weight
1100 g
Dimensions
168 × 121 × 119 with the 100mm f/3.5 at infinity (manual specifications); weight_g is the body alone, plus 540 g for the 100mm f/3.5 and 290 g for the hand grip (manual) mm
Country
Japan
Accessories
6×9 cm roll film holder (8 on 120, 16 on 220) and 6×7 cm roll film holder (10 on 120, 20 on 220), two-stroke lever, automatic resetting counter · Focusing screen holder; right-angle focusing back · Cut film/plate holder Type J (6.5×9cm plates, 2½×3½ inch cut film, quarter 12×16.5cm) and Type A (2¼×3¼ inch); film pack adapter · Sports finder for the Super 23, 6×9 and 6×7 types, frames for 100 and 150mm · 50mm and 65mm wide-angle viewfinders for the Super 23 · Extension rings, set of five · Hand grip with cable release; tripod adapter for vertical format; eyecup; finder adapter · Flashgun for Mamiya Press with mounting piece; mounting brackets for Graflex and Heiland flashguns · Carrying strap, compartment case, cutter for quarter-size cut film

0.72× and a 61.2mm effective base are English Wikipedia's figures; the manual gives no magnification. The manual's own instruction: compose within the inner edge of the frame at short distances and use the outer edge as the guide at long ones. A lens-retraction warning signal shows in the finder when the 100mm f/3.5 is pushed in. The 50mm and 65mm use their own accessory viewfinders on the clip.

Where sources disagree

First
  • August 1967 — English Wikipedia; Emulsive, Photo Thinking, camera-wiki and Beyond the Aperture give 1967
  • Late 1966 — Japanese Wikipedia product list; Sunrise Camera gives 1966

Better supported: 1967

What reviewers say

History

The Super 23 is the second and last body design of the Mamiya Press line: the 1960 camera rebuilt around a bigger finder, with the tilting back kept. English Wikipedia dates it to August 1967, the Japanese product list to the end of 1966, and the black version to October 1969. The manual’s list of main features is the whole case for it in fourteen lines: a large negative, lenses from 50mm to 250mm on a bayonet ring, a coupled rangefinder, direct focusing on a ground glass, a brilliant finder with switch-over frames and automatic parallax correction, a hand grip, a roll film holder with an advance lever, 120 and 220, plates, cut film and film packs in their own holders, close-up work by extending the back mount or by extension rings, and a back mount that swings “to achieve control of perspective, depth of field, distortion, or special effects”.

The specification page fixes the numbers. The standard lens is the retracting Mamiya-Sekor 100mm f/3.5 in a Seikosha-S #0 shutter, B and 1 second to 1/500, M and X synchronisation, with the press-focus lever that holds the blades open for the ground glass; the lens mount is a breech-lock bayonet. The finder carries adjustable frames for 100, 150 and 250mm in 6×9 and 6×7 formats, a warning signal when the lens is retracted, and automatic parallax compensation; English Wikipedia adds 0.72× and a 61.2mm effective base against the 1960 finder’s 0.66× and 60mm. The back mount tilts or swings 15 degrees in four directions and extends about 30mm (1 3/16 inches). The camera body weighs 1,100 g, the 100mm f/3.5 540 g and the hand grip 290 g, and the body with lens measures 168 × 121 × 119mm. The lens table lists six lenses, all in Seikosha #0 shutters: 50mm f/6.3 (eight elements, 72mm filter), 65mm f/6.3 (43mm), 100mm f/3.5 (40.5mm), 100mm f/2.8 (72mm), 150mm f/5.6 (40.5mm) and 250mm f/5 (105mm), the 100mm f/3.5 being the only one that retracts.

The holders are what make the camera a system. The 6×9 roll film holder gives 8 frames on 120 and 16 on 220, the 6×7 holder 10 and 20, both with a two-stroke lever and an automatic resetting counter, and each needs its pressure plate and film indicator set for the film in use. The Type J holder takes 6.5×9cm plates and 2½×3½ inch cut film, the Type A takes 2¼×3¼ inch, the film pack adapter takes packs, and the focusing screen holder and right-angle back put a ground glass where the film goes. The accessory list runs to a sports finder in 6×9 and 6×7 types, separate 50mm and 65mm finders, a set of five extension rings, a flashgun with brackets for Graflex and Heiland guns, and a tripod adapter for vertical work. What the Super 23 never had is an instant-film back; Emulsive’s double review gives the Universal that job and the Super 23 the movements, and the Universal manual shows what was traded: the bellows went, and a flat plate with M, G and Polaroid adapters took its place.

Identification is by the front plate and the back. SUPER 23 is engraved below the finder windows; a bellows with struts behind the body means a Press or a Super 23, and bright-line frames rather than window masks mean a Super 23 or a Universal. Silver bodies have a satin-chrome top; black bodies exist from late 1969. The covering is rubberised with raised M lettering. Buying checks from the reviews are long because the camera has no interlocks: Photo Thinking’s list of twelve ways to ruin a frame starts with a dark slide left in and includes a 100mm left retracted, a finder selector on the wrong frame, an uncocked shutter and a release cable that has come off the grip; Beyond the Aperture adds a dark slide tucked far back in the holder and a rangefinder that is hard to see in some light, and reports US$425 of rangefinder, shutter and helicoid work on a US$229 body bought unseen. The manual’s own warnings are the same: with the lens retracted or the back mount pulled out, the rangefinder images coincide but the picture is not in focus.

The commercial record is thin. No list price in yen or dollars was found for the Super 23; the only period price in the sources is Emulsive’s US$299.50 for a Press Deluxe kit in late 1965. No production figure and no serial scheme exist in anything consulted, and no source gives a last year. Used kits with a 100mm and a 6×9 holder were US$250 to $350 when Floyd Takeuchi wrote in 2020, and Tommy Ku’s two-kilogram dumbbell with two lenses whose slow speeds had both failed is the other side of the same market.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Mamiya Press Super 23
Mamiya Super 23 with 100mm f/3.5: the rear bellows and struts — Zebrio (Flickr), uploaded by Armbrust, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Mamiya Press Super 23
Silver Super 23 with 100mm f/3.5 and 6×9 roll film holder — Brian Scott Peterson / Zebrio (Flickr), uploaded by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Mamiya Press Super 23
Black Super 23 with 100mm f/3.5 and 6×9 holder — Brian Scott Peterson / Zebrio (Flickr), uploaded by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $290 across 25 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-21 (middle half $240–$300). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 61 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-21. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Mamiya Press · Mamiya Universal Press · Mamiya 7 · Mamiya 7 II

Lenses for this body: Mamiya-Sekor 100mm f/2.8 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 100mm f/3.5 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 250mm f/5 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 50mm f/6.3 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 65mm f/6.3 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 75mm f/5.6 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 90mm f/3.5 (Press)

Sources (17)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.