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

Mamiya Universal Press

Mamiya · Mamiya Press mount · 6×9cm on 120 (8 exposures) or 220 (16) with the 6×9 roll film holder; 6×7 (10 on 120, 20 on 220) with the 6×7 holder; 6×9, 6×6 or 6×4.5 (8, 12 or 16 on 120) with the Roll Film Holder Model K; 6.5×9cm dry plates and 2¼×3¼ inch cut film in the Type J and Type A holders; 3¼×4¼ inch Polaroid pack film on the Universal only. · 1960

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Mamiya Universal · Mamiya Universal Press · Mamiya Press Universal · Mamiya Super 23 · Mamiya Press Super 23 · Mamiya Press · Mamiya 23 · マミヤプレス · マミヤ ユニバーサル · スーパー23 · Mamiya Universal 100mm · Mamiya Universal 127mm

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya Press (1960) Mamiya Press 1960 — —
Mamiya Super 23 Mamiya Press 1967 — —
Mamiya Universal Mamiya Press 1969–1991 — —
  1. The Polaroid 600 and 600 SE are Mamiya-built cameras on the Universal's design, sold by Polaroid: the 600 with a fixed 127mm, the 600 SE with interchangeable lenses. Both lens mount and back mount were changed so that neither lenses nor backs interchange with a Mamiya body (English Wikipedia, camera-wiki), and only three lenses exist for the 600 SE, the 75mm f/5.6 and 127mm f/4.7 made for it and the 150mm f/5.6 from the standard range (Emulsive, camera-wiki). They are excluded from listings for the Mamiya pages and get no page of their own.
  2. Weight is the manual's figure for the Universal body. English Wikipedia's 1.95 kg is a general figure for a standard outfit and is not used.
  3. No list price in any currency was found for any of the three bodies. Emulsive quotes only an inflation-adjusted figure for a 1965 outfit, without the original.
  4. The Super 23's launch is August 1967 by English Wikipedia and late 1966 by the Japanese Wikipedia product list; see `disputed`.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Breech-lock bayonet lens mount with the Seikosha shutter in the lens; the 100mm f/3.5 retracts and will not focus until pulled out (manual)
  • Left-hand grip with a cable release built in, removable
  • Bright-line frames for 100, 150 and 250 with 6×9 and 6×7 fields mark a Super 23 or a Universal; a finder without frames is a first-generation Press
  • Rear bellows with struts: Press or Super 23. Flat back plate with M/G adapter or Polaroid holder: Universal
  • Press-focus lever on the lens holds the blades open for ground-glass focusing; must be pushed back in before exposure

Mamiya Press (1960):

  • First body: no bright-line frames in the finder (camera-wiki), 0.66× finder with a 60mm base (English Wikipedia)
  • Sold with the collapsible chrome 90mm f/3.5 as standard lens; M-type (Mamiya) back on the original, Graflok-type back on the Press G of November 1963
  • Rear bellows with locking struts for up to 15° of tilt and 31mm of extension (English Wikipedia)

Mamiya Super 23:

  • Redesigned body with the larger finder: selectable bright-line frames for 100, 150 and 250mm, 6×9 and 6×7 formats, automatic parallax compensation; 0.72× and a 61.2mm effective base (English Wikipedia)
  • Rear bellows with locking struts retained: the Super 23 tilts and extends its back, the Universal cannot
  • M-type back only; no Polaroid pack-film back was ever made for it (Emulsive)
  • Rubberised covering with raised M lettering (Photo Thinking); black-bodied version from October 1969 per a Japanese dealer note reached through a search extract

Mamiya Universal:

  • Same finder as the Super 23 (frames 100/150/250, 6×9 and 6×7, automatic parallax), no rear bellows: the back is a flat plate
  • Takes the M adapter (Mamiya roll holders, focusing hood, ground glass), the G adapter (2¼×3¼ Graflok accessories) and the Polaroid Land pack film holder directly (manual)
  • Standard lens 100mm f/3.5, retracting type, black finish; or the 127mm f/4.7 which covers the Polaroid format (manual)

Serial-range notes

No published scheme
No source consulted relates serial numbers to years for any Press body. The generation is read from the finder (bright lines or not), the back (bellows or flat plate) and the nameplate.

Specifications

Format
6×9cm on 120 (8 exposures) or 220 (16) with the 6×9 roll film holder; 6×7 (10 on 120, 20 on 220) with the 6×7 holder; 6×9, 6×6 or 6×4.5 (8, 12 or 16 on 120) with the Roll Film Holder Model K; 6.5×9cm dry plates and 2¼×3¼ inch cut film in the Type J and Type A holders; 3¼×4¼ inch Polaroid pack film on the Universal only. · 8 at 6×9 or 10 at 6×7 on 120; 16 or 20 on 220 exposures
Finder
combined coupled rangefinder/viewfinder with selectable bright-line frames, automatic parallax compensation (Super 23 and Universal) · 0.72× magnification · 100mm, 150mm, 250mm framelines · selectable · automatic parallax correction
Effective baselength
61.2 mm
Shutter
none in body; Seikosha #0 leaf shutter in each lens with M and X synchronisation and a press-focus or time lever for holding the blades open · B, 1s to 1/500 on the standard lenses (manual) · flash sync all speeds, M and X selectable · no self-timer
Film advance
in the roll film holder: two-stroke lever with automatic stop and resetting counter on the 6×9 and 6×7 holders; knob with red-window counter on the Model K
Back
interchangeable; M adapter for Mamiya holders, G adapter for Graflok accessories, Polaroid Land pack film holder direct (Universal); M-type only on the Super 23 and the original Press, G-type on the Press G
Meter
none
Motor drive
Not compatible
Weight
950 g
Dimensions
167 × 121 × 104 with the 100mm f/3.5 retracted at infinity, without the hand grip (Universal manual); weight_g is the Universal body alone, plus 480 g for the 100mm f/3.5 and 300 g for the grip mm
Country
Japan
Accessories
M adapter and G adapter (Universal) · 6×9 and 6×7 roll film holders for 120 and 220; Roll Film Holder Model K for 6×9, 6×6 or 6×4.5 on 120 · Polaroid Land pack film holder (Universal), with tripod adapter Type P · Focusing hood and focusing screen holder; right-angle focusing back · Cut film/plate holders Type J and Type A; film pack adapter · Extension rings, set of five · Optical viewfinders for the 50mm and 65mm, shared with the Super 23 · Hand grip with cable release; tripod adapter for vertical format; quick-shoe · BC flashgun and mounting brackets for Graflex and Heiland flashguns

English Wikipedia's figures for the upgraded finder: 0.72× with an effective baseline of 61.2mm; the 1960 finder was 0.66× on a 60mm baseline and had no bright lines. The manual: compose within the inner edge of the frame at short distances and use the outer edge as the guide at long ones. The 50mm and 65mm use their own optical finders, shared between Universal and Super 23.

Where sources disagree

First
  • August 1967 — English Wikipedia; Emulsive, Photo Thinking and camera-wiki give 1967
  • Late 1966 — Japanese Wikipedia product list

Better supported: 1967

Weight (grams)
  • 950 g body — Mamiya Universal instruction manual
  • 1.95 kg — English Wikipedia, for standard models, contents unstated

Better supported: 950 g body only

1.95 kg is close to the manual's body plus 100mm, grip and a roll holder.

What reviewers say

History

The Mamiya Press is a 6×9 rangefinder built the way a Graflex press camera was built: lenses with their own leaf shutters on a breech-lock mount, backs that come off, a grip on the left with a cable release in it, and a ground glass for anyone with time to use it. English Wikipedia dates the first body to September 1960, with US sales from 1962, and lists the minor versions that followed: the Press G of November 1963 with a Graflok-type back, the Press S of June 1964, and the 23 Deluxe and 23 Standard of 1965. camera-wiki adds that the first finder had no bright-line frames, that the standard lens was the collapsible chrome 90mm f/3.5, and that the Mamiya (M-type) and Graflex (G-type) backs were never interchangeable, so a first-generation body takes one or the other. The finder was 0.66× on a 60mm base, and the back sat on a bellows with locking struts giving up to 15 degrees of tilt and 31mm of extension.

The Super 23 of August 1967 (late 1966 by the Japanese product list) is a new body around the same idea. Its finder is larger, 0.72× with a 61.2mm effective base, and for the first time carries selectable bright lines for the 100, 150 and 250mm lenses in both 6×9 and 6×7 fields, with automatic parallax compensation; the 100mm f/3.5 became the standard lens. The bellows back stayed, and it is what the Super 23 is bought for now: Emulsive’s double review prefers it for perspective control and notes that Mamiya never made an instant-film back for it. The Universal of April 1969 is the Super 23 with the bellows removed and a flat plate in its place, which takes the M adapter for Mamiya holders, the G adapter for Graflok accessories, and the Polaroid Land pack film holder directly. The manual’s specification page gives 950 g for the body, 480 g for the retracting 100mm f/3.5, 470 g for the 127mm f/4.7 and 300 g for the grip, and 167 × 121 × 104mm with the 100mm retracted; the lens table lists nine lenses from the 50mm f/6.3 to the 250mm f/8, all in Seikosha #0 shutters with M and X sync, and warns that the 250mm f/8 does not couple to the rangefinder. It ran until 1991.

The backs are the system. The 6×9 holder gives eight frames on 120 and sixteen on 220, the 6×7 holder ten and twenty, both with a two-stroke lever and an automatic stop; the Roll Film Holder Model K takes 120 only and switches between 6×9, 6×6 and 6×4.5 with a red-window knob wind. Type J and Type A holders take 6.5×9cm plates and 2¼×3¼ cut film, a film pack adapter takes packs, and the focusing hood, screen holder and right-angle back put a ground glass where the film goes. The Polaroid holder on the Universal covers the full 3¼×4¼ pack with the 127mm, which is why the 127mm exists at all and why Shoot It With Film calls the Universal the best system for manual-control instant photography. That holder is also the reason the camera has a Polaroid cousin: the 600 and 600 SE were built by Mamiya on the Universal’s design and sold by Polaroid, with the lens mount and back mount both changed so that nothing interchanges, and with only three lenses ever made for them.

Identification is by finder and back. Bright lines for 100, 150 and 250 with 6×9 and 6×7 fields mean a Super 23 or a Universal; a bellows with struts behind the body means a Press or a Super 23; a flat plate with an adapter or a Polaroid holder means a Universal. The 100mm f/3.5 retracts into its mount and will not focus until it has been pulled out, whatever the rangefinder shows; the press-focus lever on each lens holds the blades open for the ground glass and must be pushed back before the exposure. Photo Thinking’s list of twelve ways to ruin a frame starts with a forgotten dark slide and includes an advance that does not interlock with the shutter, so double exposures are the owner’s responsibility. Buying checks from the reviews: light seals on every holder, frame spacing on a test roll, rangefinder alignment, fungus in the finder and etching on the older glass.

What is missing from the record is the commercial side. No list price was found for any of the three bodies in yen or in dollars; Emulsive quotes only an inflation-adjusted figure for a 1965 outfit. No production figures exist in anything consulted, no serial scheme, and no last year for the first-generation Press, which the sources let run into the Super 23 without a date. Used kits with a 100mm and a 6×9 back went for US$250 to $350 when Floyd Takeuchi wrote in 2020, which for eight 6×9 frames a roll through a Sekor lens is the case the reviewers make for it, weight and cinder-block ergonomics included.

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 Universal Press
Mamiya Universal with 100mm f/3.5, 6×9 roll holder and Polaroid back — Zebrio (Flickr), uploaded by Flickr upload bot, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Mamiya Universal Press
Mamiya Universal with the 127mm f/4.7 and 150mm f/5.6 — Zebrio (Flickr), uploaded by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Mamiya Universal Press
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)

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 $310 across 24 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $220–$390). First day tracked.

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

Show 57 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 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Mamiya 6 (1989) · Mamiya 7 · Mamiya RB67 · Mamiya RZ67

Sources (14)

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.