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

Mamiya G 150mm f/4.5 L (Mamiya 6)

Mamiya · Mamiya 6 · 1989

Also known as: Mamiya G 150mm f/4.5 L · Mamiya G 150mm f4.5 L · Mamiya 150mm f/4.5 L · Mamiya G4.5/150L · Mamiya 6 150mm · New Mamiya 6 150mm f/4.5 · Mamiya 6 MF 150mm · マミヤ G 150mm F4.5 L · ニューマミヤ6 150mm · マミヤ6 150mm F4.5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya G 150mm f/4.5 L (G4.5/150L) · #00 electronic leaf shutter in the lens, B, 4 s–1/500, X sync at all speeds, electronic self-timer (New Mamiya 6 manual) Mamiya 6 1989 — —
  1. Construction, angle of view, closest distance, filter size, dimensions and weight are from Mamiya's own lens leaflet and the New Mamiya 6 manual (butkus.org). Neither gives a blade count or a separate price for the lens.
  2. Minimum aperture: the camera manual's lens page and its G4.5/150L depth-of-field table go to f/32, and Wikipedia's table agrees; the separate lens leaflet's table prints 22 for all three lenses. f/32 is carried, as the figure the manual's own table is built on.
  3. Mike Eckman quotes a December 1992 US retail of $2,570 for the body with the 75mm and $1,450 body only; no price for the 150 was found.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • One version, engraved as a G lens with the L suffix; fits only the Mamiya 6 (1989) and 6 MF (1993)
  • 67 mm filter and screw-in hood, unlike the 58 mm bayonet-hood 50 and 75
  • Brings up its own 150mm frame line in the finder when mounted (manual: automatic bright-line frame selection for 50, 75 and 150)

Mamiya G 150mm f/4.5 L (G4.5/150L):

  • Catalogued as G4.5/150L; the only version made; fits the Mamiya 6 and 6 MF only, not the Mamiya 7, which has its own 150mm f/4.5
  • The largest of the three: 86 mm long, 70 mm diameter, 480 g, 67 mm filter and a screw-in hood where the 50 and 75 take bayonet hoods
  • Aperture ring f/4.5–32 (the manual's lens page and depth-of-field table; the separate lens leaflet prints f/22 for all three lenses)
  • Closest focus 1.8 m at 0.0996×, covering 562 mm square; gold-plated contacts on the rear

Specifications

Formula
Telephoto with ultra-low-dispersion glass, 6 elements in 5 groups; Mamiya calls it apochromatic (Mamiya lens leaflet)
Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/4.5–f/32
Shutter
#00 electronic leaf shutter in the lens: B, 4 s–1/500, electromagnetic release, X sync at all speeds, electronic self-timer; needs the body's two SR44 cells
Min. focus
1.8 m
Dimensions
70 × 86 mm
Weight
480 g
Filter
67 mm
Years manufactured
1989
Country
Japan
Original price
No separate lens price found. Mike Eckman gives the December 1992 US retail of the Mamiya 6 as $2,570 with the 75mm f/3.5 or $1,450 body only; no price for the 150 in yen or dollars was found.

What reviewers say

Optical formula — Telephoto with ultra-low-dispersion glass, 6 elements in 5 groups; Mamiya calls it apochromatic (Mamiya lens leaflet)

History

The 150mm f/4.5 is the telephoto of the New Mamiya 6, the 6×6 rangefinder shown at Photokina in 1986 and sold from 1989, and the least-used of its three lenses. Its 30° angle of view is about an 82mm on 35mm film, a short portrait length rather than a long one, and it focuses no closer than 1.8 m, where it covers 562 mm square at 0.0996×. Mamiya’s leaflet claims the most for it optically: ultra-low-dispersion glass corrects all colour aberrations including lateral colour, so the image is sharp and crisp at full aperture without loss of contrast and free of astigmatism and coma, and the company calls it an apochromatic lens outright. The published construction is 6 elements in 5 groups, 67 mm filter, screw-in hood, 86 mm long by 70 mm across and 480 g, which makes it the largest and heaviest of the three by some margin.

The shutter is in the lens, a #00 electronic leaf shutter with B and 4 s to 1/500, released electromagnetically and synchronised for flash at every speed, with an electronic self-timer, all powered by the body’s two SR44 cells through gold-plated contacts on the lens’s rear. Mounting the 150 brings up its own frame line in the finder. One version was made and it never changed between the 1989 camera and the 1993 6 MF; the Mamiya 7’s 150mm f/4.5 is a different lens on a different mount. The minimum aperture is the one figure Mamiya’s own documents disagree on: the camera manual’s lens page and depth-of-field table run to f/32, the separate lens leaflet prints f/22 for all three lenses, and this page follows the manual.

Reviewers agree the lens is excellent and disagree about whether anyone needs it. Simon Foale, who has used the system for twenty years, wrote the only dedicated review found: the 150 has really sung for his landscape work, sharp enough to interpolate scans to 12,000 pixels, with very smooth bokeh, and he pushes back on the common claim that a rangefinder cannot focus a 150 reliably, while conceding that depth of field is shallow enough to want a tripod and that 1.8 m rules out tight head shots. Charlie Tadlock at Emulsive owns all three, finds them equally sharp, and admits he almost never uses the 150. The system’s case is portability and this is the lens that adds the least to it.

When buying, start with the body’s cells and the electronics, as with every Mamiya 6 lens: fresh SR44s, every shutter speed fired, the finder LEDs responding to the aperture ring, contacts wiped dry. Then test the rangefinder at 1.8 m and at a middle distance with the lens wide open, because the 60 mm base and 0.58× finder (manual specifications) leave less margin at 150mm than at 75mm, and any misalignment shows here first. The 67 mm filter and screw-in hood are not shared with the other two lenses, and the hood is often missing. Mike Eckman’s and Aloysius Chow’s warnings about scarce repairers apply to the shutter in this lens as much as to the body.

What could not be sourced: a launch price for the lens (Mike Eckman’s December 1992 figures cover only the body and the 75 kit), a blade count, the coating, a production total, a settled minimum aperture between Mamiya’s two documents, what the letters G and L stand for, and a licensed photograph attributable to this lens rather than to the camera.

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.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Mamiya G 150mm f/4.5 L (Mamiya 6)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $400 across 22 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $330–$530). First day tracked.

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

Show 43 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 G 50mm f/4 L (Mamiya 6) · Mamiya G 75mm f/3.5 L (Mamiya 6)

Sources (10)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, 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.