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

Mamiya A 150mm f/2.8 (645)

Mamiya · Mamiya 645 · 1992

Also known as: Mamiya A 150mm f/2.8 · Mamiya 150mm f/2.8 A · Mamiya 645 150mm f2.8 · Mamiya A 150/2.8 · Mamiya Sekor A 150mm f/2.8 · マミヤ A 150mm F2.8 · マミヤ 645 150mm F2.8 · マミヤ A150mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya A 150mm f/2.8 Mamiya 645 — — —
  1. Optical construction, angle of view, minimum aperture, closest focus, magnification, filter size, hood, dimensions and weight are from Mamiya's own table in the 645 Interchangeable Lenses product sheet. Wikipedia's table and the MFlenses thread give 1.5 m closest focus and 112 × 75 mm; Mamiya's 132 cm and 111.2 × 74.5 mm are used here.
  2. The family year is the first Mamiya document consulted that lists the lens: the 645 Pro instruction book (the Pro was introduced in April 1992 per camera-wiki). The lens is absent from Mamiya's 1981 brochure and from the N-era Sekor C sheet, so it was introduced somewhere between about 1985 and 1992; no source consulted gives the year, and the variant carries no years for that reason.
  3. Blade count (8 per Wikipedia's table) and the claim, made in dealer copy, that the lens uses Mamiya's ultra-low dispersion glass are each carried by one non-maker source and are left out of the specifications. The A prefix is Wikipedia's 'apochromatic or near-apochromatic design'; Mamiya's own sheet does not explain it.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A 150mm f/2.8 on the name ring; the other 645 150s read Sekor C 150mm f/3.5 (or f/4) and A 150mm f/3.8 N/L
  • 67 mm filter thread, f/22 minimum aperture and a built-in pull-out hood (Mamiya's product sheet); the f/3.5 takes 58 mm and stops down to f/32
  • No shutter-speed ring or PC socket: the leaf-shutter 150 is the f/3.8 N/L
  • Not the autofocus Sekor AF 150mm f/2.8 IF D of the 645 AFD III, which has no aperture ring

Mamiya A 150mm f/2.8:

  • Engraved A, not Sekor C, before the focal length; no N after the aperture and no shutter-speed ring
  • Mamiya's table: 6 elements in 4 groups, 26° angle of view, f/2.8–22, 132 cm closest focus, 0.12×, 342 × 462 mm field, 67 mm filter, built-in hood, 111.2 × 74.5 mm, 740 g
  • The heaviest and longest of the four 645 150s: 740 g against 620 g for the f/3.8 N/L and 420 g for the f/3.5 N (Mamiya's product sheet)

Specifications

Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Min. focus
1.32 m
Dimensions
74.5 × 111.2 mm
Weight
740 g
Filter
67 mm
Country
Japan
Coating
Multi-coated: Mamiya's 645 lens instructions say all the lenses for the M645 have been multi-coated

What reviewers say

Optical formula

Mamiya's 645 Interchangeable Lenses product sheet tabulates 6 elements in 4 groups but prints no cross-section for this lens, and no other Mamiya document with a diagram for it was found.

History

The A 150mm f/2.8 is the fast telephoto of Mamiya’s manual-focus 645 line and the largest of the four 150s the system offered. Mamiya’s own table gives 6 elements in 4 groups, a 26° angle of view, f/2.8 to f/22, closest focus at 132 cm for 0.12×, a 67 mm filter thread, a built-in pull-out hood, and 740 g in a barrel 74.5 mm across and 111.2 mm long. Wikipedia files the A prefix as an apochromatic or near-apochromatic design; Mamiya’s sheet does not explain the letter, and the dealer claim that the lens uses ultra-low dispersion glass was not found in any Mamiya document consulted.

There is one version. When it appeared is not recorded anywhere consulted: the 1981 M645 brochure lists the 150mm f/3.5 as the only 150, the N-era Sekor C sheet of about 1985 does the same, and the lens first shows up in the 645 Pro instruction book of 1992 as ‘A150mm f/2.8’, where it stays through the Pro TL book of 1997. Camera-wiki’s list of the original 1975 lenses includes a ‘C 150mm f2.8C’, but Mamiya’s own 1981 brochure has no such lens, so that entry is not relied on here. The page carries 1992 as the family year for that reason, and the table note says so.

What reviewers say is consistent and warm. Lensvana calls it ‘razor sharp wide open’ with good contrast, warm tones and low distortion, and rates the f/3.5 as the compact but less refined alternative. On the MFlenses forum, Kei found it sharp wide open with only longitudinal colour error visible and said it made his Tamron 180mm f/2.5 and Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 feel obsolete; Oldhand’s verdict was that ‘the A lenses are truly superb’. The one dissent is about flare: a Dyxum poster adapting a copy to a Sony A99 got ‘ugly, ugly ghosting’ from bright lights near the frame edge, while another copy in 2021 was ‘rather flare-resistant’, which points at sample condition rather than design.

When buying, separate it from its siblings by the name ring and the filter thread. The Sekor C 150mm f/3.5 has 58 mm filters and stops down to f/32; the A 150mm f/3.8 N/L shares this lens’s 67 mm thread but carries a shutter-speed ring and a PC socket; the autofocus Sekor AF 150mm f/2.8 IF D has no aperture ring and belongs to the 645 AF system. The manual-focus lens mounts on the 645AF, AFD and DF bodies, but Wikipedia notes it then meters only stopped down. On the lens itself, check that the hood slides out freely, that the A/M lever returns to A, that the aperture snaps shut at f/22, and, given the Dyxum report, that the elements are clean and free of haze before paying the premium over the f/3.5.

What remains open: the year of introduction, the discontinuation date, a launch price in any currency, the blade count beyond Wikipedia’s figure of eight, and whether Mamiya published a cross-section.

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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 A 150mm f/2.8 (645)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $450 across 23 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-21 (middle half $350–$480). First day tracked.

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

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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-Sekor C 150mm f/3.5 (645) · Mamiya A 150mm f/3.8 N/L (645) · Mamiya APO A 200mm f/2.8 (645) · Mamiya-Sekor C 210mm f/4 (645) · Mamiya-Sekor C 110mm f/2.8 (645)

Sources (12)

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.