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

Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 (Press)

Mamiya · Mamiya Press · 1969 · Tessar type, 4 elements in 3 groups

Also known as: Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 · Mamiya Sekor 127mm f4.7 · Mamiya Press 127mm f/4.7 · Mamiya Universal 127mm f4.7 · Sekor 127/4.7 Press · マミヤプレス 127mm F4.7 · マミヤ セコール 127mm F4.7 · マミヤ ユニバーサル 127mm

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 (1969, one version) Mamiya Press 1969 — —
  1. Element and group counts, angles, minimum aperture, filter size and weight are from Mamiya's US lens sheet (July 1970), the Bell & Howell/Mamiya brochures (1976, 1978), the Universal manual and Mamiya's Japanese museum page. Closest focus is 5 ft from the film plane in the US literature and 1.5 m in Japanese Wikipedia.
  2. The Polaroid 600 (fixed lens) and 600 SE (interchangeable) built by Mamiya for Polaroid carry a 127mm f/4.7 of the same optical design on a different mount that does not fit a Mamiya body (English Wikipedia; camera-wiki). Those lenses are excluded from this page's listings and have no page. Brian Saculles's Emulsive review of the 600 SE is indexed here for its verdict on the glass; his 3.5 ft closest focus is the 600 SE's figure, not Mamiya's 5 ft.
  3. No price for the lens alone was found. Mamiya's museum pages give only the kit prices: ¥59,900 for the Universal with the 127 and grip in April 1969, ¥61,000 for the Universal Black with it in August 1971; the same kits with the 100mm f/3.5 were ¥5,000 cheaper. No end date is published.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Mamiya-Sekor 1:4.7 f=127mm; black barrel, 55 mm thread, non-retracting, one version
  • Aperture scale ends at 64, which no other Press lens does; T lever rather than a press-focus lever for ground-glass focusing
  • Sold with a slide-on 127mm viewfinder mask because the Super 23 and Universal finder has frames for 100, 150 and 250 only; the Optical Finder P shows Polaroid coverage for the 75, 100 and 127
  • Seikosha #0 shutter, B and 1 to 1/500, M-X, cocked by hand on the lens

Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 (1969, one version):

  • Black barrel, 55 mm filter thread, hood and a 127mm viewfinder mask supplied (1970 sheet No. 60109 with mask 60751; 1976 brochure Cat. 655926 'with hood and viewfinder mask')
  • Aperture runs to f/64, the smallest in the Press range (Universal manual: 4.7, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64)
  • 470 g, 4 elements, closest focus 5 ft (1976 and 1978 brochures; Universal manual 470 g)

Specifications

Formula
Tessar type, 4 elements in 3 groups
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/4.7–f/64
Shutter
Seikosha #0 leaf shutter in the lens: B and 1s–1/500, M and X sync at every speed, cocked by hand on the lens; T lever holds the blades open for ground-glass focusing
Min. focus
1.5 m
Weight
470 g
Filter
55 mm
Years manufactured
1969
Country
Japan

What reviewers say

History

The 127mm f/4.7 exists because of the Polaroid back. When the Universal arrived in April 1969 with a flat back that took the Polaroid Land pack film holder directly, the 100mm f/3.5 could only just cover the pack, and Mamiya’s July 1970 lens sheet is blunt about it: the P back gives full coverage of the 3 × 3¾ in picture area with the 127mm and 75mm lenses, and other lenses produce slight vignetting of the corners. The 127 is a Tessar type of 4 elements in 3 groups, with picture angles of 43°30’ on 6×9, 38°40’ on 6×7 and 50°50’ on Polaroid, closest focus 5 ft from the film plane (1.5 m in Japanese Wikipedia), a 55 mm filter thread, 470 g, and an aperture scale that runs from 4.7 to 64, further than any other lens in the range. It sits in a Seikosha #0 shutter with B and 1 to 1/500 second and M-X sync, and uses a T lever rather than the 100’s press-focus lever to hold the blades open for the ground glass.

Mamiya sold it as the Universal’s alternative standard lens. The museum page prices the Universal at ¥54,900 with the 100mm f/3.5 and grip and ¥59,900 with the 127mm f/4.7 and grip, a ¥5,000 difference that held in August 1971 for the black body at ¥56,000 and ¥61,000; the same page says the 127 and the 75mm f/5.6 were prepared for Polaroid film. Because the finder of the Super 23 and Universal has bright frames for 100, 150 and 250 only, the 127 came with a slide-on finder mask (No. 60751, later 656091) for 6×9 and 6×7, and the Optical Finder P for the accessory shoe showed Polaroid coverage for the 75, 100 and 127. The Tetraphoto attachment, which puts four passport images on one Polaroid frame, was designed around the 127. There is one version in every document consulted: no chrome barrel, no 40.5 mm thread, no E, and no end date.

The lens has a twin that is not on this page. The Polaroid 600 and 600 SE that Mamiya built for Polaroid carry a 127mm f/4.7 of the same optical design on a mount that fits nothing else, and most of what is written about the glass has been written about that camera. Brian Saculles on Emulsive finds the 600 SE’s 127 very sharp beside the Polaroid 195’s Tominon f/3.8, not fast, and unable to frame a tight head-and-shoulders portrait at its closest focus, which on the 600 SE is 3.5 ft rather than Mamiya’s 5 ft. On the Mamiya side Andrew Welsh on Shoot It With Film lists the 127 among the focal lengths that turn up occasionally beside the ubiquitous 100, and Odd Cameras calls it the new standard lens that covers Polaroid and a good quality lens; nobody found here has tested it against the 100 on roll film.

Buying is the usual Press routine: cock the shutter by hand on the lens, run it through the speeds and listen for the 1 second and the 1/2, make sure the T lever closes, check the M-X selector, and look for haze between the cemented rear pair. Confirm the hood and the 127 finder mask are present, since without the mask the camera’s frames are for other lenses, and if the aim is instant film, be sure the lens is a Mamiya-mount 127 and not the 600 SE’s, which looks alike and will not fit. No price for the lens alone was found in yen or dollars.

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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 taken with the Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 (Press)
Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 with its hood — Zebrio (Brian Scott Peterson), uploaded by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 (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)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Mamiya-Sekor 127mm f/4.7 (Press)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $160 across 12 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-21 (middle half $140–$200). First day tracked.

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

Show 8 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-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) · Mamiya-Sekor 100mm f/2.8 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 100mm f/3.5 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 250mm f/5 (Press)

Sources (14)

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.