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

Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6 (Press)

Mamiya · Mamiya Press · 1960

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6 · Mamiya Sekor 150mm f5.6 Press · Mamiya Press 150mm f/5.6 · Mamiya Universal 150mm f5.6 · Mamiya Super 23 150mm · Sekor 150/5.6 Press · マミヤプレス 150mm F5.6 · マミヤ セコール 150mm F5.6

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6, chrome (1960, 40.5 mm filter, Seikosha-S) · Seikosha-S #0, B and 1s–1/500, M-X sync, time lever Mamiya Press 1960 — —
Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6, black (by 1970, 55 mm filter) · Seikosha #0, B and 1s–1/500, M-X sync, time lever Mamiya Press 1970 — —
  1. The English Wikipedia table illustrates the 150 with a Commons photograph titled 'Mamiya Universal Press Super 23 150mm f5.6 E Lens'. camera-wiki lists an E version of the 100mm f/3.5 only, and no written source consulted names a 150 E; it is recorded here as a photo caption, not a variant. Single-source.
  2. Construction is 4 elements in 3 groups in every Mamiya document (Press Standard manual, 1968 Super 23 manual, 1976 brochure) and in camera-wiki, which calls it Tessar type; English Wikipedia calls it Tele-Tessar type. The maker never names the type.
  3. Picture angles are 37°10' (6×9) and 32°30' (6×7) in the Press Standard and 1968 manuals, 37°12' and 32°42' in the 1970 sheet, 37.2° in the 1976 brochure. Closest focus is 7 ft from the film plane in the US literature and 2 m in Japanese Wikipedia; the family field uses 2 m.
  4. Price is Mamiya's museum page for the 1960 Press: ¥23,800 for the 150mm f/5.6 as an interchangeable lens. No later price and no US price was found. The weight field is the black lens (530 g); no weight is printed for the chrome lens.
  5. The Polaroid 600 SE takes a 150mm f/5.6 of the same optical design on its own mount (English Wikipedia; camera-wiki; Emulsive's 600 SE review). It does not fit a Mamiya body and is excluded from this page's listings.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Mamiya-Sekor 1:5.6 f=150mm; chrome barrel with 40.5 mm thread is the 1960s lens, black barrel with 55 mm thread the 1970s lens
  • Aperture 5.6 to 45; hood supplied on both; a time lever, not a press-focus lever, holds the blades open on B for ground-glass focusing (1968 manual)
  • Framed by the sliding mask on the original Press and Standard 23 finders and by the 150 bright line on the Super 23 and Universal; rangefinder coupled on all bodies
  • Fits the extension rings (the 1970 sheet allows any lens up to 150mm on them); the 250s do not

Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6, chrome (1960, 40.5 mm filter, Seikosha-S):

  • Chrome barrel with the 40.5 mm filter thread shared with the 90mm and the chrome 100mm (Press Standard manual: 40.5 mm, 0.5 mm pitch, for the long focal length lens; 1968 Super 23 manual: 40.5 mm filter for the 100mm f/3.5 and 150mm f/5.6)
  • Press Standard manual: 'long focal length' lens, 4 elements in 3 groups, picture angle 37°10' at 6×9, apertures 5.6 to 45, Seikosha-S zero size shutter
  • Framed by the sliding mask on the first-generation finder (Press Standard manual; Press 23 sheet: 'uses slideout mask on camera finder')

Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6, black (by 1970, 55 mm filter):

  • Black barrel with the 55 mm filter thread (July 1970 sheet; 1976 and 1978 brochures)
  • 530 g, 4 elements, f/45, 7 ft closest focus, 37.2° on 6×9 (1976 brochure, Cat. No. 655929)
  • A Commons photograph is titled '150mm f5.6 E Lens'; no written source describes an E version of the 150¹

Specifications

Formula
4 elements in 3 groups (Tessar type per camera-wiki; Tele-Tessar type per English Wikipedia)
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/5.6–f/45
Shutter
Seikosha-S #0 leaf shutter in the lens on the chrome lens, Seikosha #0 in the later brochures: B and 1s–1/500, M and X sync at every speed, cocked by hand on the lens; time lever holds the blades open on B for ground-glass focusing
Min. focus
2 m
Weight
530 g
Filter
55 mm
Years manufactured
1960
Country
Japan
Original price
¥23,800 (1960) (today ¥143,000)

What reviewers say

History

The 150mm f/5.6 is the oldest lens on the Press pages: it was one of the two interchangeable lenses offered with the original Mamiya Press of September 1960, listed on Mamiya’s own museum page at ¥23,800 beside the 65mm f/6.3 at the same price and the ¥46,000 camera with its 90mm f/3.5. The Press Standard manual describes it as the long focal length lens, 4 elements in 3 groups, picture angle 37°10’ on 6×9, apertures 5.6 to 45, in a Seikosha-S zero-size shutter with B and 1 to 1/500 second, M and X sync and a time lever for holding the blades open. The first-generation finder had no bright lines; the 150 was framed by a sliding mask, which the Standard 23 kept and the Ehrenreich 23 Press sheet describes as a slide-out mask on the camera finder. On the Super 23 and Universal it has its own bright line, with the 100 and 250, and couples to the rangefinder on every body.

Two barrels. The chrome lens takes 40.5 mm filters, the size shared with the 90 and the chrome 100, and both the Press Standard manual and the 1968 Super 23 manual print that thread; camera-wiki says the chrome lenses carry the Seikosha-S. The black lens takes 55 mm filters, weighs 530 g and is the one in the July 1970 sheet and the 1976 and 1978 Bell & Howell brochures, which give 4 elements, f/45, 7 ft closest focus and 37.2°; Japanese Wikipedia gives 2 m. The optics did not change: 4 in 3 in every Mamiya document from 1960s to 1978. Wikipedia calls the design Tele-Tessar type and camera-wiki Tessar type; Mamiya never named it. A photograph on Commons titled 150mm f/5.6 E is the only trace of an E version, which no written source describes, and it is noted rather than counted. The 250s cannot be mounted on the extension rings; the 150 can, and the 1970 sheet allows the tube set with any lens up to 150.

There is very little criticism to index. Garry Cahal’s Emulsive frames from a 23 Standard were all shot at f/5.6 and 1/500 with the lens on infinity because he did not trust a sixty-year-old rangefinder, and he was pleased with them, light leaks aside. Odd Cameras finds it nice and contrasty like the rest of the range and says it easily covers Polaroid. The Polaroid 600 SE’s 150 shares the optical design on its own mount, and Brian Saculles’s Emulsive review of that camera names it the portrait lens without judging it. Nobody found here has compared the chrome and black lenses or shot it wide open for a verdict on the corners.

To buy: cock the shutter by hand, listen to 1 second and 1/2, check that the time lever opens on B and closes again, and that the M-X selector moves. Look through the rear group for haze, which collects behind the shutter on these lenses, and at the front for cleaning marks on soft early coatings. A chrome lens should have its 40.5 mm cap or hood; filters in that size are scarcer than 55 mm. Confirm the mount is the Mamiya Press breech lock and not the 600 SE’s, which the lens shares its glass with and which fits nothing else. Beyond the 1960 yen price nothing was found: no dollar price, no production figure and no discontinuation date.

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 taken with the Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6 (Press)
Mamiya-Sekor 150mm f/5.6, black barrel (the uploader's title calls it an E lens) — 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 150mm f/5.6 (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 150mm f/5.6 (Press)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $130 across 14 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-21 (middle half $110–$150). First day tracked.

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

Show 9 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 127mm f/4.7 (Press) · Mamiya-Sekor 250mm f/5 (Press)

Sources (16)

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.