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

Mamiya K/L 210mm f/4.5 APO L (RB67)

Mamiya · Mamiya RB67 · 1990

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Mamiya 210mm f/4.5 APO RB67 · Mamiya RB67 210mm APO · Mamiya K/L 210mm f/4.5 APO L · KL 210mm f/4.5 L APO · APO-KL 210mm F4.5 L · Mamiya APO KL 210mm · Mamiya 210 4.5 APO RB · マミヤ KL 210mm F4.5 APO · マミヤ RB67 210mm アポ · アポ KL 210mm F4.5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya APO-K/L 210mm f/4.5 L (Pro-SD generation, the only version) · Seiko #1 mechanical leaf shutter, 1s–1/400, T and B Mamiya RB67 1990 — —
  1. Optical and physical figures are from Mamiya's APO lens booklet at butkus.org and from Mamiya's own Pro SD lens page (the Mamiya Leaf legacy site, saved as a PDF at ianbfoto.com). The two disagree on length (114 mm against 119.1 mm) and on the closest-focus reference: the booklet's 1,155 mm is measured from the front rim, the lens page's 1,432 mm (also given by Japanese Wikipedia) does not say from where. The lens-page figure is the one in the table.
  2. The 1990 date is the RB67 Pro-SD's; the booklet, the Pro-SD manual and the lens page describe the lens as part of that body's system and no source consulted dates the 210 APO separately, or gives a last year or a list price from Mamiya.
  3. Reviews on the listed sites do not cover this lens; the one dedicated review found is a single user review on photographyreview.com, and the Emulsive guide quoted is about the RZ67's APO 210mm, which the RZ67 Pro IID brochure gives as the same 7-element, 5-group design.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • One version only: APO on the barrel, K/L in the name and a blue line around the front
  • Shorter and lighter than the 250 APO: 114 mm and 1,020 g against 137.8 mm and 1,370 g in the same booklet
  • Takes 77 mm screw-in filters, has a screw-in hood supplied, and focuses on the body's bellows
  • A 7 mm adapter ring at the rear that comes off for a Pro-SD or an RZ67; the lens goes on a Pro-S with the ring removed (APO booklet), unlike the 500 APO which does not fit a Pro-S at all

Mamiya APO-K/L 210mm f/4.5 L (Pro-SD generation, the only version):

  • APO on the barrel, K/L rather than Sekor in the name, and a blue line around the front of the lens, the mark the RB67 Camera Guide gives for the APO/L lenses
  • Mamiya's APO booklet: 7 elements in 5 groups, automatic diaphragm, minimum aperture f/45, closest focus 1,155 mm from the front rim, area covered 256 × 318 mm, 77 mm filter, screw-in hood attached, 114 mm long × 97.2 mm across, 1,020 g; angle of view 23°50' diagonal
  • Mamiya's Pro SD lens page: 24°, 1,432 mm closest focus, 0.22×, 119.1 × 97.2 mm, 2 lb 4 oz (1,020 g), Seiko #1 shutter 1 to 1/400 and T with X sync at all speeds
  • Removable 7 mm lens mount adapter ring at the rear, fitted for a Pro or Pro-S and removed for a Pro-SD (Pro-SD manual, APO booklet)

Serial-range notes

two-letter sticker on the rear of the lens
Mamiya dated RB and RZ lenses with a two-letter code stuck to the back of the lens: the first letter is the year, the second the month, A = January. Year letters run A–T for 1981–2000 and A–N for 2001–2014, which covers the whole life of this lens (Mamiya Repair). No serial-to-year table for the 210 APO has been published.

Specifications

Formula
7 elements in 5 groups; two elements of ultra-low dispersion glass and one of anomalous dispersion glass (Mamiya APO lens booklet)
Construction
7 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/4.5–f/45
Shutter
Seiko #1 mechanical leaf shutter, 1s–1/400 and T, X sync at all speeds (Mamiya Pro SD lens page); the Pro-SD generation's lenses add a built-in bulb (B) unit (Pro-SD manual). Focusing is by the body's bellows, so the lens has no helicoid.
Min. focus
1.432 m
Dimensions
97.2 × 114 mm
Weight
1020 g
Filter
77 mm
Years manufactured
1990
Country
Japan
Coating
Multicoated; Mamiya's Pro SD lens page describes its 'proprietary multi-coating process' for the whole line

What reviewers say

Optical formula — 7 elements in 5 groups; two elements of ultra-low dispersion glass and one of anomalous dispersion glass (Mamiya APO lens booklet)

History

The 210mm f/4.5 APO is the shortest of the four apochromatic lenses Mamiya made for the RB67 Pro-SD, and the only 210 the RB system ever had: there is no Sekor or Sekor C version. Mamiya’s booklet for the “RB Pro-SD apochromatic lenses” gives it 7 elements in 5 groups, “two lenses which use ultra low dispersion glass with one that uses anomalous dispersion glass”, an automatic diaphragm closing to f/45, a 77 mm filter thread with the screw-in hood supplied, 114 mm of length by 97.2 mm across and 1,020 g. The booklet claims spherical aberration is negligible, that resolving power and contrast are “almost unchanged” when stopped down with a hint of diffraction from f/11, that field-curvature changes at short distances have been eliminated and that pincushion distortion is under 1%. Like every RB lens it has a Seiko #1 leaf shutter, 1 second to 1/400 with sync at every speed, and no helicoid; the body’s bellows focus it, which is why the booklet quotes the closest distance, 1,155 mm, from the front rim.

Mamiya’s later Pro SD lens page repeats the design and the weight but gives 24°, a closest focus of 1,432 mm (the figure Japanese Wikipedia also uses, without saying from where it is measured), 0.22× and 119.1 mm of length, so the two maker documents differ on length and on the reference for close focus. The lens page calls it a lens for “fashion, beauty, portraiture, commercial, advertising and industrial photography” and gives 102 mm as the 35 mm equivalent. Because the 210 sits between the marked positions on the body’s focal-length and exposure-correction scales, the booklet says to set the scale between 180 mm and 250 mm and read the 250 mm correction when the bellows are extended.

Telling it apart is easy because there is nothing else to confuse it with: APO on the barrel, K/L rather than Sekor in the name, and the blue line around the front that the RB67 Camera Guide gives as the mark of the APO/L lenses. The Pro-SD enlarged the throat from 54 to 61 mm, so the lens carries a 7 mm lens mount adapter ring at the rear that stays on for a Pro or Pro-S and comes off for a Pro-SD or an RZ67; the booklet says the 210, 250 and 350 APO lenses go on a Pro-S that way, while the 500 APO does not fit one. Reznitsky’s chart lists K/L lenses as usable on every RB and RZ body with the supplied adapter removed for the older ones, and the Emulsive guide adds that an RB lens on an RZ needs the bellows extended 7 mm to reach infinity. The Pro-SD generation’s lenses also have a built-in bulb unit, so the shutter offers B as well as T.

Reviews are almost nonexistent. The one dedicated review found is a 2001 user review by Bob Fleming on photographyreview.com, who calls it “a stunningly sharp lens, the best I’ve seen in the RB line”, notes a new price of $3,300 against half or less used, and says the rest of the RB line is not at this level. Pierre-gilles Lucain’s Emulsive guide to the RZ67, whose APO 210mm the Pro IID brochure gives as the same 7-element, 5-group design, thinks the APO correction “very useful in color photography but quite useless for black and white”. Mark Foster at Japan Camera Hunter sees the C-versus-K/L question as a division among owners rather than a difference he has found. What to check is the same as for any RB lens: every shutter speed, the slow ones especially, the cocking action on and off the body, the diaphragm blades, and that the adapter ring is present if the lens is going on a Pro or Pro-S. Open questions: the first and last years of production beyond the Pro-SD’s 1990, and any list price from Mamiya in yen or dollars, none having been found.

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 K/L 210mm f/4.5 APO L (RB67)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $670 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-21 (middle half $400–$680). First day tracked.

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

Listings updated 2026-09-21. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Mamiya-Sekor 180mm f/4.5 (RB67) · Mamiya-Sekor 250mm f/4.5 (RB67) · Mamiya K/L 350mm f/5.6 APO L (RB67) · Mamiya APO-L 500mm f/6 L (RB67) · Mamiya-Sekor Zoom C 100-200mm f/5.2 W (RB67)

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.