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

Mamiya-Sekor Z 127mm f/3.5 W (RZ67)

Mamiya · Mamiya RZ67 · 1993 · 6 elements in 4 groups (Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet)

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Mamiya-Sekor Z 127mm f/3.5 W · Mamiya Sekor Z 127mm F3.5 W · Mamiya Sekor Z 127mm f/3.5 · Mamiya RZ67 127mm f/3.5 · Mamiya RZ 127mm 3.5 W · Z127mm f/3.5W · マミヤ セコール Z 127mm F3.5 W · マミヤセコールZ 127mm F3.5W · マミヤ RZ67 127mm F3.5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya-Sekor Z 127mm f/3.5 W (the only version) Mamiya RZ67 — — —
  1. The W designation is explained by Japanese Wikipedia (絞り目盛の間隔が広くなり、1/2段絞りが追加された: wider aperture-scale spacing, half stops added) and by Emulsive (half-stop markings). No non-W 127mm f/3.5 appears in any Mamiya document consulted; the non-W 127 is the f/3.8.
  2. Construction, angle, magnification, filter, dimensions and weight are from Mamiya's Mamiya-Sekor Z Interchangeable Lenses sheet, whose minimum-focus column is measured from the lens front rim with the bellows fully extended (46 mm), not from the film plane. No Mamiya document consulted gives a film-plane closest focus for this lens, so the field is left empty; Japanese Wikipedia gives the RB67's K/L 127mm f/3.5 L as 0.639 m from the film plane and 0.408 m from the front rim, the same rim figure as the RZ sheet. The sheet prints the dimensions as 81 × 97 mm where every other row reads diameter × length; they are read here as 97 mm diameter × 81 mm length.
  3. The launch year is not known. The 1982 RZ67 manual lists only the 127mm f/3.8; Mamiya's Z lens sheet, whose cover shows the first RZ67 Professional, lists the f/3.5 W, and the Pro II era lens sheet still does. 1993, the year of the Pro II, is entered as a no-later-than year on the strength of that sheet, not as a launch date: single source. The lens is absent from the 2004 Pro IID brochure's table, which lists no 127 at all.
  4. No aperture-blade count, coating description or list price in any currency was found in a Mamiya document; Kamerastore's listing gives 8 blades, 767 g and 95 × 90 mm, but those are dealer figures and are left out of the spec fields.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • RZ bayonet with 12 electrical contacts and a Seiko #1 electronic leaf shutter; no shutter-speed ring on the lens, since the body dial sets it. A 127mm f/3.5 with its own speed ring is the RB67's Mamiya K/L 127mm f/3.5 L, a different lens that mounts on an RZ body with the dial at RBL
  • 1:3.5 on the name ring means this lens; 1:3.8 means the older Sekor Z 127mm f/3.8, a different 5-element design
  • A short barrel, 81 mm long by Mamiya's sheet, only a little longer than the 110mm's 62 mm; 77 mm thread with the screw-in M77 No. 1 hood

Mamiya-Sekor Z 127mm f/3.5 W (the only version):

  • Engraved MAMIYA-SEKOR Z f=127mm 1:3.5 W; half-stop clicks on the aperture ring¹
  • Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet: 6 elements in 4 groups, 39°, f/32, 0.36× at full bellows extension (408 mm from the front rim), 62 mm equivalent, 77 mm filter, screw-in hood, 97 mm across × 81 mm long, 810 g²
  • Shown as Z 127mm f/3.5W in Mamiya's Pro II era Mamiya Interchangeable Lenses sheet; absent from the 2004 Pro IID brochure's lens table

Specifications

Formula
6 elements in 4 groups (Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet)
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/32
Shutter
Seiko #1 electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 8s–1/400 plus B and T, set from the body dial; a mechanical 1/400 works without a battery
Dimensions
97 × 81 mm
Weight
810 g
Filter
77 mm
Years manufactured
1993
Country
Japan

What reviewers say

Optical formula — 6 elements in 4 groups (Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet)

History

The 127mm f/3.5 W is the second of two 127s made for the RZ67 and the faster of them: a long-normal lens covering 39° across the 6×7 frame, or about 62 mm in 35 mm terms by Mamiya’s own conversion. Mamiya’s Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet gives 6 elements in 4 groups, f/3.5 to f/32, a 77 mm screw-in filter and hood, a barrel 97 mm across and 81 mm long, and 810 g; with the body’s 46 mm bellows racked out it reaches 0.36× at 408 mm from the front rim. The sheet gives no film-plane closest focus, so that field is empty here; the RB67’s K/L 127mm f/3.5 L, which Japanese Wikipedia gives as the same 6-in-4 construction and the same 0.408 m rim figure, focuses to 0.639 m from the film plane, and the RZ lens on the RZ bellows is unlikely to differ much, but no Mamiya figure was found.

One version exists, and it is not the 127 of the 1982 manual. That manual’s third standard lens, beside the 90mm f/3.5 and 110mm f/2.8, is the Sekor Z 127mm f/3.8, a 5-element, 3-group design focusing to 66 cm, and it has no f/3.5. The f/3.5 W is a different lens with a different construction that appears on Mamiya’s Z lens sheet, whose cover still shows the first Professional body, and again in the Pro II era Mamiya Interchangeable Lenses sheet; it was a W lens from the start, with the half-stop aperture ring the suffix denotes, and no non-W f/3.5 was found. It is missing from Mamiya’s c. 1994 US system brochure and from the 2004 Pro IID brochure, neither of which lists a 127mm at all, so its time in the catalogue was short and both 127s had left the line-up by 2004. No Mamiya source dates the launch of the f/3.5, so the 1993 entered here is a no-later-than year. The RB67’s K/L 127mm f/3.5 L mounts on an RZ body with the dial at RBL, but it carries its own shutter-speed ring and is a different lens with its own page.

The 127 f/3.5 has attracted almost no writing. Pierre-Gilles Lucain’s Emulsive guide lists it with Mamiya’s figures and the remark that the focal length is close to the eye’s, does not own one, and gives no verdict beyond his general argument that the plain W lenses are excellent without the APO or L-A premium. The 110mm f/2.8 takes nearly all the attention paid to RZ normal lenses, and the 127 sells for less. Nothing was found from the other review sites on the list. In listings the lens is easily confused with three others: the RZ 127mm f/3.8, the RB 127mm f/3.8 and the RB K/L 127mm f/3.5 L, and the aperture engraving and the presence or absence of a speed ring settle which is which.

Buying advice is the RZ system’s. The Seiko #1 electronic leaf shutter in the lens fires only with a working 6 V battery in the body; without one it gives a mechanical 1/400 and nothing else. The shutter is cocked by the body’s lever with the mirror down, and the lens will not come off unless it is cocked, so a lens that refuses to release is usually a cocking-state matter. Run the shutter at 8 s and 1/400 and watch the blades, work the depth-of-field preview and T levers, inspect the 12 rear contacts, and look through the lens against a light for haze and separation, as with any Sekor of this age.

What could not be sourced: the launch year, a film-plane closest focus, the number of aperture blades, a description of the coating, a list price in yen or dollars, and the year production ended. No designer is named anywhere.

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-Sekor Z 127mm f/3.5 W (RZ67)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $250 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-21 (middle half $170–$250). 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 Zoom Z 100–200mm f/5.2 W (RZ67) · Mamiya-Sekor Z 110mm f/2.8 W (RZ67) · Mamiya-Sekor Z 150mm f/3.5 W (RZ67) · Mamiya-Sekor Z 90mm f/3.5 W (RZ67) · Mamiya-Sekor Macro Z 140mm f/4.5 (RZ67)

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.