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

Mamiya Soft M 180mm f/4 D/L Variable Soft Focus (RZ67)

Mamiya Β· Mamiya RZ67 Β· 1999

Also known as: Mamiya Soft M 180mm f/4 D/L Β· Mamiya M 180mm f/4 D/L Soft Focus Β· Mamiya Soft (VSF) M 180mm f/4 D/L Β· Mamiya 180mm f/4 Variable Soft Focus Β· Mamiya RZ67 180mm f4 D L Soft Focus VSF M Β· Mamiya RZ 180mm f/4 soft Β· γƒžγƒŸγƒ€ γ‚½γƒ•γƒˆ M 180mm F4 D/L Β· γƒžγƒŸγƒ€ M180mm F4 D/L γ‚½γƒ•γƒˆγƒ•γ‚©γƒΌγ‚«γ‚Ή Β· γƒžγƒŸγƒ€ RZ67 180mm F4 γ‚½γƒ•γƒˆ

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya Soft M 180mm f/4 D/L (the only version) Mamiya RZ67 β€” β€” β€”
  1. This page is filed under the slug of the 180mm f/4.5 soft focus in the catalogue's wave list, but the lens Mamiya made is an f/4: every Mamiya document consulted, Japanese and English, prints M180mm f/4 D/L. It is a different lens from the 180mm f/4.5 W-N, which has its own page, and from the 180mm f/4.5 L SB short-barrel lens for the Shift/Tilt Adapter; the only thing the three share is the focal length.
  2. Construction, angle of view, closest focus, magnification, filter, weight and the disc markings are from Mamiya-OP's instruction sheet for the lens; the 1999 and 2004 brochures repeat them. The sheet prints 127 Γ— 97.2 mm for the dimensions and both brochures 118 Γ— 97.2 mm; the family fields carry the brochure figure and the discrepancy is left unexplained. The family year of 1999 is the earliest dated Mamiya print that names the lens, not a release date: it is absent from the June 1988 brochure.
  3. No aperture-blade count, coating description or list price in any currency was found in a Mamiya document; those fields are left empty rather than guessed. Emulsive's exposure allowance for the discs (+β…” to +1β…“ stops) is his figure and is not in the instruction sheet, which sets exposure by the disc's effective f-stop instead.
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. The RB67's soft-focus lens is a 150mm f/4 with its own speed ring and three discs of its own, a different lens
  • M 180mm f/4 D/L in the name, no Sekor; a knurled collar at the front unscrews for the discs. A 180 marked W-N or L SB is not this lens
  • Sold with three discs No. 1 (5), No. 2 (5.6) and No. 3 (6.3), a 77 mm screw-in hood and the instruction sheet; used examples are often missing the discs, which listings note as NO Disks

Mamiya Soft M 180mm f/4 D/L (the only version):

  • Mamiya prints the name as Soft M180mm f/4 D/L, with no Sekor. Maximum aperture f/4, against f/4.5 on the ordinary 180 W-N, and a front barrel that unscrews at a knurled collar to take a discΒΉ
  • Mamiya instruction sheet: 6 elements in 4 groups, 28Β°, f/4 to f/32, closest focus 1,051 mm from the film plane (783 mm from the front rim), 0.26Γ—, 77 mm screw-in filter and hood, 1,039 gΒ²
  • Three softness control discs supplied, marked No. 1 (5), No. 2 (5.6) and No. 3 (6.3): the approximate f-stop the f/4 diaphragm becomes with each disc fittedΒ²
  • 1999 Pro II and 2004 Pro IID brochures: 118 Γ— 97.2 mm, 1,039 g, 211 Γ— 262 mm covered, 87 mm equivalent; the instruction sheet prints 127 Γ— 97.2 mm

Serial-range notes

two-letter date code
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–J for 1971–1980, A–T for 1981–2000 and A–N for 2001–2014, so the decade has to be read from the generation (Mamiya Repair). No serial-to-year table for the 180 D/L has been published.

Specifications

Formula
6 elements in 4 groups with deliberate spherical aberration and three interchangeable diffusion discs (Mamiya instruction sheet and brochures)
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/4–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
Min. focus
1.05 m
Dimensions
97.2 Γ— 118 mm
Weight
1039 g
Filter
77 mm
Years manufactured
1999
Country
Japan

What reviewers say

Optical formula β€” 6 elements in 4 groups with deliberate spherical aberration and three interchangeable diffusion discs (Mamiya instruction sheet and brochures)

History

The Soft M 180mm f/4 D/L is the RZ67’s portrait lens in the older sense: a telephoto built with a controlled amount of spherical aberration and three diffusion discs that fit inside the barrel, so that the softness can be set by the disc, the aperture, or neither. Mamiya-OP’s instruction sheet gives 6 elements in 4 groups, a 28Β° angle of view, f/4 to f/32, a closest focus of 1,051 mm from the film plane, 0.26Γ— at full bellows, a 77 mm screw-in filter and hood, and 1,039 g; the 1999 Pro II and 2004 Pro IID brochures repeat those figures and give the barrel as 118 Γ— 97.2 mm where the sheet prints 127. At 87 mm equivalent it is the same focal length as the 180mm f/4.5 W-N and 140 g heavier, and it is a third of a stop faster.

The wave list of this catalogue filed the lens as a 180mm f/4.5 soft focus; it is an f/4, in every Mamiya document, and this page says so rather than following the slug. There is one version, with no Sekor on the name ring, and it is bracketed in date by the June 1988 RZ67 Professional brochure, which does not have it, and the February 1999 Pro II brochure, which does. The Pro II body on the instruction sheet’s cover points to the 1990s, but no source read here gives a year. The three discs are marked No. 1 (5), No. 2 (5.6) and No. 3 (6.3), the approximate f-stops the f/4 opening becomes with each fitted: a disc is a plate with a central hole and a ring of smaller holes around it, so that many small diaphragms overlay soft images on the sharp one from the centre. The sheet’s method is to fit the disc, focus at f/5.6 or f/8 with the preview lever, then open to f/4 and expose at the disc’s effective aperture; without a disc, focus at f/8 and shoot at whatever opening gives the effect wanted, because the aberration moves the plane of focus wide open. From f/8 down the lens is sharp like an ordinary 180.

Only one review of substance was found. Pierre-Gilles Lucain (Emulsive) describes the same three regimes, natural softening without a disc between f/4 and f/8, the grids for stronger effects, and normal sharpness from f/8, and calls the look ethereal and hard to reproduce afterwards; he quotes an allowance of two-thirds to one and a third stops for the grids, which is his figure rather than Mamiya’s, and notes that the box held the three grids, a hood and a detailed manual. Mamiya’s own brochures sell it on hiding blemishes and saving retouching costs, which is the market it was built for. Nobody consulted reports a fault in the lens itself; the complaints in dealer listings are about missing discs.

Buying one means checking the box before the glass. The discs are small, easy to lose and sold separately by nobody, and listings without them say NO Disks; a lens with all three, the 77 mm hood and the sheet is the one to want. Then the RZ checks: the Seiko #1 electronic shutter fires only with a working 6 V battery in the body and gives a mechanical 1/400 without one; the lens comes off only when cocked with the mirror down; run it at 8 s and 1/400, work the depth-of-field preview and T levers, look at the 12 rear contacts, and unscrew the knurled front collar to see that the disc seat is clean. The name ring is the tell: M 180mm 1:4 D/L is this lens, Z 180mm 1:4.5 W-N is the ordinary telephoto, M 180mm f/4.5 L SB is the short-barrel lens for the Shift/Tilt Adapter, and the RB67’s soft-focus lens is a 150mm f/4 with its own speed ring.

What could not be sourced: the year the lens appeared, the number of aperture blades, the coating, a list price in any currency, an explanation of the D/L suffix, and why the sheet and the brochures differ on length. 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 β€” but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted β€” shot with a Mamiya Soft M 180mm f/4 D/L Variable Soft Focus (RZ67)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live 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 β€” 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 Z 180mm f/4.5 W-N (RZ67) Β· Mamiya-Sekor Z 150mm f/3.5 W (RZ67) Β· Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 (RZ67)

Sources (11)

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 β€” corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.