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

Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 W-N (RZ67)

Mamiya · Mamiya RZ67 · 1982

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 W-N · Mamiya Sekor Z 180mm F4.5 W-N · Mamiya Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 W · Mamiya Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 · Mamiya RZ67 180mm f/4.5 · Mamiya RZ 180mm 4.5 · Z180mm f/4.5W-N · マミヤ セコール Z 180mm F4.5 W-N · マミヤセコールZ 180mm F4.5 · マミヤ RZ67 180mm F4.5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 (1982, 5 elements in 3 groups) · 5 elements in 3 groups (1982 RZ67 manual) Mamiya RZ67 1982 — —
Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 W (half-stop aperture ring) Mamiya RZ67 — — —
Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 W-N (4 elements in 3 groups) · Tessar type, 4 elements in 3 groups (Mamiya lens sheet; Emulsive) 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 Mamiya document consulted dates the W or the W-N.
  2. Construction, angle of view, minimum aperture and closest focus for the 1982 lens are from the RZ67 Professional instruction manual's lens table. The manual gives no weights.
  3. W-N weight, dimensions and magnification 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. The sheet's dimension column is read here as diameter × length. The 180mm f/4.5 W's 6 elements in 4 groups and 900 g come from Emulsive alone and no Mamiya document was found for that version: single source.
  4. The family spec fields below carry the W-N (4 elements, 3 groups, 900 g, 97 × 119 mm) because it is the version Mamiya's sheet documents; the 1982 lens's 5 elements in 3 groups and 1.11 m closest focus are in its variant row.
  5. 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.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Every version: RZ bayonet with 12 electrical contacts and a Seiko #1 electronic leaf shutter; no shutter-speed ring on the lens. A 180mm with its own speed ring is the RB67's 180mm f/4.5, a different lens
  • Three name rings: plain Z (full-stop ring, 1982), W (half stops), W-N (half stops, four-element Tessar type)
  • Minimum aperture f/45 on every version, against f/32 on the RZ's shorter lenses; 77 mm filter thread and screw-in hood throughout
  • Not to be confused with the 180mm f/4 D/L variable soft focus (f/4, interchangeable diffusion grids) or the 180mm f/4.5 Short Barrel

Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 (1982, 5 elements in 3 groups):

  • Engraved MAMIYA-SEKOR Z f=180mm 1:4.5 with no W after the aperture; aperture ring clicks at full stops only¹
  • 1982 RZ67 instruction manual: 5 elements in 3 groups, 29° angle of view, f/45 minimum, 1.11 m closest focus, 77 mm screw-in filter and hood²
  • Lens case No. 2 in the 1982 accessory list, shared with the 250mm

Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 W (half-stop aperture ring):

  • W after the aperture on the name ring with half-stop clicks, but no N: the middle generation¹
  • Emulsive gives 6 elements in 4 groups and 900 g for this version; no Mamiya document consulted lists it, so the construction is single-source³

Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 W-N (4 elements in 3 groups):

  • W-N after the aperture on the name ring; half-stop aperture clicks¹
  • Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet: 4 elements in 3 groups, 28°, f/45, 0.26× at full bellows extension (829 mm from the front rim), 87 mm equivalent, 77 mm filter, 97 × 119 mm, 900 g³
  • Japanese Wikipedia: 3群4枚, closest focus 1.099 m, φ77 mm screw-in

Specifications

Formula
Tessar type in the W-N (4 elements in 3 groups); the 1982 lens is 5 elements in 3 groups
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/4.5–f/45
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
1.1 m
Dimensions
97 × 119 mm
Weight
900 g
Filter
77 mm
Years manufactured
1982
Country
Japan

What reviewers say

Optical formula — Tessar type in the W-N (4 elements in 3 groups); the 1982 lens is 5 elements in 3 groups

History

The 180mm f/4.5 is the RZ67’s portrait telephoto, 87 mm in 35 mm terms by Mamiya’s conversion, and the one lens in the system whose optics were plainly recomputed under the same name. The 1982 RZ67 Professional manual lists it at 5 elements in 3 groups, 29°, f/4.5 to f/45, a closest focus of 1.11 m and a 77 mm screw-in filter. Mamiya’s later Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet lists the Z180mm f/4.5 W-N at 4 elements in 3 groups, 28°, 900 g, a 97 × 119 mm barrel and 0.26× at full bellows extension. Japanese Wikipedia’s product list carries both, 3群5枚 for the original and 3群4枚 for the W-N, and English Wikipedia counts three generations with the W-N as the latest and best corrected.

The three name rings are plain Z, W and W-N. The Z of 1982 has a full-stop aperture ring; the W, per Japanese Wikipedia and Emulsive, added half-stop clicks and a wider scale; the W-N is the four-element lens. Pierre-Gilles Lucain, who owns a W-N, describes the W as the original Pro (I) lens that Mamiya stopped making once the W-N appeared, and gives it 6 elements in 4 groups and 900 g. That figure comes from him alone and does not match the 1982 manual’s 5 in 3, so whether the W was a recomputation of its own or the 1982 optics in a half-stop barrel could not be settled here; the W’s construction is flagged as single-source. Lucain adds that the N stands for the Tessar layout, the 1902 Zeiss design of four elements in three groups, and that the 180 is the only RZ lens to carry it. No source consulted dates the W or the W-N; the Pro II manual of 1993 mentions the 180mm without a suffix.

Reviewers split on the lens by purpose rather than quality. Lucain calls the W-N perfect for portraits and warns that it can be too sharp for some faces, and uses it for fashion, street and landscape as well. Matt Osborne, shooting head-and-shoulders portraits, finds the 180 flattens the face too much and prefers the 110mm f/2.8, while allowing that others like the rendering. Nobody consulted reports a weakness in the glass itself. The 180 shares lens case No. 2 with the 250 in Mamiya’s 1982 accessory list and, unlike the 250, needs no support bracket on the body.

The buying checks are the RZ system’s, plus one. The Seiko #1 electronic leaf shutter fires only with a working 6 V battery in the body; without one it gives a mechanical 1/400 and nothing else. The lens comes off only when the body’s lever has cocked it with the mirror down, so a lens that will not 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, and check the 12 rear contacts. The extra check is the name ring: the RB67’s 180mm f/4.5, which has its own shutter-speed ring and mounts on an RZ with the dial at RBL, sells under almost the same name, and the RZ’s 180mm f/4 D/L soft-focus and 180mm f/4.5 Short Barrel are different lenses again.

What could not be sourced: the years of the W and W-N, a weight for the 1982 and W barrels from a Mamiya document, the W’s construction from anyone but Emulsive, the number of aperture blades, the coating, a list price in any currency, and the year production ended. No designer is named anywhere.

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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 wanted — shot with a Mamiya-Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5 W-N (RZ67)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $120 across 46 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $90–$150). First day tracked.

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

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Listings updated 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Mamiya-Sekor Z 110mm f/2.8 W (RZ67) · Mamiya-Sekor Z 250mm f/4.5 W / APO (RZ67) · Mamiya-Sekor Z 50mm f/4.5 W (RZ67) · Mamiya-Sekor Z 65mm f/4 W (RZ67) · Mamiya-Sekor Z 90mm f/3.5 W (RZ67)

Sources (8)

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.