Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 (RZ67)
Mamiya · Mamiya RZ67 · 1999
Also known as: Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 · Mamiya Apo Sekor Z 210mm F4.5 · Mamiya APO 210mm f/4.5 RZ · Mamiya RZ67 210mm f/4.5 APO · Mamiya RZ 210mm 4.5 APO · APO Z210mm f/4.5 · マミヤ アポセコール Z 210mm F4.5 · マミヤ APO セコール Z 210mm F4.5 · マミヤ RZ67 210mm F4.5 APO
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 (the only version) | Mamiya RZ67 | — | — | — |
- The family year of 1999 is the earliest dated Mamiya print that names the lens, the February 1999 RZ67 Pro II brochure, not a release date. The June 1988 RZ67 Professional brochure has no APO lens; the 1993 Pro II manual mentions APO lenses without listing them; the Mamiya APO-Sekor Z brochure that describes the 210 is undated. The lens therefore appeared between mid-1988 and early 1999, and no source consulted narrows that.
- Construction, angles, minimum aperture, magnification, dimensions and weight are from Mamiya's APO-Sekor Z brochure, whose minimum-focus column is measured from the front rim of the lens with the bellows fully extended (46 mm); the 1.43 m closest focus from the film plane is from the 1999 and 2004 brochures. The APO brochure's dimension is 114 mm long by 97 mm outside diameter; the later brochures print 114 × 97.2 mm.
- 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. The RB67's KL 210mm f/4.5 APO/L is a different lens with its own shutter and is not treated here as a version.
How to tell them apart
- RZ bayonet with 12 electrical contacts and a Seiko #1 electronic leaf shutter; no shutter-speed ring on the lens. A 210 APO with its own speed ring is the RB67's KL 210mm f/4.5 APO/L, a different lens that mounts on an RZ at RBL
- APO-SEKOR Z on the name ring; the APO lenses were not given W, W-N or L-A suffixes
- f/45 minimum aperture, 77 mm filter thread and the M77 No. 2 screw-in hood shared with the 150, 180, 250 and 350; 114 mm long, the shortest of the APO barrels
Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 (the only version):
- Engraved MAMIYA APO-SEKOR Z f=210mm 1:4.5; no W, since the APO lenses were never sold in any other barrel. No plain 210 exists for the RZ67¹
- Mamiya APO-Sekor Z brochure: 7 elements in 5 groups, 23°50′ diagonal, f/45 minimum, 1,168 mm from the front rim at full bellows, 0.22×, 256 × 318 mm covered, 102 mm equivalent, 77 mm filter, hood attached, 114 mm long, 97 mm across, 980 g²
- 1999 Pro II and 2004 Pro IID brochures: closest focus 1.43 m from the film plane, 114 × 97.2 mm, 980 g; Japanese Wikipedia 5群7枚, 1.432 m
- Telephoto ratio 1.02, lens back 127.1 mm, pincushion distortion under 1% (APO-Sekor Z brochure)
- Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 (the only version): The shortest of the four APO-Sekor Z telephotos and the first in Mamiya's list, with the APO 250mm f/4.5, APO 350mm f/5.6 and APO 500mm f/6. The APO brochure says two elements of ultra-low dispersion glass and one of anomalous dispersion glass bring the red, yellow and blue wavelengths to one plane, that spherical aberration is negligible so halo and flare are gone, that resolving power and contrast barely change stopped down, with diffraction showing from f/11, and that the correction extends into the infrared so no focus shift is needed for infrared film. It is absent from the June 1988 RZ67 Professional brochure and present in the February 1999 Pro II brochure; the Pro II manual of 1993 already speaks of APO lenses for the 61 mm mount without naming them, and the APO brochure says Mamiya was still in the process of releasing the full range. The auto extension tubes work with it, giving 0.21 to 0.82× across tube No. 1, No. 2 and both; the body's focal-length scale for close-up exposure compensation has no 210 mark, so the brochure says to set it between 180 and 250.
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 APO 210 has been published.
Specifications
- Formula
- Apochromatic telephoto, 7 elements in 5 groups, two elements of ultra-low dispersion glass and one of anomalous dispersion glass (Mamiya APO-Sekor Z brochure)
- Construction
- 7 elements / 5 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
- 1.43 m
- Dimensions
- 97.2 × 114 mm
- Weight
- 980 g
- Filter
- 77 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1999
- Country
- Japan
What reviewers say
- Pierre-Gilles Lucain (Emulsive), RZ67 guide part three (blog) — An apochromat that corrects the colour fringing of ordinary long lenses, usually a lot more expensive and worth it for colour work, though he argues the plain W lenses are good enough that the APO versions are a luxury unless the budget allows.
- Russell Baston (photographyreview.com user review, 2001) (blog) — Amazing sharpness and outstanding colour accuracy with no weakness he can find, to the point of being ruthless as a portrait lens without some softening; against the non-APO 180 and 250 it is in a different class for still life and landscape.
- xpan.se Daily Photo Diary, 2025 (blog) — Stellar optics with no chromatic aberration even at closest focus on extension tubes, too sharp for middle-aged portrait sitters, still cheap second-hand; but adapted to a digital medium-format body the size and handling make it rather unusable next to native lenses.
Optical formula — Apochromatic telephoto, 7 elements in 5 groups, two elements of ultra-low dispersion glass and one of anomalous dispersion glass (Mamiya APO-Sekor Z brochure)
- Mamiya APO-Sekor Z Lenses brochure (cross-section, axial and lateral chromatic aberration curves and MTF for the 210mm f/4.5)
- RZ67 Professional II brochure, February 1999 (small cross-section under the APO 210mm f/4.5, page 18)
ⓘ What these charts mean
MTF (modulation transfer function) shows how much contrast the lens keeps at a given fineness of detail, from the center of the frame to the corner — the coarse curves track punch, the fine ones resolving power, and a gap between solid and dashed lines means astigmatism. Relative illumination (falloff) shows how much darker the corners are than the center at each aperture. Manufacturers only began publishing these for modern lenses; no 1950s maker issued them, which is why older families here cite period magazine bench tests instead.
History
The APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 is the shortest of the four apochromatic telephotos Mamiya made for the RZ67 and the one that sits closest to a portrait length, 102 mm in 35 mm terms by Mamiya’s conversion. The APO-Sekor Z brochure gives 7 elements in 5 groups, two of them ultra-low dispersion glass and one anomalous dispersion glass, a 23°50′ diagonal angle, f/4.5 to f/45, 1,168 mm from the front rim at full bellows extension, 0.22×, a 77 mm filter thread, a hood built onto the barrel, 114 mm of length, 97 mm of diameter and 980 g; the 1999 Pro II and 2004 Pro IID brochures add a closest focus of 1.43 m from the film plane. Its telephoto ratio is 1.02, so the barrel is about as long as the focal length, and the brochure promises pincushion distortion under 1%.
The point of the lens is in its curves. The brochure prints axial and lateral chromatic aberration plots against a normal lens, with the APO’s line flat across 400 to 700 nm, and MTF at f/4.5 and f/8 that barely differ; Mamiya’s claim is that spherical aberration is negligible, that halo and flare have gone with it, that resolving power and contrast hold when stopped down until diffraction shows at f/11, and that the correction extends into the infrared so infrared film needs no focus shift. There is one version and it was never given a W or L-A suffix. It is absent from the June 1988 RZ67 Professional brochure and present in the February 1999 Pro II brochure, and the 1993 Pro II manual already speaks of APO lenses for the 61 mm mount without naming them; the APO brochure, which lists the 210, 250, 350 and 500 f/6, says the range was still being released. The family year of 1999 above is the earliest dated print that names it, not a launch date. The RB67’s KL 210mm f/4.5 APO/L is a different lens with its own shutter, 40 g heavier.
Reviewers agree that it does what the curves say. Russell Baston, on photographyreview.com in 2001, finds amazing sharpness and outstanding colour accuracy with no weakness, and says it is ruthless for portraits without softening; the xpan.se diarist, using one on a digital medium-format body in 2025, finds no chromatic aberration even at closest focus on extension tubes and again calls it too sharp for middle-aged faces. Pierre-Gilles Lucain (Emulsive) explains what apochromatic correction buys and then argues the case against: the plain W lenses are so good that the APO versions are a luxury unless the budget allows. The disagreement, such as it is, is whether the correction is worth paying for; nobody reports a fault in the glass. The lens takes the auto extension tubes, 0.21 to 0.82× across No. 1, No. 2 and both, and Mamiya recommends it, with the 110, 140, 150 and 180, for the Shift/Tilt Adapter.
The buying checks are the RZ system’s. The Seiko #1 electronic leaf 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, 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, check the 12 rear contacts, and do not over-tighten the breech ring. The name ring settles the rest: APO-SEKOR Z with no speed ring is this lens; KL 210mm APO/L with a speed ring is the RB67’s; the Mamiya 7’s N 210mm f/8 is a rangefinder lens that fits nothing here.
What could not be sourced: the year the lens appeared beyond the 1988 and 1999 brochures that bracket it, the number of aperture blades, the coating, a list price in any currency, and the year production ended. Mamiya’s three documents and Japanese Wikipedia agree on the optics and weight; no designer is named anywhere.
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 APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 (RZ67)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
Asking price, USD: a median of $350 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-21 (middle half $170–$350). First day tracked.
Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.
- [Near MINT] Mamiya APO Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 Lens For RZ67 Pro II IID From JAPAN
- Mamiya APO SEKOR Z 210mm f/4.5 for RZ67梡 from Japan
- Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 Lens for RZ67 – Good
- Mamiya APO Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 Lens for RZ67
- [Near MINT] Mamiya APO Sekor Z 210mm f/4.5 Lens For RZ67 Pro II IID From JAPAN
- Mamiya APO SEKOR Z 210mm f/4.5 for RZ67梡 from Japan
- ★実用品★ マミヤ MAMIYA APO-SEKOR Z 210mm F4.5 RZ67用 ★前後キャップ付き★ #08023 #90950 #08053
- 【中古】Mamiya マミヤ APO SEKOR Z 210mm f/4.5 RZ67用
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