Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 500mm f/6 (RZ67)
Mamiya · Mamiya RZ67 · 1988
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 500mm f/6 · Mamiya APO Sekor Z 500mm F6 · Mamiya Sekor Z 500mm f/6 APO · Mamiya 500mm f/6 APO · Mamiya RZ67 500mm f/6 · Mamiya RZ 500mm 6 APO · APO Z500mm f/6 · マミヤ APO セコール Z 500mm F6 · アポセコールZ 500mm F6 · マミヤ RZ67 500mm F6
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 500mm f/6 (one version) | Mamiya RZ67 | 1988 | — | — |
- Construction, angle of view, minimum aperture, magnification, weight and dimensions are from Mamiya's Mamiya-Sekor Z Interchangeable Lenses sheet and its APO Sekor Z brochure, which agree. The sheet's minimum-focus column is measured from the lens front rim with the bellows fully extended (46 mm), not from the film plane; the 6.49 m in the spec fields is the Pro IID brochure's figure, which Japanese Wikipedia gives as 6.493 m. The sheet's dimension column is read here as diameter × length; the Pro IID brochure prints 278.5 × 108 mm. The sheet and the APO brochure call the hood slip-on; the Pro IID brochure's table prints screw-in, and its accessory list still names the ø108 No. 1 slip-on hood for the 500mm.
- The 1988 introduction comes from Zach van Rijn's blog alone; Mamiya's APO brochure is undated and says only that the list includes lenses coming soon: single source. Van Rijn is also the one source for the absence of cemented groups, which the seven-element, seven-group construction in Mamiya's table is consistent with.
- This is the only 500mm APO Mamiya made for the RZ67. The plain Z500mm f/8 W is a different, older design with its own page; no source consulted knows a 500mm f/8 with the APO designation.
- The Pro IID brochure gives 238 mm as the 35 mm equivalent where the earlier sheet gives 242 mm; both are Mamiya's own rounding of the same lens. No aperture-blade count, coating description or list price in any currency was found in a Mamiya document.
How to tell them apart
- RZ bayonet with electrical contacts and a Seiko #1 electronic leaf shutter; no shutter-speed ring on the lens. A 500mm APO with its own speed ring is the RB67's APO KL 500mm f/6, a different lens
- Minimum aperture f/45; 105 mm filter and the ø108 No. 1 slip-on hood; 280 mm long, 2315 g
- Mamiya lists a dedicated Lens Holder for the 500mm lens; the brochure rules out the auto extension tubes and the 1.4× teleconverter on this lens
Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 500mm f/6 (one version):
- APO on the name ring; a 105 mm front with a slip-on hood; no W or other suffix was ever applied to this lens
- Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet and APO brochure: 7 elements in 7 groups, 10°, f/45, 0.09× at full bellows extension (6064 mm from the front rim), 242 mm equivalent, 108 × 280 mm, 2315 g¹
- Pro IID brochure (2004): 6.49 m closest focus, 278.5 × 108 mm, 2315 g, 238 mm equivalent; Japanese Wikipedia: 7群7枚, 6.493 m, φ105 mm
- 19 mm shorter and 355 g heavier than the plain Z500mm f/8 W; stops down to f/45 where the f/8 stops at f/32
- Mamiya APO-Sekor Z 500mm f/6 (one version): The only version, and the heaviest lens Mamiya made for the RZ67. The APO brochure lists it with the 210, 250 and 350 as the Apo-Sekor Z series and says the list includes lenses still to come; the 1982 RZ67 manual does not have it, and the 2004 Pro IID brochure lists it as the only 500. Zach van Rijn dates the RZ APO series to 1988, the one source consulted that gives a year. Mamiya's brochure says neither the auto extension tubes nor the teleconverter can be used with it. The RB67's APO KL 500mm f/6 shares the optics but has its own shutter-speed ring and is a different lens.
Specifications
- Formula
- Apochromatic telephoto with ultra-low dispersion glass, 7 elements in 7 groups, no cemented surfaces (Mamiya lens sheet and APO brochure; van Rijn)
- Construction
- 7 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/6–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
- 6.49 m
- Dimensions
- 108 × 280 mm
- Weight
- 2315 g
- Filter
- 105 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1988
- Country
- Japan
What reviewers say
- Pierre-Gilles Lucain (Emulsive), RZ67 guide part three (blog) — The APO version of the 500, opening to f/6 instead of f/8 with better colour correction and a higher price; he owns the f/8, not this one, and lists the APO at 7 elements in 7 groups and 2315 g, repeating his view that APO correction pays in colour and hardly at all in black and white.
Optical formula — Apochromatic telephoto with ultra-low dispersion glass, 7 elements in 7 groups, no cemented surfaces (Mamiya lens sheet and APO brochure; van Rijn)
History
The APO-Sekor Z 500mm f/6 is the longest and heaviest lens Mamiya made for the RZ67, 242 mm in 35 mm terms by Mamiya’s conversion, and the apochromatic replacement for the plain 500mm f/8. Mamiya’s Mamiya-Sekor Z lens sheet and its APO Sekor Z brochure both list it at 7 elements in 7 groups, 10°, f/6 to f/45, 0.09× at full bellows extension, a 105 mm filter, a slip-on hood, 108 × 280 mm and 2315 g. The Pro IID brochure of 2004 gives a closest focus of 6.49 m from the film plane, which Japanese Wikipedia carries as 6.493 m. The brochure describes ultra-low dispersion glass and a correction that extends into the infrared, so no focus shift is needed between film types, and adds two restrictions specific to this lens: neither the auto extension tubes nor the 1.4× teleconverter can be used on it.
There is one version. The 1982 RZ67 manual has only the 500mm f/8; the APO brochure, which says its list includes lenses still coming, has the f/6 beside the 210, 250 and 350; the 2004 Pro IID brochure lists the f/6 as the only 500. Zach van Rijn dates the RZ APO series to 1988 and the RB67 versions to 1990, the only year found, so it is flagged. Against the f/8 the APO is 19 mm shorter, 355 g heavier, most of a stop faster and stops down a stop further, to f/45. The RB67’s APO KL 500mm f/6 has the same construction but carries its own shutter-speed ring and is a different lens with its own page.
Reviews are thin. Pierre-Gilles Lucain, whose Emulsive guide is the one review found, owns the f/8 and not the APO; he describes the f/6 as the same reach with better colour correction and a higher price, and holds that APO correction pays in colour and hardly at all in black and white. His account of the f/8, huge and cumbersome but incredibly sharp and in need of the lens support, applies at least as much to a lens 355 g heavier. Van Rijn calls the APO lenses some of the finest medium-format glass made and singles this one out as the exception to the series’ balsam-separation problem: with no cemented groups there is nothing to separate, which fits the seven-element, seven-group construction in Mamiya’s table.
Buying checks are the RZ system’s, with the mass added. 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 rear contacts. Ask whether Mamiya’s Lens Holder for the 500mm and the ø108 slip-on hood come with it, because both are separate accessories and 2.3 kg should not hang from the bayonet on a tripod. Haze and fungus are the glass checks here rather than separation.
What could not be sourced from a Mamiya document: the introduction year, the number of aperture blades, the coating, a list price in any currency and the year production ended. 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 500mm f/6 (RZ67)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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