Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 (C-series TLR)
Mamiya · Mamiya TLR · 1956
Also known as: Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 · Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 TLR · Mamiya 80mm f/2.8 blue dot · Mamiya Sekor 80mm f/2.8 S · Mamiya-Sekor f=8cm 1:2.8 · Mamiya Sekor 80mm Seikosha-S · Mamiya C330 80mm f/2.8 · Mamiya C220 80mm lens · Sekor 80/2.8 TLR · マミヤ セコール 80mm F2.8 · マミヤ C330 80mm · マミヤ 二眼 80mm F2.8 · ブルードット 80mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mamiya-Sekor 8cm f/2.8, chrome, Seikosha-MX (1956 baseline) · Seikosha-MX, 1–1/400 s in the old sequence (1, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/200, 1/400); top speed set only with the shutter uncocked | Mamiya TLR (manual-cocking bodies only) | 1956–1959 | — | — |
| Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, chrome, Seikosha-S · Seikosha-S, 1s–1/500 and B, M/X sync | Mamiya TLR | 1958–1969 | — | — |
| Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, black Seiko shutter, no aperture click-stops · Seiko, 1s–1/500 and B, M/X sync | Mamiya TLR | 1968–1980 | — | — |
| Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, Blue Dot (click-stopped aperture, later Seiko shutter) · Seiko (later type with raised-tip leaf), 1s–1/500 and B, M/X sync | Mamiya TLR | 1980–1994 | — | — |
| Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 S · Seiko, 1s–1/500 and B, M/X sync | Mamiya TLR | — | — | — |
- Optical construction, picture angle, minimum aperture, filter and hood diameters, closest focus, reproduction ratio, weight and sync are from Graham Patterson's Mamiya TLR System Summary (June 2015 release), which compiles Mamiya's literature; he did not record a weight for the chrome lenses. Japanese Wikipedia agrees on 3群5枚, 0.354 m and φ46 for the black lens; English Wikipedia gives 33.8 cm for the closest focus, and the Mamiya system brochure's '50°40'' picture angle matches Patterson.
- The dates are Patterson's and are loose by his own account: MX sales December 1956 to March 1959; SLV April 1958 to July 1962; the Seikosha-S 'ought to have been the mid-1960s until superseded'; the black series c.1969 (his chronology table starts the black 80 in 1968, the year of the C220); click-stops and the blue insert 'from around 1980'; the C330s ended January 1994. The S version is undated by every source consulted.
- No launch price in any currency was found. The Mamiya twin-lens system brochure lists the lenses without prices.
How to tell them apart
- Chrome bezel means Seikosha (MX to 1/400 with f=8cm engraving, or S to 1/500); all-black shutter means Seiko and the black series
- Filter thread sorts chrome from black at a glance: 40.5 mm on every chrome 80, 46 mm on every black one
- Blue insert in the cocking lever plus aperture click-stops means the post-1980 shutter; no engraving around the front elements means the S
- The 80mm f/3.7 is not a version of this lens: a four-element Tessar-type Mamiya-Kominar in a manually cocked Copal (black) or Seikosha-SLV (chrome) shutter, controls on the right (Patterson)
- The 645's Sekor C 80mm f/2.8 has a bayonet and no shutter; the RB67's Sekor C 90mm is the nearest RB lens, and no RB or RZ 80 exists
Mamiya-Sekor 8cm f/2.8, chrome, Seikosha-MX (1956 baseline):
- Engraved f=8cm rather than 80mm; chrome shutter bezel; a short, curved shutter release and a smaller cocking lever than the Seikosha-S (Patterson)
- M/X sync lever shaped like a miniature cocking lever, usually with a red insert at its tip
- Will not fit the auto-cocking bodies (C33, C330, C330f, C330s): the cocking lever sits higher and its 67°30' stroke does not match the bodies' 112°30' (Patterson)
Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, chrome, Seikosha-S:
- Chrome shutter/aperture bezel (parts of the barrel may be black); speed scale on the left, aperture scale on the right, set by a thin knurled ring and a small pointer (Patterson)
- 40.5 mm filter thread and 42 mm hood; closest focus 34.2 cm (Patterson)
- Sold with a Seikosha-SLV shutter for a time (sales April 1958 to July 1962); the SLV will not auto-cock on the C33/C330 but does not foul the mechanism (Patterson)
Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, black Seiko shutter, no aperture click-stops:
- All-black Seiko shutter; speed and aperture scales read against a common index on the left, wide knurled speed ring, aperture knob on the right (Patterson)
- 46 mm filter thread and 48 mm hood, up from the chrome lens's 40.5 and 42; closest focus 35.5 cm; 310 g (Patterson; Japanese Wikipedia 0.354 m, φ46)
- No click-stops and no blue insert: the earliest have the focal length in centimetres, the 1970s lenses in millimetres (Patterson)
- Early black 80s have a chrome cosmetic ring outside the filter thread that is not a keeper ring (Patterson)
Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, Blue Dot (click-stopped aperture, later Seiko shutter):
- Blue insert in the tip of the shutter cocking lever: Patterson's mark of the newer shutter, whose raised leaf tip resists the blades locking as they close
- Aperture click-stops at the full stops, from around 1980 (Patterson); millimetre engraving
- Same optics, 46 mm filters, 35.5 cm and 310 g as the earlier black lens
Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 S:
- No engraving around the front elements; the lens details and serial sit on top of the viewing lens instead (Patterson)
- Viewing lens of a different design from the taking lens, and its elements are not interchangeable with the taking lens (Patterson)
- Same 5 elements in 3 groups, f/2.8–32, 46 mm filters, 35.5 cm and 310 g for the taking lens (Patterson)
- Mamiya-Sekor 8cm f/2.8, chrome, Seikosha-MX (1956 baseline): The first lens of the Mamiyaflex C, which Patterson's chronology and the Williams Photographic page place in 1956–57 with the 80mm f/2.8, 105mm and 135mm; Patterson gives the Seikosha-MX lenses' sales period as December 1956 to March 1959. He believes the optics are the same as the Seikosha-S lens that followed but calls that unverified. Spares are scarce because of the small run.
- Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, chrome, Seikosha-S: The common chrome lens, current through the C2, C3, C33 and C22. Patterson's dating is loose: the changeover from MX 'seems to have occurred during the production life of the C2', and the sales period 'ought to have been the mid-1960s until superseded'. The C330 manual still cites chrome lenses, but he thinks they were out of production by then. The 1969 end year here is the black series' arrival. Single-coated (Patterson, section 2.4).
- Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, black Seiko shutter, no aperture click-stops: The black series arrived with the C220 (1968) and C330 (1969); Patterson says c.1969, his chronology table starts the black 80 in 1968, and his letter-code table dates code AD to 1969. The 80mm f/3.7 sold alongside it is a different, manually cocked lens in a Copal shutter. Patterson believes the black series are optically redesigned from the chrome lenses (the 105mm's back focus changed) but records the 80 at the same 5 elements in 3 groups.
- Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8, Blue Dot (click-stopped aperture, later Seiko shutter): The version the market pays most for. Anton McCloud likens the premium to Canon's red ring and declines to rank it. Patterson lists it among lenses that may have received multi-coating late, unproven. The aperture click-stops are externally the only difference he records between the two Seiko shutter designs.
- Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 S: Patterson's section 4.3.2 describes the 80mm f/2.8 'S' as the updated form of the black 80 and gives it identical taking-lens figures; he does not date it. Its letter codes (BE, BF, BH, CH, DA, HI, IA on a C220f, IB) place it in the C220f and C330s years, and Jorge Ferrufino's Dusty Grain review pairs the C330s with 'the 80mm f/2.8 S'. Patterson names it among the lenses most likely to be multi-coated. Whether every S has the blue insert is not stated; listings usually describe them as blue dot lenses.
Serial-range notes
- chrome lenses
- Patterson's tabulation lists an MX 80 without a serial, and the chrome lenses carry no two-letter sticker, so nothing dates a chrome example beyond its shutter type. At least one Seikosha-MX 80 has a seven-digit number on the shutter body as well as the lens numbers.
- 105xx – 121xx
- Early black lenses: Patterson reads letter codes BC (105xx) and BD (121xx) as early, and AD as 1969.
- 6605xx – 663xxx
- 1970s black lenses, which Patterson tentatively dates to 1974/5 (codes AL, JE, IG at 638xxx–663xxx).
- 733xxx – 862xxx
- Later 1970s to early 1980s: CE at 7524xx, CB with the blue insert at 7445xx–7465xx, DB at 778xxx–779xxx, FD at 806xxx–827xxx, GI at 862xxx.
- 9200xx – 950xxx
- The latest lenses Patterson records: HI at 9200xx and AC at 943000, which he calls late. Mamiya has no serial date table, and the letter series restarts per item, so these are his readings rather than factory data.
Specifications
- Formula
- 5 elements in 3 groups (Patterson; Japanese Wikipedia 3群5枚); type not named by Mamiya
- Construction
- 5 elements / 3 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8
- Shutter
- Leaf shutter in the taking lens on every version: Seikosha-MX 1–1/400 (chrome, 1956–59), Seikosha-S 1s–1/500 and B (chrome), Seiko 1s–1/500 and B (black series and S); M and X sync, flash at every speed
- Min. focus
- 0.355 m
- Weight
- 310 g
- Filter
- 46 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1956–1994
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Single-coated on the chrome lenses and most black ones; Patterson names the S among late black lenses that may be multi-coated, unproven
What reviewers say
- 50mmF2, Mamiya C System Review Part 2 (blog) — "Like having two lenses in one": soft corners and busy backgrounds at f/2.8 that turn into "an almost swirly bokeh" with distant backgrounds, and "a very crispy image" from f/5.6 to f/8; flare handled very well; plastic speed and aperture controls the weak point of the build. Recommended.
- Anton McCloud (35mmc), Mamiya C330 review (blog) — The 80 can "hold its own and beat the German in some respects" against the Zeiss on his Hasselblad: "exceptionally sharp and detailed", contrasty, called clinical by some. On the blue dot premium he stays neutral, "all of them are blooming brilliant".
- Ian Bartlett (Emulsive), Mamiya C220 Professional review (blog) — His everyday lens: Seiko shutter from 1/500 to B and click-stopped apertures to f/32, cocked by hand on the C220 before each frame; the interchangeability that lets it come off "as easy as that" is the system's point.
- Jorge Ferrufino (Dusty Grain), Mamiya C330 review (blog) — The C330 with the 80mm f/2.8 gives "very good performance" and "outstanding image quality"; the S on his C330s "stands up to professional scrutiny"; 30 cm close focus from the bellows, shutter cocked by the wind on the C330 unlike the C220.
- Jeff K (Jittery Pixel), Mamiya C330 Professional review (blog) — A near-perfect blue dot pair whose slow speeds ran about half a stop slow at 1 second and were fine by 1/5, the ordinary state of an unserviced Seiko shutter; booked for a CLA.
History
The 80mm f/2.8 is the standard lens of Mamiya’s interchangeable-lens twin-lens reflexes, and the only lens in the line that was there from the first Mamiyaflex C of 1956–57 to the last C330s of January 1994. Every version is a matched pair on one board, a viewing lens above a taking lens, the taking lens carrying its own leaf shutter with flash sync at every speed. Graham Patterson’s system summary, which compiles Mamiya’s literature, gives 5 elements in 3 groups, a 50°40’ picture angle and f/2.8 to f/32 for every version; Japanese Wikipedia agrees on 3群5枚. Mamiya never named the design type in anything consulted.
The versions are shutters and barrels, not new glass. The first lenses, engraved f=8cm, sit in a chrome Seikosha-MX with the old speed sequence to 1/400, a small cocking lever and a red-tipped sync lever; Patterson gives their sales period as December 1956 to March 1959 and warns that they will not mount on the auto-cocking C33, C330, C330f and C330s. The chrome Seikosha-S that replaced them runs 1 second to 1/500 plus B, takes 40.5 mm filters, focuses to 34.2 cm and served through the C2, C3, C33 and C22; a Seikosha-SLV was sold for a time between April 1958 and July 1962. The black series came with the C220 of 1968 and the C330 of 1969: an all-black Seiko shutter, 1 to 1/500 plus B, a 46 mm filter thread, closest focus 35.5 cm and 310 g. Within the black lenses Patterson sorts early, middle and late by engraving and click-stops, centimetres first, then millimetres without click-stops through the 1970s, then click-stops at the full stops from about 1980, usually with a blue insert in the cocking lever. That insert, the ‘blue dot’, marks a later shutter whose raised leaf tip resists the blades locking as they close. The S is the last form: no engraving around the front elements, the name and serial on top of the viewing lens, and a viewing lens of a different design whose elements do not swap with the taking lens. Patterson does not date it; its letter codes and Jorge Ferrufino’s C330s pairing put it in the 1980s.
On the pictures the reviewers agree more than the prices suggest. 50mmF2, shooting a black example without the blue dot, found soft corners and busy backgrounds at f/2.8 that give way to ‘a very crispy image’ by f/5.6 to f/8, with an almost swirly rendering when the background is distant, and flare well handled. Anton McCloud says his 80 can ‘hold its own and beat the German in some respects’ against the Zeiss on his Hasselblad, and declines to rank the blue dot above the rest: ‘all of them are blooming brilliant’. That fits Patterson’s account of the coatings: the chrome lenses single-coated, the black ones single-coated with some late multi-coating whose extent nobody has pinned down, the S being one of the likelier candidates.
Buying one is mostly about the shutter. Set 1 second and count: Jeff K’s near-mint blue dot pair ran half a stop slow at 1 second and was fine by 1/5, which is the normal state of an unserviced Seiko, and Mamiya America told Patterson in 1999 that some parts for the early Seiko shutters were exhausted. Match the shutter to the body: an MX lens only fits the manual-cocking bodies, and any lens must be mounted with its cocking lever on the correct side of the body’s arm, or the next wind can damage it. Check the filter rings for dents, the commonest fault Patterson records, and do not mistake the early black lens’s chrome cosmetic ring for a keeper ring. Ignore the 80mm f/3.7 unless it is wanted for itself: a four-element Mamiya-Kominar in a manually cocked shutter with its controls on the right. Serial numbers date nothing, since Mamiya has no table; the gold two-letter sticker, if it survives, is the only period clue.
What remains open: the year the Seikosha-S replaced the MX and the year the black series replaced the chrome for this focal length, a list price in any currency, when the S was introduced, whether any black 80 was actually multi-coated, and the weight of the chrome lenses, which Patterson leaves blank.
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
.jpg)
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 (C-series TLR)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
Asking price, USD: a median of $300 across 9 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (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.
- Mamiya Hard Leather Case * Mamiya Sekor 80mm f/2.8 Lens * Excellent
- Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 Ersatzzellen vorne und hinten für TLR Objektiv sauber
- Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 TLR für C3 C220 C330 S C33 Mamiyaflex C22 C330 F C2 U879T
- Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 TLR für C3 C220 C330 S C33 Mamiyaflex C22 C330 F C2 mmmm
- Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 TLR für C3 C220 C330 S C33 Mamiyaflex C22 C330 F C2 /8615
- Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 TLR für C3 C220 C330 S C33 Mamiyaflex C22 C330 F C2 ooooo
- Mamiya C330 Professional TLR Medium Format Camera + Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 Lens
- Mamiya C220 Professional TLR Medium Format Camera with Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8
- Mamiya C330 Pro S & Mamiya Sekor 80mm F/2.8 *
- Mamiya C330 Black TLR Film Camera with Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 Lens
- Mamiya C330 Pro S & Mamiya Sekor 80mm f/2.8 * neue Lichtdichtungen
- * VGC * Mamiya C330 Pro S Mamiya Sekor S 80mm F2.8
- Mamiya-Sekor 8cm (80mm) f/2.8 Seikosha-MX Lens for TLR, Chrome (Speeds to 1/400)
- Mamiya Sekor 80mm f/2.8 Blue Dot Lens for C330 C220 *UNTESTED*
- Mamiya-Sekor 80mm f/2.8 Seiko Lens for TLR {46} [Speeds off]
- Superb Early Mamiya-Sekor 8cm f2.8 C 80mm Lens Mamiyaflex-C Medium Format Japan
- MAMIYA SEKOR 80mm f/2.8 Blue Dot TLR lens for c330 c220 from JAPAN
- Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 Twin Lens for C330 C220 TLR Format Seiko Shutter Blue Dot
- 【 MINT+ 】 Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8 TLR Lens For C330 C220 C33 C22 From JAPAN #4520
- Near Mint Mamiya Sekor S 80mm F/2.8 Blue Dot Lens for TLR C330 C220 Open Box
Show 7 more listings
- Mamiya C330 Professional S 6x6 Medium Format TLR + 80mm f/2.8 Blue Dot Lens
- Mamiya Sekor 2.8 80mm Objektiv für C330 / C220 An-Verkauf ff-shop24
- Mamiya C33 avec Mamiya-Sekor 80mm F2.8
- MAMIYA C220 Professional with Mamiya Sekor 80mm F2.8 + Hoya. Wie neu. Getestet.
- Mamiya Sekor 80mm F2.8 C3 C330 TLR - Blende Defekt / Aperture defect
- ★希少品★マミヤ MAMIYA C Sekor 80mm F2.8 動作未確認★208&6
- 美品 MAMIYA C330 Special Selection SEKOR S 80mm F2.8 レンズ付き マミヤ 中古 中判フィルムカメラ 二眼レフ
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 — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.
Listings updated 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.