W

hen I first started

writing about

cameras in the

early 1980s,

Mamiya was

one of the powerhouse brands.

It had taken on the established

European marques in the medium

format camera category and quickly

become the market leader; now it

was flexing its muscles in 35mm

SLRs. In 1983 you could buy a

Mamiya 6x4.5cm SLR, 6x6cm

TLR, 6x7cm SLR, 35mm SLR or

35mm compact. It had been first

with interchangeable lenses on

a twin lens reflex camera, first

with a 6x4.5cm single lens reflex

camera, first with a rotating film

back on a 6x7cm single lens reflex

camera, and first with an innovative

‘crossover’ auto exposure control

system on a 35mm single

lens reflex camera... designed

to override out-of-range user-

applied settings.

However, the following year

disaster struck when the company

which looked after all of Mamiya’s

overseas distribution – including in

Australia – declared bankruptcy. The

demise of J Osawa & Company

was Japan’s third-largest corporate

bankruptcy since the end of WW2,

and Mamiya had little option but to

follow suit a few days later. Forced

to re-organise its business, Mamiya

decided to cease the production of

35mm cameras – even though it

was reasonably well advanced with

an autofocus SLR system – and

concentrate on its medium format

camera activities. By 1990, when

it celebrated its 50th anniversary,

Mamiya had recovered sufficiently

to launch the world’s first 6x6cm

rangefinder camera system with

interchangeable lenses which

would be followed by a 6x7cm

format model in 1995, but by

then another major challenge was

looming on the horizon... digital

imaging. With so many Mamiya

medium format camera systems

being used by professional

photographers around the world,

the early pioneers of digital capture

backs – which is really where it

all started – made products to fit

these SLR bodies, but the market

was moving towards higher levels

of integration and increased

automation, including autofocusing.

The levels of investment required

here are astronomical and saw the

departure of Bronica, Fujifilm and

Pentax (the latter two, of course,

having since returned) while

others have struggled financially,

including Hasselblad and Mamiya.

Perhaps sensing what lay ahead

in medium format photography,

Mamiya diversified into sporting

goods and other areas, eventually

hiving off its camera business into

a separate entity called Mamiya

A press picture from the early 1980s showing

the extent of Mamiya’s medium format camera

systems – M645 models at front left, Universal

6x9cm press camera behind, TLRs at top centre,

RZ67 at top right and the RB67 in front.

59

MaMiya CLASSICS

With the MaMiya naMe noW

all but disappeared as

a separate brand, paul

burroWs charts the Marque’s

illustrious history, including

the glory years When it

appeared on a Wide variety of

caMeras froM 35MM coMpacts

to 6x7cM professional slrs

and 6x9cM press caMeras.

the

Magic

of

MaM iya

CamMayJune17_058-067 ClassicsMamiya.indd 59 13/04/2017 12:13 PM