Mamiya Digital Imaging Co., Ltd. (Japanese: マミヤ・デジタル・イメージング 株式会社, Hepburn: Mamiya Dejitaru Imējingu Kabushiki-gaisha, IPA: [maꜜmija deʑitaɾɯ imeꜜːʑiŋɡɯ kabɯɕi̥ki ɡaꜜiɕa]) is a Japanese company that manufactures high-end cameras and other related photographic and optical equipment.
The company was founded in May 1940 by camera designer Seiichi Mamiya (間宮精一) and financial backer Tsunejiro Sugawara.
Mamiya also manufactured the last models in the Omega Rapid series of medium format press cameras.
The original company, doing business as Mamiya-OP, continues to exist and makes a variety of industrial and electronics products.
[3] In 2009, Phase One, a medium format digital camera back manufacturer from Denmark, purchased a major stake in Mamiya.
The re-branding offers a streamlined product development and establishment of a more efficient customer sales and support base.
The original entry-level ZE model was an aperture-priority-only SLR; the ZE-2 added manual exposure; the ZE-X added shutter priority and full program automated mode, and (with a dedicated flash and an EF-series lens) focus-priority flash exposure).
In these models the aperture ring had no direct connection to the diaphragm, allowing the camera body to override the set aperture, and the lenses could communicate a considerable amount of information to the camera body via electrical contacts on the mount.
Visual and audio signals indicated over- or under-exposure, pending battery failure, or excessive camera shake.
Metering modes, shutter release, self-timer, manual time settings and the ergonomics of the camera body were also improved.
These were derived from fractional imperial units, so the actual frame size is slightly different from the nominal dimensions: Mamiya made a series of square format (6×6) twin lens reflex (TLR) cameras throughout the middle of the twentieth century.
In 1970, Mamiya introduced the RB67, a 6×7 cm (nominal) professional single lens reflex (SLR).
The 6×7 frame had been introduced and patented by Linhof (56 × 72mm) and was described as being ideal, as the negatives required very little cropping to fit on standard 10" × 8" paper.
Both the Mamiya 6 and 7 are compact and quiet cameras which are reputed for the extremely high optical quality of their lenses.