In Germany, Mamiya is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its being in business with a promotional offer on the Mamiya 7 II medium-format rangefinder camera. The company was founded in 1940 and soon became famous for its Mamiya 6 medium-format folding camera that featured film-plane focussing (which meant that the bellows and the lens did not move while focussing, but the film plane did). The year 1948 marked the launch of the first Mamiya Twin-Lens Reflex (TLR) camera, while next year the company entered the 35mm market. The second half of the twentieth century saw the introduction of a series of innovations by Mamiya, including the Magazine 35 - a 35mm camera featuring interchangeable film backs -, the Mamiya Press - a 6x9 format press camera -, the Mamiyaflex C - a series of TLRs with interchangeable lenses -, the RB67 Professional 6x7 SLR with a rotating back, as well as the M645 and the RZ67 Professional SLRs. The company recycled the Mamiya 6 name in 1989 when it introduced a medium-format rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses, which was later followed by the Mamiya 7 and 7 II.

In 1999, the Mamiya 645 AF system was born, while the year 2006 saw the company go digital with the launch of the Mamiya ZD self-contained digital medium-format SLR. Last year, Phase One bought into Mamiya, taking on “strategic leadership” in R&D, marketing and ditribution management. Since then, the two companies have introduced the Mamiya 645DF and Phase One 645DF cameras and a range of lenses developed in collaboration with the Schneider Group, among other products.

According to Photoscala, Mamiya Deutschland has recently announced a limited-time offer on the Mamiya 7 II film camera in celebration of the company’s 70th birthday. During the promotional period, the camera can be purchased in a bundle with the N 1:4 80mm L lens at the special price of €1940+VAT.

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