universal lens & mamyia 23 lens

[jon benson]

Will the Mamiya universal lens work on a Mamiya 23/ super 23?

Thanks!

Jon

[steve_gabbett]

Hi Jon, I used to own a Mamiya Universal a few years ago and from what I remember the lenses between the 23 and Universal were interchangeable. The only lens to look out for was the 100mm. Some of these recess into the body to allow you to use the Super 23's 'movements', which won't be possible on the Universal. Also watch out for Polaroid 600 lenses and backs that people sometimes list as Universal or 23 parts and will obviously not fit. The lenses have a different mounting system and the backs have a 'notch' cut into the registration pin so that they won't fit. Although with a bit of work with a Dremel you can alway rectify that.

 

The best bit of the kit I owned was a Graflok back that I'd got a friend to make some new bars for so that it could take a Horseman film back and hold the film much flatter. The second best bit of kit I owned was a Horseman right angle viewer which I'd fitted with a fresnel screen to help compose with the 50mm lens. Much easier than the rangefinder (I used the distance scale on the lens to focus) or a ground glass.

 

Best of luck with camera. In the right hands they can take some excellent photos and much more compact to carry around than a small field camera. Because of their age they usually go for a song. The down side is that because of their age you may have wait for a while to find new accessories and the condition of them varies greatly.

[jon benson]

Steve,

Thanks for the response! Lots of great to know info!!

Peace,

Jon B.

[ondebanks]

Hi Jon,

 

All the Mamiya Press lenses share the same lens mount, so all are compatible between the various models of the cameras. Steve already pointed out that the 100mm f3.5 (and 90mm) lenses are recess-able, for the Super 23. This doesn't mean that you can't use them normally on the other cameras - it just means there's no point in putting them into _recessed_ mode on these other cameras, as then you can't focus them. The other (f2.8) 100mm lens cannot be recessed.

 

The only other nuance between models that I can think of, is that the 250mm f5 lens is so heavy that the Universal was designed with a beefier mount to support it. So it will fit fine on a Super 23, but apparently it might sag or stress the bayonet a little.

 

Good luck,

Ray

[roger krueger]

Actually the mount did change going from the earlier cameras to the brightframe models

(Universal and Super 23). It is different in operation (earlier mount is a turn-the-lens

system, later mount is a turn-the-ring breech system), and it is physically not possible to

put the 250/5 on the earlier non-brightframe camera. Also, while the 50 will sort of work

on the earlier mount, it won't actually engage the lock, and thus can come out

accidentally. But other than these two issues the mounts are compatible.

 

As far as I know the Super 23 and Universal mounts are identical, the strengthening for

the 250/5 was before the Super 23, not after it. It doesn't make any sense that they'd go

to the trouble of fiddling with the mount to keep you from putting the 250/5 on

inappropriate cameras and then leave one out.