Can anyone help me with any information on an old Mamiya 6 rangefinder 120 film type folder camera, serial #29877. It has a 7.5 Neocon lens in a Sekiosha-rapid shutter and is marked towa koki. When/where was this camera made? What is a neocon lens? It this a rare camera worth fixing up? Ive posted at the Mamiya site but have yet to have any reply. Anyone know much about this type of camera?

-- bill zelinskili (willy226@yahoo.com), July 16, 1999

Answers

I don't know much but I know the Mamiya 6 wasn't a rare camera. It was considered to be an excellent camera and may very well be worth fixing up in order to use it, but not to collect it as a rarity. I don't know exactly when manufacture began but it wasn't discontinued unti around the time the Mamiya 7 was introduced, which was roughly three or so years ago, so it was around for quite a while. You still see them for sale as used cameras fairly frequently. I don't know anything about the lens and shutter - never heard of either brand. You might pose your questions to the rec.photo medium format newsgroup. I'm sure someone there would know a lot more about the camera than I do.

-- Brian Ellis (beellis@gte.net), August 10, 1999.

There are two mamiya 6's. An old folder from the 50's or 60's (??)and a modern rangefinger. The newer one is an excellent camera with 3 interchangable lenses. It sadly was replaced by the bulkier 7 a year or two ago. THe older one might be fun to play with but not worth sinking much money into.

-- ben smith (bsmith@epe.org), January 26, 2000.