C41
Kodak Gold 200
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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The Mamiya 16 Automatic is a subminiature camera introduced around 1958, shooting 16mm film in a dedicated cartridge. It is the direct successor to the original Mamiya 16 of 1949 and the central innovation is the addition of a selenium photocell that couples to the aperture or shutter to provide automatic exposure - a significant convenience improvement over the fully manual original. The camera retains the fixed lens, zone focusing system, and compact pocketable form factor of its predecessor while adding the exposure automation that was becoming a competitive expectation in the late 1950s Japanese camera market. The Automatic was manufactured at Mamiya's Setagaya works alongside the company's rangefinder 35mm cameras.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 16mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
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Develop 16mm film
Labs in our directory that process 16mm film.
Before you buy used
About this camera
The first Mamiya 16 with selenium-cell automatic exposure, updating the 1949 subminiature design for the late 1950s consumer market.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 16mm cartridge (subminiature) |
| Mount | Fixed lens |
| Years | ~1958 - ~1965 |
| Lens | ~25mm f/2.8 |
| Shutter | ~1/10s - 1/200s + B, leaf |
| Flash sync | ~ |
| Meter | Selenium cell, automatic coupling |
| Modes | Auto (selenium-governed), manual fallback |
| Weight | ~190 g |
| Battery | None (selenium is battery-free) |
Mamiya's 16mm subminiature line began with the Mamiya 16 in 1949 and proceeded through incremental developments over the following decade. By the mid-1950s the Japanese subminiature market had grown substantially, with Minolta-16 becoming the commercial and quality benchmark and Ricoh, Steky, and others offering competing designs. Selenium-cell automatic exposure had appeared on full-frame 35mm cameras and was beginning to migrate to smaller formats.
The Mamiya 16 Automatic arrived around 1958, the same period that automatic exposure was being incorporated into compact cameras more broadly. The selenium cell provided automatic exposure without any battery - the cell generated current directly from incident light, a significant practical advantage in an era when battery standardization was unreliable. The Automatic superseded the original Mamiya 16 for most users and was itself followed by the Mamiya 16 Super, which refined the design further.
The Mamiya 16 Automatic sits in a historically rich moment for subminiature cameras. The late 1950s saw the format mature from novelty to genuine consumer product, and the addition of automatic exposure marked that maturation for the Mamiya line. The selenium-cell design means the camera still meters correctly today when the cell is intact - a reliability advantage over battery-dependent meters with obsolete cell types.
Within the Mamiya corporate story, the 16 Automatic represents the company's sustained interest in subminiature photography at the same time it was building its reputation in medium-format cameras with the Mamiya C series twin-lens reflexes. The coexistence of these very different product lines in the late 1950s Mamiya catalogue illustrates the breadth of Japanese camera manufacturing ambition of the period.
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →Mamiya 16 Automatic
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