Mamiya 16 Automatic1958

History

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 The Automatic superseded the original Mamiya 16 for most users and was itself followed by the Mamiya 16 Super, which refined the design further.

Why It Matters

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.

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Japanese consumer photographers of the late 1950s and early 1960s seeking automatic exposure in a pocketable format.
• Espionage and surveillance enthusiasts attracted to the small format (though no verified documented use in this capacity for this specific model).
• Collectors of Japanese subminiature cameras, for whom the Automatic represents an accessible mid-tier example compared to the rarer original 16.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Mamiya 16 Automatic
• Wikipedia: Mamiya

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.