This is a listing for the Mamiya/Sekor 500 DTL 35mm SLR camera body.

Condition: Tested and working. Light meter not tested: battery contact needs to be fixed. Camera is in great condition, will need new light seals, service available here.

In the latter half of the 1960’s, Mamiya sold a series of SLR cameras using the popular 42mm threaded lens mount, built around a spot-metering capability (not center-weighted averaging). While in most ways similar to a vast number of contemporaries from the major manufacturers of the time, this spot-metering system made them fondly remembered by many who used them, and they were sometimes claimed (by Mamiya press materials) to be one of the most advanced cameras in the world. This is undeniably an exaggeration, but the top-of-the-line DTL models were excellent performers for the time.

Indeed, the DTL 1000 was innovative and technically impressive in offering two metering modes. It also offers all the features associated with a high-end consumer or semi-professional camera–save that some but not all cameras of this time would also offer wide-open metering, a feature that Mamiya would add in their later SX models. Being based on the basic m42 mount originated by Contax and used most prominently by Pentax, the DTL lacks an interlock between the aperture ring and the meter, and could only meter with the aperture stopped down.

The models are:

• Mamiya/Sekor 500 TL
• Mamiya/Sekor 1000 TL
• Mamiya/Sekor 500 DTL
• Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL
• Mamiya/Sekor 2000 DTL

The TL models were introduced in 1966, the 500 and 1000 DTL in January 1968, and the 2000 DTL was introduced at Photokina 1968.

These models may be grouped together, as they all share the same basic body; their differences are clearly reflected in their model designations. The numeral represents the highest shutter speed (1/500, 1/1000 or 1/2000 of a second); the letters TL or DTL signified Through the Lens or Dual Through the Lens light metering. The “500” models typically lack a self-timer, and the TL models lack average metering.