C41
Kodak Portra 400
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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The Mamiya ZE-2 (1981) is the direct successor to the Mamiya ZE, retaining the CS bayonet mount and aperture-priority AE system while adding a **manual exposure mode** — the key complaint about the original ZE, which offered only automatic operation. The addition of manual mode makes the ZE-2 a meaningfully more capable tool for photographers who want deliberate exposure control in difficult lighting situations, particularly when AE would be fooled by high-contrast scenes or when using flash.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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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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Labs in our directory that process 35mm film.
Before you buy used
Bodies in working condition typically sell for $50-160. The ZE-2 often costs slightly more than the ZE due to the manual mode, but both are in the same general price tier.
About this camera
The ZE upgraded: manual exposure mode added to Mamiya's CS-mount aperture-priority SLR.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Mamiya CS bayonet |
| Introduced | 1981 |
| Shutter | ~8s - 1/1000s + B, electronic vertical metal |
| Flash sync | ~1/125s |
| Meter | TTL open-aperture silicon |
| Modes | Aperture-priority, manual |
| Battery | 2x AA |
| Mechanical fallback | No |
The ZE was Mamiya's entry-point CS-mount body when introduced in the early 1980s — light, affordable, AE-only, aimed at the same market as the Canon AE-1 and Minolta X-300. The feedback that it lacked manual control was predictable: serious amateurs and students always want a manual mode.
The ZE-2 addressed this in 1981 with minimal changes to the body design otherwise. It sits between the entry-level ZE and the more capable ZE-X in the Mamiya CS lineup. The ZM Quartz (also CS mount) represented Mamiya's higher-end offering with quartz timing and more advanced metering.
Mamiya's 35mm SLR program wound down through the mid-1980s as the company redirected engineering resources to the highly successful Mamiya RB67, RZ67, and 645 medium-format systems — a strategic choice that proved commercially sound and defined the brand's professional reputation for decades.
The ZE-2 is a minor but genuine improvement over the ZE: the addition of manual mode transforms it from a point-and-shoot SLR into a camera a photographer can actually control. In 2026, it is a low-cost entry point into the CS mount ecosystem — though the limited lens selection remains the practical constraint it has always been.
For Mamiya 35mm collectors, the ZE-2 fills in a key position in the brand's brief CS-mount era alongside the NC1000, NC1000s, ZE, and ZE-X bodies.
Mamiya CS bayonet mount, same as all other CS-mount bodies. Native lenses:
M42-to-CS adapters exist but revert metering to stop-down. A dedicated Mamiya CS autowinder was available as a separate accessory (unlike the NC1000s, the ZE-2 does not have a built-in motor).
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
View profile →C41
Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →Mamiya ZE-2
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