Distagon 25mm f/2.8 (Contarex)
Carl Zeiss · Contarex · 1963
Also known as: Distagon 25mm f/2.8 Contarex · Contarex Distagon 25mm f/2.8 · Contarex Distagon 25mm f2.8 · Carl Zeiss Distagon 25mm f2.8 Contarex · Carl Zeiss Distagon 25mm f2.8 for Contarex · Carl Zeiss f. Contarex Distagon 2.8/25mm · Carl Zeiss f. Contarex 2.8/25mm Distagon · Zeiss Contarex Distagon 2.8/25 · Distagon 2.8/25 Contarex · Distagon 2,8/25 Contarex · Distagon 2.8/25mm Contarex · Zeiss 25mm f2.8 Distagon Contarex · Zeiss 25mm f2.8 Distagon Objektiv für Contarex · Zeiss Ikon Contarex Distagon 25mm · Contarex Distagon 25mm 2,8 · Distagon 25mm 2,8 Contarex · Contarex Distagon 2,8/25 · Contarex Distagon 2.8/25 · Distagon 25mm 2,8 · Distagon 25mm f/2.8 · Carl Zeiss Distagon 2.8/25mm · Contarex Distagon 25 · Contarex 25mm f/2.8 · Contarex 25mm f2.8 · Contarex 25mm · Distagon 25mm f2.8 CRX · コンタレックス ディスタゴン 25mm F2.8 · Contarex ディスタゴン 25mm F2.8 · Contarex Distagon 25mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome barrel (11.2408) | Contarex | 1963 | 3561776–3563933 — every chrome lens seen; Leitz dates each one it has sold in this block to 1963 | — |
| Black barrel (11.2408) | Contarex | 1965–1973 | 3970251–3972711 — dated 1965 by Leitz and Flashback Camera 5146691–5146969 — Leitz dates 5146691 to 1972 567xxxx — Flashback dates a lens 'in the 5.67 million serial range' to 1973 | — |
- Construction (8 elements in 7 groups), 82° angle of view, the dates 1963–1973 and the B56 bayonet and 49 mm screw filter fittings are from Pacific Rim Camera. collection-appareils.fr gives the same figures, and English Wikipedia's Contarex lens table gives 8/7 and 1963, citing Pacific Rim and the 1968 list. Flashback Camera also gives 8/7 and 1963–1973. The 1968 and October 1971 US lists confirm the 11.2408 code and the 56 mm bayonet.
- Closest focus 0.17 m is given by both Flashback Camera and Kamerastore. Weight: 448 g measured by Flashback on two black lenses; Kamerastore gives 446 g and 65 × 63 mm. Kamerastore's product database also gives six diaphragm blades, a figure no other source repeats, so the blade count is left empty. No Zeiss data sheet for the Contarex lens is on record, so the minimum aperture is left empty.
- Production: Pacific Rim gives 6,633, and collection-appareils repeats it, but both give exactly the same figure for the Distagon 35mm f/4, together with the same 8/7 construction and B56/S49 filters, although Zeiss Ikon's May 1961 US catalogue gives the 35mm f/4 seven elements. That points to one row having been copied from the other; nothing shows which lens the 6,633 belongs to, so it is not used as this lens's production.
- Prices: $276 on Zeiss Ikon-Voigtländer's US list of 1 March 1968, the earliest list on record that carries the lens (it is not in the May 1961 list, before its introduction); $354 list and $236 dealer net on the confidential dealer schedule of 15 February 1971; $354 on the US list of 1 October 1971. No 1963 launch price and no DM price is on record.
- Auction and dealer prices. Leitz Photographica Auction hammer prices include buyer's premium; lots Leitz marks with an asterisk carry VAT on hammer and premium on top within the EU, the others are sold under the margin scheme. Chrome: €312 (3562473), €360 (3562135 and 3563933), €540 (3561786), €840 (3561992), €1,020 (3561776); 3562401 did not sell against a €800–1,000 estimate. Black or 397xxxx: €360 (5146691, 1972), €600 (3970251 and 3972386, both slightly hazy), €780 (3972711), €1,200 (3972582, mint, with hood). Yahoo! Auctions Japan: a buy-it-now listing (seller with about 1,800 ratings, stock no. Q9077, sold with a warranty) ended at ¥104,980, with no consumption tax shown, on 21 August 2026. Kamerastore quotes an average certified-condition price of A$1,185, a dealer's figure rather than a sale.
How to tell them apart
- No aperture ring: like the other automatic-preset Contarex lenses it is stopped down from the body's aperture wheel, so on any other camera it needs an adapter that works the lens's own iris
- B56 bayonet front for Zeiss Ikon's 56 mm filters and lens shade 20.0710, which the 1968 list gives for the 21, 25 and 35mm lenses and the 1971 list for the 25 and 35mm; Leitz and Flashback call it the hood for 21–35mm lenses
- No T* engraving. The Contax/Yashica Distagon T* 25mm f/2.8 of 1975 has an aperture ring, T* and a 55 mm thread; the Rollei QBM Distagon 2.8/25 has an aperture ring and the Rollei bayonet, and later HFT
Chrome barrel (11.2408):
- Bright chrome barrel and focusing ring
- Serials in the 356xxxx block: Leitz names 3561776, 3561992, 3562401, 3562473, 3563362 and 35639330 (presumably 3563933) as chrome; 3561786, 3562135, 3563476 and Christie's 3561852 fall in the same block but their finish is not stated
- No aperture ring, B56 bayonet front, no T* engraving
Black barrel (11.2408):
- Black barrel with a bright aluminium band on the focusing ring (Flashback Camera describes the band on both of its black lenses)
- Serials 397xxxx (1965) or, late, 514xxxx and 567xxxx
- Same catalogue number, 11.2408 (Pacific Rim gives one code for black or chrome): the 1968 and 1971 US lists carry a single Distagon 25mm with no finish option
- Chrome barrel (11.2408): The original finish. Leitz Photographica Auction has sold or offered at least nine lenses in the 356xxxx block and dates every one it dates to 1963; it calls 3562401, 3561992, 3563362 and 3561776 chrome by name, calls 3562473 a "near mint chrome wide angle", titles the lot it numbers 35639330 "Chrome", and lists "Distagon chrome 2.8/25mm no.3563362" in a Contarex S (G38954) outfit. It gives no finish for 3561786, 3562135 or 3563476 (the last in a Bullseye outfit), and Christie's "definitive Contarex collection" held 3561852 without giving its finish. No source dates the end of chrome production; no chrome lens has been seen outside the 1963 block. Lenses often come in Zeiss Ikon's plastic keeper, which Leitz describes as carrying the matching serial number.
- Black barrel (11.2408): Leitz calls 3972582 (1965), 3972711 (1965) and 5146691 (1972) black, and lists a black 3972293 in a Contarex Professional outfit; Christie's marks 3972301 black in a Super Electronic outfit; Flashback Camera has offered a black 397xxxx lens it dates to 1965 and a black 567xxxx lens it dates to 1973, the last year Pacific Rim gives for the lens. Leitz dates 3970251 and 3972386 to 1965 without naming a finish, and Christie's gives none for 5146969. No source describes an optical change between the chrome and black lenses, and no flash-coupled "Blitz" version of the 25mm is recorded: the 1968 and 1971 US lists offer flash-coupled versions only of the Planar 50 and Distagon 35/4 (B-Planar, B-Distagon).
Serial-range notes
- 3561776–3563933
- The chrome block. Leitz lots: 3561776 (1963, €1,020), 3561786 (1963, €540), 3561992 (1963, €840), 3562135 (1963, €360), 3562401 (1963, unsold), 3562473 (1963, €312), 3563362 and 3563476 (in outfits); Christie's held 3561852. Leitz prints one number as 35639330, eight digits, which is presumably 3563933; that lot is chrome and dated 1963 as well. All the numbers seen fall inside about 2,200 numbers, but no source gives the block's limits or size.
- 3970251–3972711
- The first black block, dated 1965 by Leitz (3970251, 3972386, 3972582, 3972711) and by Flashback Camera (a 397xxxx lens). 3972293 and 3972301 were sold in Professional and Super Electronic outfits.
- 5146691–5146969, 567xxxx
- Late batches. Leitz dates the black 5146691 to 1972; Christie's held 5146969; Flashback dates a black lens in the 567xxxx range to 1973. No source says how large these batches were.
Specifications
- Formula
- Distagon retrofocus wide-angle, 8 elements in 7 groups, 82° (Pacific Rim; Flashback Camera)
- Construction
- 8 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8
- Min. focus
- 0.17 m
- Dimensions
- 65 × 63 mm
- Weight
- 448 g
- Filter
- Bayonet 56 (B56), the common Contarex filter and hood fitting; Pacific Rim also gives a 49 mm screw thread
- Years manufactured
- 1963–1973
- Country
- West Germany
- Original price
- $276 on Zeiss Ikon-Voigtländer's US list of 1 March 1968, the earliest list on record with the lens; $354 list (dealer net $236) in February 1971 and $354 on the US list of October 1971. No 1963 launch price or DM price is on record. (today $2,490)
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History
The Distagon 25mm f/2.8 was the Contarex system’s wide-angle between the 21mm Biogon and the 35mm Distagons. Pacific Rim Camera dates it to 1963 and gives Zeiss’s product code as 11.2408. It is not in Zeiss Ikon’s US list of May 1961, whose only wide-angles are the Biogon 21 and the Distagon 35mm f/4. Pacific Rim points out that Zeiss never made a 28mm for the camera, though nearly every rival system had one, and collection-appareils makes the same point. The mirror-lock-up Biogon 21 is no longer priced in the US list of March 1968, and the only lenses there shorter than 35mm are this 25mm and the 18mm Distagon, which Pacific Rim dates to 1967. The 25mm is a retrofocus Distagon of 8 elements in 7 groups covering 82°, by Pacific Rim’s figures. Flashback Camera gives the same construction and a closest focus of 17 cm. Flashback weighed two copies at 448 g, and Kamerastore lists 446 g and 65 × 63 mm. Like the other automatic-preset Contarex lenses it has no aperture ring: the iris is set by the wheel on the body. The 1968 list calls it “automatic preset”, and lists “automatic diaphragm compensation for close-up photography for 25 to 55mm lenses” among the system’s features.
There are two versions, told apart by finish and serial number. Chrome lenses carry 356xxxx numbers, and Leitz Photographica Auction dates every one it has sold to 1963. The earliest black lenses seen are in the 397xxxx block, which Leitz and Flashback both date to 1965. Later black lenses carry 514xxxx and 567xxxx numbers: Leitz dates a black 5146691 to 1972, and Flashback dates a black 567xxxx lens to 1973. Flashback describes a silver or aluminium band on the focusing ring of both its black lenses. The US lists never offered a finish choice, only one Distagon 25mm at one price. No source records an optical change between the two, and no flash-coupled “Blitz” 25mm is recorded; the 1968 and 1971 US lists offer flash-coupled versions only of the 50mm Planar and the 35mm f/4 Distagon. Pacific Rim’s production figure of 6,633 cannot be relied on, because it gives exactly the same number, and the same construction and filters, for the Distagon 35mm f/4.
The price is recorded from 1968. Zeiss Ikon-Voigtländer’s US list of 1 March 1968 has it at $276, about the same as the Distagon 35mm f/2 at $279 and well below the $330 Distagon 18. By 1971 the list price was $354, and the confidential dealer schedule of February 1971 gives a dealer net of $236. No 1963 launch price or German DM price is on record. It took the same 56 mm bayonet filters as most of the system, and its own lens shade, 20.0710, which the 1968 list gives for the 21, 25 and 35mm lenses. Leitz and Flashback describe it as the hood for the 21–35mm lenses. The 1968 list sells a plastic container, 20.7008, for the 25mm, 55mm or 85mm lens, and many lenses turn up in such a keeper. Leitz and Flashback describe keepers that carry the lens’s own serial number.
The name and specification come back twice in later Zeiss lenses. Rollei’s QBM Distagon 2.8/25 also has 8 elements in 7 groups. Frank Mechelhoff’s guide to the QBM lenses says it originates from the 1963 Contarex lens and dates the Rollei version to 1970–1991, without giving a source. The Contax/Yashica Distagon T* 25mm f/2.8, released in 1975, also has 8 elements in 7 groups, according to Japanese Wikipedia. No source cited here says whether it is the Contarex computation, and no published drawing of either lens is on record to compare. The three lenses therefore stay on separate pages. They are easy to tell apart in a photograph: the Rollei and C/Y lenses have aperture rings, and the C/Y lens is engraved T*. Leitz has sold a Rollei-mount example titled simply “Carl Zeiss Distagon 2.8/25mm”, so a listing has to say Contarex, or show a lens with no aperture ring and a B56 front, before it belongs here.
At Leitz, lenses from the chrome 356xxxx block have made between €312 and €1,020, and black or 397xxxx lenses between €360 and €1,200. All of these are hammer prices including buyer’s premium, and the spread follows condition and accessories more than finish. On Yahoo! Auctions Japan a buy-it-now listing ended at ¥104,980 in August 2026. When buying, check for haze: Leitz describes several copies as very slightly hazy, and Flashback notes edge haze on inner elements that servicing could not clear. Check that the helicoid moves freely, since Flashback says it stiffens with age. On a Contarex body, check that the automatic diaphragm snaps open and closed cleanly. On a modern camera it needs an adapter that works the lens’s own iris; the Contarex bayonet gives it no other way to stop down. A lens with its numbered keeper, caps and the B56 hood is the complete set.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
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