Distagon 35mm f/4 (Contarex)
Carl Zeiss · Contarex · 1958
our own findingAlso known as: Distagon 35mm f/4 Contarex · Contarex Distagon 35mm f4 · Zeiss Contarex Distagon 4/35 · Distagon 4/35mm · Distagon 4/35 · Distagon 1:4 f=35mm · Carl Zeiss Distagon 35mm F4 Contarex · B-Distagon 35mm · B-Distagon · Blitz Distagon 35mm · Contarex 35mm f/4
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distagon 35mm f/4, satin chrome (11.2403) | Contarex | 1958 | — | — |
| B-Distagon / Blitz-Distagon 35mm f/4, black (11.2413) | Contarex | 1966–1973 | — | — |
- Construction. The Zeiss Ikon US catalogues of April 1960 and May 1961 give 7 elements, the April 1960 catalogue draws a cemented doublet, a single element, a cemented triplet and a single rear element (7 in 4), and US Patent 3,038,380 describes the same seven lenses in four components at f/4. Pacific Rim Camera and collection-appareils (Sylvain Halgand) give 8/7. Both give the Distagon 25mm f/2.8 the same 8/7, 6,633 made and B56 and S49 filters, so the 35mm construction looks copied from the 25mm row; English Wikipedia's table also prints 8/7 while noting the 1960 drawing shows 7/4. This page follows the catalogues and the patent.
- Production. Pacific Rim gives 6,633 for 1958–1973, chrome and black together, and collection-appareils gives the same; both give exactly the same figure for the Distagon 25mm f/2.8. At least one of the two lenses' figures is probably wrong, and no independent count is known.
- Closest focus. 8 in in the 1960 and 1961 Zeiss Ikon catalogues and 0.19 m from Foto Köberl; Kamerastore lists 0.38 m, which matches no other source.
- Weight, size and blades are dealer figures only: Kamerastore 230 g, 69 × 44 mm and 8 blades; Foto Köberl about 240 g, about Ø60 × 45 mm and 9 blades. Neither is a factory figure, so they are not entered as data.
- Dates. English Wikipedia says the first Contarex lenses were shown with the camera at Photokina in 1958, were first scheduled for delivery in spring 1959, and were not generally available in the US until March 1960; Zeiss Ikon's US trade news of 1 April 1960 says the factory was beginning to ship. Pacific Rim gives 1958–1973 for this lens and Wikipedia 1958; Leitz dates the last batch to 1973.
How to tell them apart
- No aperture ring: the diaphragm is set by the wheel on the Contarex body, and the lens couples to the body's meter through its automatic preset diaphragm
- Focuses to 8 in (20 cm), with a cam that opens the diaphragm at close range to make up for the light lost to extension (Zeiss Ikon, 1960 and 1961; Harrisson)
- Takes 56 mm bayonet filters and the bayonet hood 20.0710 shared with the 21mm Biogon, or 49 mm screw-in filters
- Almost the same size as the Tessar 50mm f/2.8 (Harrisson); shares the 20.7756 leather case and 20.7002 plastic container with the 50mm lenses
Distagon 35mm f/4, satin chrome (11.2403):
- Satin-chrome barrel; Zeiss catalogue number 11.2403
- Foto Köberl heads its descriptions of lenses 3256984 and 2625938 'Carl Zeiss Distagon 1:4 f=35mm'
- Recorded chrome numbers: 2626447 (Leitz, c.1959) and 3257412 (Leitz, c.1961)
B-Distagon / Blitz-Distagon 35mm f/4, black (11.2413):
- Black finish; Zeiss catalogue number 11.2413
- Built-in flash automation: the aperture is varied with the focus distance for flash work (Pacific Rim's description of the Blitz feature; the US lists call it 'built-in flash automation')
- Sold in the US as B-Distagon; collectors and auction houses write Blitz or 'blitz'
- Recorded numbers: 4964020 ('blitz', Christie's), 5149520 (black, Leitz, from the last batch of 200 made in 1973)
- Distagon 35mm f/4, satin chrome (11.2403): One of the six lenses with which the Contarex was launched: the April 1960 US trade announcement lists it with the Biogon 21, Planar 50, Sonnar 85, 135 and 250, and the May 1961 US list prices it at $153 as 11.2403, "automatic preset". It is absent from the March 1968 US list, which carries only the black B-Distagon in this focal length and speed, so the chrome lens had left the US catalogue by then; no source gives the year it stopped.
- B-Distagon / Blitz-Distagon 35mm f/4, black (11.2413): Optically the same lens as the chrome Distagon (English Wikipedia's lens table), re-dressed in black with the flash coupling Zeiss also gave the Planar 50mm f/2 as the B-Planar. Wikipedia dates it to 1966; it is on the US lists of March 1968 ($209) and October 1971 ($264), each time as the only 35mm f/4 Distagon offered. Leitz describes no. 5149520 as "rare in black, last batch of 200 lenses made in 1973". No source describes a black 35mm f/4 without the flash coupling.
Serial-range notes
- the whole number
- The numbers are not reserved for this model: other Contarex lenses carry numbers from the same blocks (in Leitz's Bullseye Z20159 outfit, Biogon 21mm no. 3256024 beside Distagon no. 3260104; at Christie's, Biogon 21mm no. 3256361 beside Distagon no. 3256539), so a number dates a Distagon only against a Zeiss serial/year table, not by counting within the model. Leitz dates no. 2626447 to about 1959 and no. 3257412 to about 1961, and describes no. 5149520 as from the last batch of 200 lenses, made in 1973.
- 2625938–2626447
- The earliest cluster seen: 2625938 (Foto Köberl), 2626062 (in a Leitz Bullseye outfit, T87683) and 2626447 (Leitz, chrome, c.1959). Christie's prints "262087" for the lens on Bullseye Z46586, one digit short of a Zeiss number of the period; it is probably this block with a digit dropped, but it is recorded as printed.
- 3256539–3260104
- A second cluster around 1961: 3256539 (Christie's), 3256984 (Foto Köberl), 3257165 (Christie's), 3257412 (Leitz, chrome, c.1961), 3257952 (Camera West) and 3260104 (Leitz Bullseye outfit). Christie's calls 3256539 a black 'blitz' lens, which sits oddly in a block otherwise of chrome lenses made about five years before the 1966 Blitz introduction. Either the description is wrong or the lens was refinished or rebuilt; no other source settles it.
- 3702949, 4964020, 5149520
- Later numbers: 3702949 (Christie's, finish not stated), 4964020 (Christie's, 'blitz') and 5149520 (Leitz, black, last batch of 1973).
Specifications
- Formula
- Distagon (retrofocus): 7 elements in 4 groups, a cemented negative meniscus doublet in front, a single positive element before the stop, a cemented triplet behind it and a single positive meniscus at the rear
- Designed by
- Helmut Eismann — Named inventor, with Günther Lange, on US Patent 3,038,380 (Carl Zeiss, German priority 27 February 1958), whose worked example is an f/4 wide-angle of seven lenses in four components with a ±32° field · Günther Lange — Co-inventor on US Patent 3,038,380
- Construction
- 7 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.2 m
- Filter
- 49 mm, Bayonet 56 (Zeiss Ikon B56) or 49 mm screw-in
- Years manufactured
- 1958–1973
- Country
- West Germany
- Coating
- All air-to-glass surfaces hard-coated (Zeiss Ikon US catalogue, May 1961)
- Material
- Satin chrome (11.2403); black (B-Distagon 11.2413)
- Original price
- $139 US list in Zeiss Ikon Trade News of 1 April 1960, which announced that the factory had begun shipping the Contarex to the US (dealer net $84.84 plus $8.48 federal excise tax, $93.32); $153 on the US list of 1 May 1961, whose dealer net prices were issued in a separate schedule. The black B-Distagon is priced at $209 in the Zeiss Ikon US Contarex price list of 1 March 1968 and $264 in that of 1 October 1971; neither says whether its figures are list or net, nor mentions tax. No German DM price for the lens is recorded here. (today $1,470)
What reviewers say
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Optical formula — Distagon (retrofocus): 7 elements in 4 groups, a cemented negative meniscus doublet in front, a single positive element before the stop, a cemented triplet behind it and a single positive meniscus at the rear
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History
The Distagon 35mm f/4 is the wide-angle lens the Contarex was launched with. It was one of the six Carl Zeiss lenses in the Contarex bayonet when Zeiss Ikon told its US dealers in April 1960 that the factory had begun shipping the camera, and it listed at $139. Zeiss Ikon sold it for “crisp definition and excellent illumination over the entire field”, for the “extremely long back focus” that let a 35mm lens clear the mirror of a single-lens reflex, and for close focusing: it goes down to 8 inches, and a cam opens the diaphragm at close range to make up for the light lost to extension. Like the other automatic Contarex lenses of 1960 it has no aperture ring. The aperture is set by the wheel on the camera, and the lens’s preset diaphragm couples to the camera controls as soon as it is mounted, so on another camera it needs an adapter that can set the diaphragm.
Optically it is a retrofocus design of seven elements in four groups: a cemented negative meniscus in front, a single positive element ahead of the stop, a cemented triplet behind it and a positive meniscus at the rear. That is the arrangement drawn in Zeiss Ikon’s April 1960 catalogue and claimed in US Patent 3,038,380 by Helmut Eismann and Günther Lange of Carl Zeiss (German priority February 1958), whose example is an f/4 lens with a ±32° field. Pacific Rim Camera and collection-appareils give 8 elements in 7 groups and 6,633 made, and English Wikipedia’s table also prints 8/7, but both sites give exactly the same figures for the later Distagon 25mm f/2.8, so both numbers look copied and neither is used here. Erwin Puts published Zeiss’s own factory graphs for it. At f/4 they show illumination falling steadily to under a third at the edge of the field, a much smaller fall at f/8, and a small barrel distortion toward the edge of the frame. Pacific Rim notes that f/4 was slow for a 35mm even then, and that Zeiss never added a 35mm f/2.8 to the system. The Distagon 35mm f/2 of 1965, a separate page, was the fast alternative. The Schneider PA-Curtagon 35mm f/4 shift lens, also on its own page, shares the focal length and speed but is a different design by a different maker.
There are two versions. The original is satin chrome, catalogue number 11.2403, and is listed at $153 on the May 1961 US price list. The B-Distagon (Blitz-Distagon) of 1966, catalogue number 11.2413, is black and has the flash automation Zeiss also built into the B-Planar 50mm f/2: the aperture follows the focus distance, so the flash exposure tracks the subject distance as the lens is focused. Wikipedia’s lens table says the optics are unchanged. By March 1968 the B-Distagon was the only 35mm f/4 Distagon on the US list, at $209 ($264 by October 1971), and Leitz describes no. 5149520 as from the last batch of 200, made in 1973. Christie’s catalogues a black ‘blitz’ lens, no. 3256539, whose number falls among chrome lenses of the block that Leitz dates to about 1961. No other source explains it, so it is recorded as catalogued rather than treated as an early Blitz.
When buying, check the diaphragm first. The aperture is driven from the body, so check that the blades close briskly and fully when the lens is tested on a Contarex or a proper adapter. Then look at the glass: dealer and auction descriptions of these lenses mention clouding, dust, light separation, internal debris and possible fungus often enough to make an inspection with a torch worth doing. The lens takes either 56 mm bayonet filters or 49 mm screw-in filters, and its bayonet hood (20.0710) is the one shared with the 21mm Biogon. Leitz sold a chrome c.1959 example for €225 including buyer’s premium and left a c.1961 one unsold at a €240–280 estimate. On Yahoo! Auctions Japan in 2026 a store auction closed at ¥26,950 including 10% consumption tax after 16 bids, and a private seller’s chrome lens went at its ¥44,800 buy-it-now price. Foto Köberl asked €169 and €249 (margin scheme, no VAT shown), Camera West $195 for a lens with internal debris and possible fungus, and Kamerastore gives an average price of €289 for its certified copies. The Contarex Bullseye, Special, Professional, Super and Super Electronic pages cover the bodies it fits.
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.
Example photos
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