Olympia-Sonnar 135mm f/2.8 (Contarex)

The Olympia-Sonnar 135mm f/2.8 was the faster of the two 135s in the Contarex system. It joined the system after the Sonnar 135/4, which had been there from the start. Pacific Rim Camera dates it from 1964 to 1974 and gives its production as 7,895 lenses. English Wikipedia also gives 1964, but it cites Pacific Rim. The lens is missing from Carl Zeiss Inc.’s US catalogue of May 1961, whose only 135 is the f/4. By 1 March 1968 Zeiss Ikon’s US price catalogue listed it as catalogue no. 11.2409 at $239, against $185 for the 135/4. On the October 1971 list the figures were $309 and $240. Pacific Rim gives the lens code as 11.2425, but both US lists give that number to the Olympia-Sonnar 180mm f/2.8. Pacific Rim calls it “a fairly expensive lens” that still “sold reasonably well” with the cheaper 135/4 beside it, and its 7,895 is about half the 15,365 it gives for the f/4.

The name is a catalogue name, and older than the lens: Leitz has sold a Carl Zeiss Olympia-Sonnar 2.8/180 of 1938 for the Contax rangefinder, no. 2274884, with its Flektoskop reflex housing. In the Contarex price lists Zeiss Ikon used the name for the 135/2.8, the 180/2.8 and the knob-focused 250/4. On the lens JamesNZguy photographed for Wikimedia Commons, the ring inside the front reads “Sonnar 1:2,8 f=135mm”, with no “Olympia”, and sellers usually list it as a Sonnar 135mm F2.8. Pacific Rim gives four elements in four groups and an 18° field. No Zeiss document cited here gives the construction. The Contax/Yashica Sonnar T* 135mm f/2.8 of 1975 is a different lens, with five elements in four groups and an aperture ring, and no source links the two designs. Like the other automatic-preset Contarex lenses, it has no aperture ring: the diaphragm is set from the camera body, and the 1968 list describes the lens as “automatic preset”. It takes the system’s 56 mm bayonet filters and the same bayonet shade (20.0712) as the 50, 55, 85 and 115. Kamerastore’s listing gives six blades, 478 g and a closest focus of 1.2 m, and no Zeiss source confirms those figures.

Only one version is recorded. It has a black barrel with a bright chrome knurled focusing ring. Pacific Rim lists black as the only finish, Leitz calls its no. 4219899 black, and the Commons lens, no. 3696414, has a black barrel and a chrome ring, much like the black Sonnar 135/4 no. 4219579, which Leitz describes with chrome focusing and front rings. The lens numbers in published lots fall in two groups. Christie’s 1997 sale of a large Contarex collection included nos. 3695223 and 4219278, catalogued as “Olympia” Sonnars, and no. 4220551 in an SE outfit. Leitz’s no. 4219899 came in a Contarex Professional outfit it dates to 1966. A Sonnar 4/135 that Leitz lists as no. 4219579 falls inside the second group, so either Zeiss numbered both lenses in one block or one of the lot descriptions has the wrong lens.

Few sales are on record. On Yahoo! Auctions Japan, a black lens with cap, described with some age-related fungus, sold after six bids for ¥17,500 in July 2026. That is a winning bid from a private seller, without shipping. In May 2026 a licensed secondhand dealer sold an “AB”-grade lens at its buy-it-now price of ¥37,900. Kamerastore’s average price for a “Certified” example is SEK 2,864, a dealer retail price; the listing does not say whether VAT is included. At European auctions the lens has appeared in outfits: Leitz’s 1966 Professional outfit with no. 4219899 and four other lenses fetched €2,880 including buyer’s premium. When buying, read the front ring for 1:2,8, because a listing that just says “Sonnar 135 Contarex” may be the commoner f/4, made in about twice the number by Pacific Rim’s figures. Then check that the preset diaphragm closes when worked from a body or adapter. Off a Contarex, the lens needs an adapter with its own aperture control, because it cannot stop itself down. It fits every interchangeable-lens Contarex body: the Bullseye, Special, Professional, Super and Super Electronic.