Vario-Sonnar 40–120mm f/2.8 (Contarex)

The Vario-Sonnar 40–120mm f/2.8 was the shorter of the two zoom lenses that Carl Zeiss Oberkochen made for the Contarex. Its companion was the Vario-Sonnar 85–250mm f/4. Pacific Rim Camera says both were introduced at Photokina 1966, and the Zeiss Ikon-Voigtländer US price list of 1 March 1968 prices this one at $660 as catalogue number 11.2423. On the October 1971 list it cost $858. Among the lenses priced on that list only the 85–250, at $1,098, cost more; the Mirotars were on special order, price on request. It is a constant-aperture 3× zoom of 13 elements in 9 groups covering 57° to 20°. It weighs about 2 kg: Pacific Rim calls it “nearly four and a half pounds” and Marco Cavina “about 2 kg”. It takes the 96 mm bayonet filters that it shares with the Distagon 18mm and the 85–250. Pacific Rim records about 1,000 made, all black, and calls the lens a marketing failure. In its account, Zeiss Ikon would not trade image quality for convenience as other zoom makers were doing, and paid for that in price and weight.

Most of what is known about the design comes from Cavina’s 2008 article, written with access to an example and to Zeiss’s design sheets. He credits the optical design to Günther Lange rather than to Erhard Glatzel, with the full computation presented in May 1964. He describes three elements of Schott SF6 high-index glass, the large front element among them. The lens focuses by moving the three front elements, the first one travelling further than the other two. Zooming moves a second front group in one direction, and the rear group with the diaphragm forward and then back again. That is why the lens has separate rings for focus and zoom. Cavina traces the design to an earlier Zeiss prototype, the Mutanar 52–102mm f/2.8. He gives the closest focus as 2.5 m, against 3 m in the original design, and describes a tripod collar in which the barrel rotates and locks for horizontal or vertical framing. Like the other automatic-preset Contarex lenses it has no aperture ring: f/2.8 to f/22 is set on the camera body’s wheel. Any adapter for another camera therefore has to provide aperture control, and has to carry a 2 kg lens.

The dates do not agree, and they are kept apart here. Pacific Rim gives Photokina 1966 and production years of “1966–1971?”, and English Wikipedia’s lens table, citing Pacific Rim, gives 1966. The 1968 US list shows the lens was on sale by March 1968. Cavina, however, says it was “launched in 1971”. He gives a planned run of 1,000 lenses on serials 4,240,230 to 4,241,229, a figure he believes was reached. Leitz Photographica Auction dates every example it has sold to 1971. The four serials seen at auction, 4240326, 4240476 and 4240669 at Leitz and 4240645 in Christie’s ‘A definitive Zeiss Ikon Contarex Collection’, all fall inside Cavina’s block. So the one batch of lenses may have been built late, after the lens had been catalogued for several years. No source says so, and the question stays open. A fifth Leitz lot prints the eight-digit number 42403240, which is presumably a mistyped 4240xxx serial.

Cavina tested the lens on a Contarex Super on a tripod at f/8 on Velvia 100. He compared it at each shared focal length with the Contax Vario-Sonnar 35–70mm f/3.4 of the Contax/Yashica system, and the 40–120 did better than he expected. At 40 and 50 mm it held its own against the newer lens, with stronger macro-contrast and red fringing at the edges, lighter at 50 mm; on a second subject the Contax lens resolved more at 40 mm. At 60 mm the Contax lens resolved more at the edges, and at 70 mm across the whole frame. From 85 to 120 mm the Contarex zoom kept good, even resolution out to the edges, with the fringing virtually gone and accurate colour. He calls its rendering “noble”. He also reports that Geoffrey Crawley, testing the Contarex Vario-Sonnars for the British Journal of Photography at the time, was well satisfied with them. His practical verdict is the one Pacific Rim implies: this is a lens for a tripod.

Leitz results run from €1,320 to €2,280 including buyer’s premium. The top price was for a lens described as mint, with caps, grip, hood and case. Accessories alone did not set the price: the most fully equipped lot, graded B+ with caps, hood, grip, tripod adapter, two filters and case, made the lowest price. Lots offered complete list caps, hood, hand grip, tripod adapter, filters and the leather case. Cavina points out that the original rear cap is embossed and enamelled sheet metal, and that the silver finish on the “Zeiss” lettering of the plastic front cap on the example he photographed is not original. Turn both rings through their whole travel, and check that the collar rotates and locks. Filters that come with the lens are worth having: the B96 bayonet is a Zeiss-specific fitting (Cavina), shared only with the Distagon 18mm and the 85–250. The Schneider Variogon 45–100mm f/2.8 was also made in Contarex mount and is a different lens. The 85–250mm f/4 is described on its own page.

Not settled by the sources cited here: the true launch date (1966 at Photokina, on sale by 1968, or 1971 as Cavina and Leitz have it), the dimensions beyond Cavina’s approximate diameter, the number of diaphragm blades, any German list price, and when the lens was dropped.