Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Tele-Apotessar T* 350mm f/4 (Contax 645)

Carl Zeiss · Contax 645 · 2000 · Apochromatic telephoto (Tele-Apotessar), internal focusing

Also known as: Contax 645 Tele-Apotessar 350mm f/4 · Contax 645 Tele-Apotessar T* 350mm F4 · Contax 645 350mm f/4 · Contax 645 350mm f4 Tele-Apotessar · Contax 350mm f4 Zeiss Tele-Apotessar T* Lens 645AF · Contax 350mm f/4 Carl Zeiss Tele Apotessar T* Objektiv 645 · Contax Carl Zeiss Tele-Apotessar T* 350mm f/4 für 645 · Contax Carl Zeiss Tele-Apot T* 350mm F4 · Carl Zeiss Tele-Apotessar T* 350mm f/4 · Carl Zeiss Tele-Apotessar 350mm F4 T* · Carl Zeiss Tele-Apotessar F4 350mm T* · Tele-Apotessar T* 4/350 · Tele-Apotessar 4/350 · Tele-Apotessar 350mm f/4 · Tele Apotessar 350mm f4 · Tele-Apotessar 350 mm f/4 · Tele-Apot 350mm f/4 · CONTAX 645用 Tele-Apotessar 350mm F4 T* · コンタックス 645 テレアポテッサー 350mm F4 · テレアポテッサー T* 350mm F4 645用

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Carl Zeiss Tele-Apotessar T* 4/350 for Contax 645 (2000–2005) Contax 645 2000–2005 12322249, 12322551, 12322610 and one read as 12322580 (eight digits) —
  1. Element and group count, focal length (349.4 mm), angle of view (9.1° × 6.8°, 11° diagonal on 41.5 × 56 mm), aperture range, closest focus, filter thread, dimensions and weight are from Carl Zeiss's data sheet, cat. no. 10 45 56, printed 22 August 2000, as reproduced in ALPA's compilation of the Contax 645 sheets and on allphotolenses.com. The thread is M95 × 1 and does not rotate; the 1 mm pitch has no field of its own. Shige's hobby repeats the same 8 groups and 9 elements, 1.9 m, 273 × 114 mm, 95 mm and 3,610 g.
  2. Weight: 3,610 g in Zeiss's sheet, and in Shige's table and Ganjin Camera's article; 134 oz (8.38 lb, about 3.80 kg) in Kyocera's release of 3 February 2000. Neither maker says whether its figure includes the tripod collar, which is the likeliest place for the 190 g difference.
  3. Closest focus: Zeiss gives 1.9 m from the film plane, a working distance of 1.56 m from the front of the lens in its table and 1.5 m from the front element in its text, and a maximum scale of 1:4.0 with a 164 × 221 mm field. Kyocera gives 5.8 ft (about 1.77 m) and 1:3.98. The scales agree; the distances do not.
  4. Glass: Zeiss says 'several elements' are of fluor crown glass to correct chromatic aberration; Kyocera says the lens has 'two ultra-low dispersion lens elements', and Outdoor Photographer's new-product note of June 2000 repeats Kyocera's two. The statements are compatible but not the same.
  5. The Mutar 1.4x: Zeiss's sheet for this lens says it 'comes with the Mutar 1,4x T* converter', and Zeiss's Mutar sheet that the converter 'is included with the Tele-Apotessar T* 4/350' and is 'also available as separate item'. Kyocera announced the two as separate products and gave no bundle; Shige's lens table lists the Mutar on its own at ¥120,000; the maker's Japanese price tag found with copy no. 12322551 gives ¥670,000 with a case and names no converter; the one boxed copy examined came in a carton printed for the lens alone, and none of the 2026 listings examined included a Mutar. Ganjin picked up a Mutar when he bought his lens used, between autumn 2021 and March 2022. Whether any market sold them as a set is unresolved.
  6. Price: US$5,795 is Outdoor Photographer's 'Estimated Street Price' in its new-product column of June 2000; Kyocera's release gave none. In Japan the maker's price tag photographed with copy no. 12322551 (Yahoo! Auctions, August 2026) reads メーカー希望小売価格 (消費税抜き価格) ¥670,000, case included, and Shige's enthusiast lens table gives the same ¥670,000 before tax, against ¥120,000 for the Mutar. Neither is dated, and no Kyocera price list has been found.
  7. No maker figure for the number of aperture blades has been found, and the field is left empty.
  8. Focus motor: Kyocera's release of February 2000 says 'an Ultra-sonic motor is incorporated' in this lens, and Zeiss's sheet that the autofocus drive motors are in the lens, not in the body, with internal focusing. Japanese Wikipedia gives ultrasonic motors to every Contax 645 lens except the manual-focus 120, and Outdoor Photographer's preview of December 1998 called the six launch lenses 'ultrasonic autofocus lenses', while Kyocera's repair manual says only that the AF mechanism is driven by a motor incorporated in the lens.
  9. Zeiss's curves: distortion is a slight pincushion, rising to about 0.8% of image height at the corner of the frame. The two relative-illuminance curves fall to about 70% and about 45% of the centre's light at the corner; the sheet's legend assigns the higher curve to f/4 and the lower to f/8, which is the opposite of what stopping down normally does, so this page quotes neither figure against an aperture.
  10. ⁰ Where it was made: the barrel reads 'Lens made in Japan', and Jason Schneider (Adorama, 2006) reported the 645 lenses as designed by Zeiss in Germany and manufactured by Kyocera in Japan with on-site quality control by Zeiss technicians. German Wikipedia says Carl Zeiss AG supplied the lenses for the system, and collection-appareils that Zeiss designed them in Germany. Copy no. 12322551 came with a Carl Zeiss Prüfzertifikat signed for Carl Zeiss Qualitätssicherung. No Contax 645 lens marked as made in Germany has been found.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Tele-Apotessar 4/350 with a red T*: the only 350 mm lens and the longest focal length in the Contax 645 range. The Sonnar 210 is the next longest, and the Mutar 1.4x takes this lens to 490 mm f/5.6
  • A long, straight black tube about 114 × 273 mm and 3.6 kg, with a rotating tripod collar and foot, a 95 mm filter thread (M95 × 1, non-rotating), and the GB-102 hood engraved CONTAX METAL HOOD ø100mm GB-102
  • Not a Hasselblad lens: Hasselblad's Tele-Tessar 350mm f/4 (F, TCC and FE; Zeiss's FE sheet gives cat. no. 10 45 41, 8 elements in 6 groups, 2,000 g, M96 filter), Tele-Tessar 350mm f/5.6 (C, CF) and Tele-Superachromat 350mm f/5.6 are V-mount lenses, and Hasselblad's Tele-Apotessar is the CF 500mm f/8. Not the Contax N Tele-Apotessar 400mm f/4 of 2002 for 35 mm autofocus bodies, nor the Contax/Yashica Tele-Apotessar 300mm f/2.8 AE
  • Fits only the Contax 645 natively, and through Kyocera's NAM-1 adapter the Contax N bodies. On digital bodies it works through electronic adapters: Leica's S-Adapter C of 2013 and Fringer's C645-GFX and C645-GFX II for Fujifilm GFX

Carl Zeiss Tele-Apotessar T* 4/350 for Contax 645 (2000–2005):

  • Front rim engraved Tele-Apotessar 4/350, a red T*, Carl Zeiss and an eight-digit serial; the same name in white along the barrel as Carl Zeiss / Tele-Apotessar / 4/350 T*, and a blue ZEISS badge on the front tube (GearFocus photos of no. 12322249; Yahoo! Auctions photos of nos. 12322551 and 12322610 and of a boxed copy)
  • 'Lens made in Japan' engraved just above the rear knurled ring, under a CE mark on the barrel; the CE mark is on every copy examined
  • Rotatable tripod collar with a locking knob and a flat foot drilled with two threaded holes; Kyocera calls it detachable
  • Distance window reading in feet (orange) and metres (white) to ∞, with depth-of-field lines for f/22 and f/45 either side of the index; Tele-Apotessar 4/350 printed beside the window; a broad knurled focusing ring, and an aperture ring 4–5.6–8–11–16–22–32–45 at the rear
  • Nine gold contacts in a curved row inside the bayonet

Serial-range notes

12322249; 12322551; 12322580; 12322610
Four numbers read from photographs of the front rim: 12322249 at GearFocus in 2026, and 12322551, 12322610 and 12322580 on Yahoo! Auctions lots of the same year. 12322551 matches the Carl Zeiss Prüfzertifikat sold with it, and 12322610 is also given in its seller's text; 12322580 is from a small photograph and its final two digits are uncertain. All four are eight-digit numbers beginning 12322, close to 12324689 on a Mutar 1.4x photographed by Kamerastore. The seven-digit form beginning 87 that turns up on some copies of the 1999 launch lenses has not been seen on this one. No serial table or production figure from Zeiss or Kyocera has been found, so a number places a copy only relative to other numbers.

Specifications

Formula
Apochromatic telephoto (Tele-Apotessar), internal focusing
Construction
9 elements / 8 groups
Aperture range
f/4–f/45
Min. focus
1.9 m
Dimensions
114 × 273 mm
Weight
3610 g
Filter
95 mm
Years manufactured
2000–2005
Country
Japan
Coating
Zeiss T* multicoating
Original price
US$5,795 (today $10,560), Outdoor Photographer's 'Estimated Street Price' when it announced the lens in June 2000; Kyocera's launch release gave no price. In Japan the maker's suggested retail price was ¥670,000 before tax, case included, on an undated price tag sold with one copy, matching Shige's enthusiast lens table, where the Mutar 1.4x is ¥120,000.

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
well controlled
Vignetting
cat's-eye at edges
Optical formula — Apochromatic telephoto (Tele-Apotessar), internal focusing
ⓘ What these charts mean

MTF (modulation transfer function) shows how much contrast the lens keeps at a given fineness of detail, from the center of the frame to the corner — the coarse curves track punch, the fine ones resolving power, and a gap between solid and dashed lines means astigmatism. Relative illumination (falloff) shows how much darker the corners are than the center at each aperture. Manufacturers only began publishing these for modern lenses; no 1950s maker issued them, which is why older families here cite period magazine bench tests instead.

History

The Tele-Apotessar T* 350mm f/4 was the longest lens Carl Zeiss designed for Kyocera’s Contax 645, the autofocus 6×4.5 SLR of 1999, and the first lens added to the system after launch. Kyocera Optics introduced it with the Mutar 1.4x converter at the PMA show in Las Vegas on 3 February 2000, calling the pair the “first step in 645 lens expansion”. Zeiss’s data sheet, catalogue number 10 45 56 and printed on 22 August 2000, describes nine elements in eight groups, several of them fluor crown glass for colour correction, a true focal length of 349.4 mm and an 11° diagonal on the 41.5 × 56 mm frame. It runs from f/4 to f/45 and focuses internally to 1.9 m from the film, about 1.5 m in front of the lens, which gives 1:4. It takes a 95 mm filter on a thread that does not rotate, measures 114 × 273 mm and weighs 3,610 g. Zeiss credited stray-light baffling and absorptive surface treatments for its internal flare control, said it could be used wide open, and recommended “a good tripod” to get the best from it. Kyocera’s release gives the same nine elements in eight groups but counts two ultra-low-dispersion elements, and claims that the chromatic aberrations which cause halos are reduced to zero. The two makers also differ on the closest focus, 5.8 ft (about 1.77 m) in Kyocera’s release against Zeiss’s 1.9 m, and on the weight, 134 oz (about 3.8 kg) against 3,610 g. Zeiss’s own curves show a slight pincushion distortion of under 1% at the corners. Zeiss designed it, the barrel reads “Lens made in Japan” beside a CE mark, and Jason Schneider wrote in 2006 that the 645 lenses were made by Kyocera with Zeiss technicians checking quality on site.

Like every autofocus lens in the system it has no mechanical link to the body: Kyocera’s repair manual puts the focus motor, a stepping motor that sets the aperture in eighth-stop steps and a lens processor inside each lens, and nine gold contacts in the bayonet carry the signals. Kyocera’s release singles out an ultrasonic motor in this lens. It comes with a rotating tripod collar, which Kyocera calls detachable. The hood is the GB-102, engraved “CONTAX METAL HOOD ø100mm GB-102”. Zeiss matched the Mutar 1.4x to it in particular: the converter’s sheet says it was “specifically designed” for this lens, making a 490 mm f/5.6, and that it also suits the Sonnar 140 and 210 but none of the non-telephoto lenses. Kyocera says autofocus and the automatic diaphragm work through it. Both Zeiss sheets say the Mutar came with the 350, and the Mutar’s sheet adds that it was also sold separately. Kyocera announced them as separate products, Shige’s hobby lists the Mutar at ¥120,000 on its own, the maker’s Japanese price tag for the lens includes a case but no converter, and the one boxed copy examined came in a carton printed for the lens alone, so whether any market sold the two as a set is not settled. This is not Hasselblad’s Tele-Tessar 350mm f/4 for the V system. Zeiss’s sheet for the FE version of that lens, catalogue number 10 45 41, shares the 1.9 m close focus, the 1:4 scale and even the 118.4 mm back focal distance, but gives eight elements in six groups, 2,000 g and a 96 mm filter. Nor is it the Contax N Tele-Apotessar 400mm f/4 of 2002, a 35 mm autofocus lens.

Outdoor Photographer announced it in June 2000 at an estimated street price of $5,795. In Japan the maker’s price tag, photographed with one copy sold in 2026, reads ¥670,000 before tax with a case, the figure Shige’s lens table also gives, against ¥379,000 for the Vario-Sonnar 45-90, the next dearest lens in his list. Jason Schneider called it “hard-to-find” in 2006, and Shige, who has not bought one, suggests its steady high price may reflect a small production. No production figure is known. The serials seen are eight-digit numbers between 12322249 and 12322610, close to the Mutar’s 12324689; one copy, 12322551, came with a Carl Zeiss inspection certificate bearing its number. The two user accounts found are frank about the weight. Waka of Camera no Naniwa, shooting slide and negative film on a Contax 645 in 2020, found it never soft wide open, with very strong background blur, and liked f/11 best. Waka also suspected slight double-line blur and swirl towards the corners, noted cat’s-eye highlights at the edges, called the lens a bazooka, and found the autofocus slow and hunting enough to switch mainly to manual focus. ganjin of Ganjin Camera carried it with the Mutar on a Leica S (Typ 007) for kingfishers, writing it up in March 2022: a hand-held rig of about 5.5 kg. He praised the colour, contrast and aberration correction at f/5.6 but found fine detail disappointing with the converter, and found the autofocus unable to follow moving birds.

On digital bodies it keeps its autofocus. Leica’s S-Adapter C of 2013 gives autofocus with every Contax 645 lens from 35 to 350 mm except the 120 macro, and Fringer lists the 350 among the lenses that focus well on its Fujifilm GFX adapter, though autofocus degrades with the Mutar fitted. On Contax N bodies it fits through Kyocera’s NAM-1 adapter, which Kyocera’s own advertisement of December 2000 listed for “all seven” Contax 645 autofocus lenses, this one among them.

Six closed listings on Yahoo! Auctions in Japan between May and September 2026 ended at ¥106,550 to ¥258,223. The lowest was a copy with many fungus spots; the highest was described as working, with dust and fungus inside. GearFocus listed a copy with barrel scuffs at US$2,849 in June 2026. Check any copy on a working Contax 645 body or an electronic adapter, since its diaphragm and autofocus work only under power from the camera, and one of those lots was sold untested for want of a body. Look inside the large front group for fungus and dust: fungus was noted on two of those lots and dust on three. Check that the tripod collar turns and locks. Kyocera stopped accepting Contax repairs on 30 April 2015 and, as of 2024, refers owners to Repair Service Suwa.

Still open: any production figure or serial table, the Japanese release date and a dated Kyocera price list, whether the Mutar was ever sold with the lens as a set, which Kyocera plant made it, and the number of aperture blades.

Expand Collapse

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

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Tele-Apotessar T* 350mm f/4 (Contax 645)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-10-30. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Sonnar T* 210mm f/4 (Contax 645)

Sources (28)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.