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

Distagon T* 15mm f/3.5 (C/Y)

Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1975

Also known as: Contax Distagon 15mm f/3.5 · Contax Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm F3.5 · Carl Zeiss Distagon 15mm f/3.5 T* C/Y · Zeiss Distagon 15mm F3.5 AEG · Distagon 3,5/15 T* · Distagon 3.5/15 Contax · Contax Zeiss 15mm f3.5 AE · コンタックス ディスタゴン 15mm F3.5 · コンタックス Distagon T* 15mm F3.5 AE · CONTAX Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm F3.5 AEG

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
AE (West Germany, 1975–2005) Contax/Yashica 1975–2005 — —
  1. Element and group count, focal length (15.4 mm), 110° diagonal field, aperture scale 3.5–22, focusing range to 0.16 m with a floating element, built-in filter turret (UV, Or 57, Y 50, B 11), 36.3 mm back focal distance, 102.0 mm first-to-last vertex and approx. 875 g are from Carl Zeiss's data sheet, cat. no. 10 48 41 (Oberkochen, undated; the D-73446 postcode dates the print to 1993 or later). Kyocera's 2003 product page gives the same 12群13枚, フロート方式, 110°, 0.16 m and 875 g, and adds 83.5 × 94 mm.
  2. Weight: Zeiss (approx. 875 g), Kyocera (875 g) and apotelyt (875 g net) against 815 g in English Wikipedia's C/Y table. Stronger: 875 g, the figure of both makers.
  3. Years: Japanese Wikipedia dates the lens to 1975, with the Contax RTS; Kamerastore's product page says 1974. Stronger: 1975, since the C/Y mount itself was introduced with the RTS in 1975. The end date is the close of Kyocera's Contax business in 2005 (Japanese Wikipedia); the lens was still in the lineup in February 2001 and on sale in 2003.
  4. Price: ¥700,000 with case is Kyocera's Japanese list price as archived in 2003, for the AE lens at the end of its life, and the only price found; the launch price in any currency is not. The page does not say whether the figure includes consumption tax.
  5. Designer: posters on the mflenses forum attribute the design to Erhard Glatzel, head of Zeiss's photographic lens design in the 1970s, and say it was first computed for the Contarex. No Zeiss document naming him for this lens was found, so no designer is credited here.
  6. The same optical design in other mounts: English Wikipedia says the 15mm was also ordered by Leitz and Nikon and adapted to their own SLRs; Leica sold it as the Super-Elmarit-R 15mm f/3.5 (mflenses forum). The Nikon part of that claim has no second source.
  7. Blades: not given by Zeiss or Kyocera; the field is left empty.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The widest rectilinear lens of the Contax/Yashica range: a large barrel, 83.5 mm across and 94 mm long at 875 g, with a bulbous front element inside a fixed scalloped metal hood and the four-position filter turret ring (UV, Or 57, Y 50, B 11) behind it (Zeiss, Kyocera). The F-Distagon 16mm f/2.8 beside it in the range is smaller (70 × 61.5 mm) and draws a fisheye image
  • Front ring engraved Carl Zeiss Distagon 3,5/15 T* with the serial; minimum aperture 22 in white (AE only). Distance scale down to 0.16 m, closer than any other C/Y wide-angle
  • The Leica Super-Elmarit-R 15mm f/3.5 is the same Zeiss optic in a Leitz barrel and R bayonet, engraved Leitz; the later Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm f/2.8 (ZF, ZE, ZM) and the Milvus 15 are different, faster designs from Cosina. Nikon's 15mm f/3.5 and Pentax's 15mm f/3.5 are their makers' own designs

AE (West Germany, 1975–2005):

  • Minimum-aperture figure 22 in white: the lens was only ever made in the AE barrel
  • Filter turret ring with UV, Or 57, Y 50 and B 11 behind a large protruding front element inside a fixed metal hood; 83.5 mm across and 94 mm long, 875 g (Zeiss data sheet, Kyocera product page)

Specifications

Formula
Retrofocus ultra-wide, 13 elements in 12 groups, floating element for close-range correction (Zeiss data sheet)
Construction
13 elements / 12 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Min. focus
0.16 m
Dimensions
83.5 × 94 mm
Weight
875 g
Filter
Built-in filter turret (UV, Or 57, Y 50, B 11); no front thread, fixed metal hood, 83.5 mm slip-on cap
Years manufactured
1975–2005
Country
West Germany
Coating
T*
Original price
¥700,000 with case (2003), Kyocera's Japanese list price for the AE lens as archived in 2003 — no launch price in any currency was found (today ¥795,000)

What reviewers say

Optical formula — Retrofocus ultra-wide, 13 elements in 12 groups, floating element for close-range correction (Zeiss data sheet)
ⓘ 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 Distagon T* 3,5/15 is the widest rectilinear lens of the Contax/Yashica range, a 110° retrofocus design of thirteen elements in twelve groups with a floating element for close-range correction, introduced with the mount in 1975 and made until Kyocera left the Contax business in 2005. Zeiss’s data sheet gives a true focal length of 15.4 mm, f/3.5 to f/22, focusing to 0.16 m, a back focal distance of 36.3 mm, “extremely long” for the focal length as the sheet says, and about 875 g. Kyocera’s product page adds the dimensions, 83.5 mm across and 94 mm long, and the 83.5 mm slip-on cap. Like the 16mm fisheye beside it, the 15 cannot take front filters, so four are built into a turret behind the front element: UV, orange 57, yellow 50 and blue 11. The hood is fixed metal. Zeiss aimed it at interiors, where it argued that speed matters more the wider the field, at architecture and landscape, and at the extreme perspective of advertising work; it promised corners “superbly illuminated” when moderately stopped down.

The design was not made for Contax alone. English Wikipedia records that the optic was also ordered by Leitz and Nikon for their own SLRs, and the Leica Super-Elmarit-R 15mm f/3.5 of 1980 is the best-known result; the attribution of the design to Erhard Glatzel, Zeiss’s design chief of the period, and of its origin to the Contarex, rests on forum posts and no Zeiss document found here names him. The lens was only ever made in the AE barrel: when the MM lenses arrived in 1985 the 15, like the 16, was left as it was, and Kyocera’s lineup page of February 2001 still lists it as an AE lens. Sellers accordingly write AEG, and no Japanese-made copy was found, which is why West Germany is given as its origin.

It was the most expensive prime in the range short of the mirror lenses: Kyocera’s 2003 product page lists ¥700,000 with case, against ¥198,000 for the 21mm f/2.8 and ¥130,200 for the 18mm f/4. No launch price was found. Published reviews are scarce; the two owner reviews on kakaku.com are both five-star and both say the same two things, that it is sharp and that it is large, heavy and vulnerable at the front, with the protruding element unable to take a protective filter. Zeiss’s own curves show barrel distortion and a fall in corner illumination at f/3.5 that lessens by f/8.

When buying, look at the front element first, for the reasons the owners give; then check that the filter turret turns through all four stops, that the floating-element focusing is smooth from infinity down to 0.16 m, and that the diaphragm works, allowing for the AE barrel’s “ninja-star” opening two or three stops down. The hood cannot be removed, so damage to it is damage to the lens. Because it was AE-only, it meters at full aperture on every Contax/Yashica body but cannot be used in shutter-priority or program mode on the MM-era bodies.

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

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Distagon T* 15mm f/3.5 (C/Y)? 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 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 18mm f/4 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 (C/Y)

Sources (9)

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.