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

Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 (C/Y)

Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1990

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Contax Distagon 21mm f/2.8 · Contax Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm F2.8 · Carl Zeiss Distagon 21mm f/2.8 T* C/Y · Zeiss Distagon 21mm F2.8 MMJ · Zeiss Distagon 21mm F2.8 MMG · Distagon 2,8/21 T* · Distagon 2.8/21 Contax · Contax Zeiss 21mm f2.8 MM · コンタックス ディスタゴン 21mm F2.8 · コンタックス Distagon T* 21mm F2.8 MM · CONTAX Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm F2.8 MMJ · 京セラ Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm F2.8 (MM)

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
MM (West Germany and Japan, early 1990s–2005) Contax/Yashica 1990–2005 — —
  1. Element and group count, focal length (21.0 mm), 92° diagonal field, aperture scale 2.8–22, focusing range to 0.25 m by internal focusing with a floating element, M82 × 0.75 filter thread, 37.0 mm back focal distance, 96.7 mm first-to-last vertex and approx. 530 g are from Carl Zeiss's data sheet, cat. no. 10 49 26 (Oberkochen, undated; it lists Multi-Mode Operation and carries the D-73446 postcode, so it was printed in 1993 or later). Kyocera's 2003 product page gives the same 13群15枚 and floating system, 92°12′, and adds 85 × 90.5 mm, the W-1 metal hood and the K-81 82 mm snap cap.
  2. Weight and close focus: Zeiss's sheet gives approx. 530 g and 0.25 m; Kyocera's page 515 g and 0.22 m. English Wikipedia and lenstip follow Zeiss on the weight (530 g) and Kyocera on the distance (0.22 m); apotelyt and kakaku give 515 g. Both are maker's figures, so neither is marked stronger; the fields carry Zeiss's. Kyocera's aperture scale omits 16 (2.8–4–5.6–8–11–22) where Zeiss's includes it, which reads as a slip on Kyocera's page.
  3. Years: no source read here gives the year the lens was introduced. It is MM-only, so it postdates the Contax 159 MM of 1985; phillipreeve.net places the Contax version in 'the early 1990s'; Kyocera's lineup carried it in February 2001 and its product page in 2003. The 1990 given as the first year is the earliest year consistent with that one dating and is not a sourced date. The end date is the close of Kyocera's Contax business in 2005 (Japanese Wikipedia).
  4. Price: ¥198,000 with case is Kyocera's Japanese list price as archived in 2003, for the lens at the end of its life; no launch price in any currency was found. The page does not say whether the figure includes consumption tax. Used: apotelyt gives a band of $2,000–3,000; kakaku.com's lowest used price was ¥178,000 in 2026.
  5. Where it was made: copies offered for sale read 'Lens made in Japan' (dealers' MMJ); West German MMG copies are reported but none was seen here, and no production record was found. The `country` field is left empty.
  6. Blades: not given by Zeiss or Kyocera; the field is left empty.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The largest of the C/Y wide-angles short of the 15: 85 mm across, 90.5 mm long and 530 g, with an 82 mm filter thread, the only C/Y lens wider than 25 mm with a conventional screw-in front (Zeiss, Kyocera). The 18mm f/4 beside it is a 70 × 51.5 mm, 350 g lens with a clip-on front
  • Front ring engraved Carl Zeiss Distagon 2,8/21 T* with the serial; minimum aperture 22 in green (MM) on every copy; 'Lens made in Japan' on most. Internal focusing: the length does not change and the 82 mm front does not rotate (Zeiss)
  • Takes the W-1 metal hood and the K-81 snap cap (Kyocera)
  • The Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 of 2008 in ZF, ZF.2, ZE and ZK mounts, the Milvus 21 and the Loxia 21 are later Cosina-made lenses in different barrels with the Nikon, Canon, Pentax or Sony mounts engraved; the Contax G Biogon 21mm f/2.8 is a rangefinder lens for the G bayonet

MM (West Germany and Japan, early 1990s–2005):

  • Minimum-aperture figure 22 in green and the MM coupling on the mount: the lens was only ever made in the MM barrel, so a white-figure 'AE' 21mm f/2.8 does not exist
  • 'Lens made in Japan' (MMJ) is what most copies offered for sale read; 'Made in West Germany' (MMG) copies are reported in trade listings but were not seen here

Specifications

Formula
Retrofocus wide-angle, 15 elements in 13 groups, internal focusing with a floating element, anomalous-partial-dispersion and high-index glass (Zeiss data sheet)
Construction
15 elements / 13 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Min. focus
0.25 m
Dimensions
85 × 90.5 mm
Weight
530 g
Filter
82 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1990–2005
Coating
T*
Original price
¥198,000 with case (2003), Kyocera's Japanese list price for the MM lens as archived in 2003 — no launch price in any currency was found (today ¥225,000)

What reviewers say

Optical formula — Retrofocus wide-angle, 15 elements in 13 groups, internal focusing with a floating element, anomalous-partial-dispersion and high-index glass (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* 2,8/21 was the last wide-angle Zeiss added to the Contax/Yashica range and the only one designed from scratch for it. Zeiss’s data sheet is unusually direct about this: the lens was made to bridge “the relatively large gap” between the 18mm f/4 and the 25mm f/2.8, and it “is not a modification of the existing wide-angle lenses, but a totally new design using the latest technologies”, in which glass of extreme anomalous partial dispersion was combined with high-index glass to reach “a level of correction never achieved before” for residual chromatic aberration. Fifteen elements in thirteen groups cover 92° at a true focal length of 21.0 mm, f/2.8 to f/22; focusing is internal, with a floating element, so the barrel stays 90.5 mm long and the 82 mm front does not turn. Zeiss gives about 530 g and a close focus of 0.25 m; Kyocera’s product page says 515 g and 0.22 m, and gives the diameter as 85 mm. It is a big lens for its focal length, two-thirds again the length of the 18mm and half as heavy again, and the only C/Y lens wider than 25 mm with an ordinary screw-in filter thread.

It exists in one barrel only, the MM, with the green minimum-aperture figure and the coupling for shutter-priority and program exposure: Japanese Wikipedia lists it only in its MM table, and it was never sold in AE form, which puts it after 1985. When exactly it appeared is not recorded in any source read here; phillipreeve.net places the Contax version in the early 1990s, and the 1990 given above is the earliest year that fits that, not a date. Most copies offered for sale read “Lens made in Japan”. Kyocera still listed it in February 2001 and sold it in 2003 at ¥198,000 with case, between the ¥130,200 of the 18mm f/4 and the ¥475,000 of the 16mm fisheye. No launch price was found. Used, it is the dearest of the four C/Y lenses wider than 25 mm apart from the 15: apotelyt gives $2,000–3,000, and kakaku.com’s lowest used price was ¥178,000.

Its reputation is high and mostly inherited by word of mouth rather than by published test: English Wikipedia’s table calls it “noted for its unusual design and sharpness”, and Lloyd Chambers, reporting the announcement of Cosina’s Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 for Nikon and Canon in 2008, called the Contax lens “a legendary performer” and the new one reportedly better still. The four owner reviews on kakaku.com praise the focusing feel, the distortion correction and image quality that one owner rated above a Sony 24mm ZA and a Nikon 14–24; their reservations are its weight and size, flare into the light, and, for one, a colour rendering unlike the German-made Zeiss lenses. Zeiss’s own curves show little distortion for a 21 and a fall in corner illumination at f/2.8 that is largely gone two stops down.

When buying, check the internal focusing runs smoothly from infinity to the close limit and that the diaphragm and the MM coupling pin work; because the lens is MM-only there is no AE copy to prefer or avoid. The W-1 hood and the K-81 cap are the proper accessories and are often missing. The 82 mm thread takes standard filters, which sets it apart from the 15, 16 and 18, none of which takes a screw-in filter without a turret or an adapter ring.

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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* 21mm f/2.8 (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: Distagon T* 15mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 18mm f/4 (C/Y) · Distagon T* 25mm f/2.8 (C/Y)

Sources (10)

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.