Distagon T* 28mm f/2 (C/Y)
Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1975
Known as “Hollywood”
Also known as: Contax Distagon 28mm f/2 · Contax Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm F2 · Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm f/2.0 C/Y · Zeiss Distagon 2/28 T* · Distagon 2.0/28 Contax · Contax 28mm F2 AEG · Contax 28mm F2 MMJ · Contax 28mm F2 MMG · Distagon T* 28mm F2 AE · Distagon T* 28mm F2 MM · Hollywood Distagon 28mm · コンタックス ディスタゴン 28mm F2 · CONTAX Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm F2 MMJ · ディスタゴン T* 28mm F2 AEG
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AE (West Germany, 1975–) | Contax/Yashica | 1975 | — | — |
| MM (West Germany and Japan) | Contax/Yashica | — | — | — |
- Whether the MM differs optically: apotelyt's general statement that AE and MM optics are identical names only the 2.8/25 and 2.8/28 as exceptions, not this lens; Jannik Peters (phillipreeve.net) writes that some people claim improved coatings and optics for the MM 28/2 but that he found no reliable source, and Japanese Wikipedia gives 8 groups and 9 elements for both. The two barrels are recorded as generations of one design.
- Dates: 1975 is Japanese Wikipedia's date for the AE; Peters says only 'mid-1970s'. No source gives the year the MM barrel of this lens appeared or the year production stopped; the lens is absent from Kyocera's lineup of February 2001, on which the 28mm f/2.8 remains, so it was discontinued before then.
- Specifications: 9 elements in 8 groups, 62.5 × 76 mm, 530 g and a 55 mm filter are given by English Wikipedia's Contax lens table and by Peters; apotelyt rounds to 63 × 75 mm and 531 g. Close focus is 0.24 m in both Wikipedias' tables and 25 cm in Peters's specification list. Six diaphragm blades and the f/2–f/22 range are from Peters.
- The 'Hollywood' nickname: English Wikipedia's table carries it, and Peters calls the lens 'an adapted cinematic lens design'; a reader comment on his review says the design dates from the Rollei QBM era and was based on a Zeiss cinema lens. No Zeiss document for the cine origin has been found.
- Price: no list price in any currency was found. Used, apotelyt gives US$1,000–2,000, and Peters calls it probably one of the most expensive 28 mm legacy lenses, surpassed only by some Leicas.
How to tell them apart
- Front ring reads Carl Zeiss, Distagon 2/28 and a red T* with the serial; a large lens for its focal length, 62.5 mm across and 76 mm long at 530 g, half as long again as the 28mm f/2.8 and nearly twice its weight (English Wikipedia table; phillipreeve.net)
- 55 mm metal filter thread; aperture ring from 2 to 22 (phillipreeve.net)
- White 22 and 'Lens made in West Germany' on the AE; green 22 on the MM, which was made in both West Germany and Japan (phillipreeve.net; apotelyt)
- Not the Zeiss Distagon T* 2/28 ZF, ZK or ZE of 2006 onward in Nikon F, Pentax K or Canon EF mount, and not the Rollei-mount Distagon 28mm f/2 HFT: the Contax lens has the Contax/Yashica bayonet with its aperture-simulator lever and no electrical contacts
- The Contax G Biogon 28mm f/2.8 and the Contax N lenses share the Contax name but not the mount; the only other C/Y 28 is the f/2.8 Distagon
AE (West Germany, 1975–):
- Minimum aperture figure 22 in white; 'Lens made in West Germany' on the barrel — the AE 28/2 is known only as a German-made lens (phillipreeve.net; trade listings)
- At f/2.8 the six blades form a 'ninja star' opening; from f/4 the opening is a plain hexagon (Jannik Peters, phillipreeve.net)
- No MM coupling: aperture-priority and manual only on the multi-mode bodies
MM (West Germany and Japan):
- Minimum aperture figure 22 in green and the MM coupling for shutter-priority and program modes (phillipreeve.net; apotelyt)
- Made both at Oberkochen ('Lens made in West Germany', sellers' MMG) and in Japan ('Lens made in Japan', MMJ)
- AE (West Germany, 1975–): The original lens, dated 1975 by Japanese Wikipedia with 8 groups and 9 elements, 0.24 m close focus, a 55 mm filter and close-range correction. Jannik Peters reviewed an AEG copy and reports that Zeiss no longer services this version, while it still services the MM.
- MM (West Germany and Japan): The multi-mode barrel, with the same 8-group, 9-element construction in Japanese Wikipedia's MM table. It usually sells for a little more than the AE; Jannik Peters found no reliable source for the claims of improved coating or optics that circulate about it¹. It was no longer in Kyocera's February 2001 Carl Zeiss lineup, which listed only the 28mm f/2.8, so production ended some time before then; no end date has been published².
Specifications
- Formula
- Distagon — fast retrofocus wide-angle, 9 elements in 8 groups, with close-range (floating) correction
- Construction
- 9 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2–f/22
- Diaphragm blades
- 6
- Min. focus
- 0.24 m
- Dimensions
- 62.5 × 76 mm
- Weight
- 530 g
- Filter
- 55 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1975
- Country
- West Germany and Japan
- Coating
- T*
What reviewers say
- Jannik Peters (phillipreeve.net), AEG copy on a Sony A7-series body (blog) — A "character lens" whose Hollywood name is deserved because of its imperfections rather than despite them: superb build, strong flare resistance, dreamy close-up rendering with low longitudinal colour and real sharpness by f/8, against soft extreme corners and strong vignetting wide open, coma, field curvature, odd sunstars, weight and price. An expert's lens for close wide-angle work at shallow depth, not a perfect landscape lens and not one for astrophotography.
History
The Distagon T* 2/28 was the fast 28 mm of the Contax/Yashica system, in the range from 1975 alongside the slower and far smaller 28mm f/2.8. Nine elements in eight groups with close-range correction take it to 0.24 m, and it is built like a lens of twice its focal length: 62.5 mm across, 76 mm long and 530 g, against 50 mm and 280 g for the f/2.8, with a 55 mm metal filter thread and six diaphragm blades running from f/2 to f/22. English Wikipedia’s lens table notes it for its lack of distortion and records the nickname “Hollywood”; Jannik Peters describes it as an adapted cinematic design, and a reader of his review traces it to a Zeiss cine lens of the Rollei QBM era, though no Zeiss document for that origin has been found.
The AE barrel, with the white 22, is known only as a German-made lens, and Zeiss no longer services it. The MM barrel, with the green 22 and the coupling that lets the 159 MM and later bodies set the aperture, was made in both West Germany and Japan and is the version Zeiss still services; it usually sells for a little more, and claims that it carries better coating or revised optics circulate without a source, Japanese Wikipedia giving the same eight groups and nine elements for both. The lens had left Kyocera’s lineup by February 2001, when only the f/2.8 remained at 28 mm, so production ended some time before that; neither the year the MM barrel appeared nor the year it stopped has been published.
In use, on an AEG copy, Peters found a lens of marked character: at f/2.8 the six blades form a ninja-star opening, though he could not see the shape in the soft bokeh balls, which turn hexagonal further down; extreme corners are soft and vignetting strong at full aperture, coma and field curvature are weaknesses, lateral colour and the sunstars are odd, and it is heavy and expensive, probably the costliest legacy 28 apart from some Leicas. Against that he rates the build, the flare resistance, the close-focus performance and bokeh, the low longitudinal colour and the sharpness by f/8, and calls it an expert’s lens for close wide-angle work with shallow depth of field, one he would still take on a landscape trip but would not recommend for astrophotography. Used, apotelyt puts it at US$1,000–2,000. No list price in any currency was found.
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* 28mm f/2 (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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