F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 (C/Y)
Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1975
Also known as: Contax F-Distagon 16mm f/2.8 · Contax Carl Zeiss F-Distagon T* 16mm F2.8 · Carl Zeiss F-Distagon 16mm f/2.8 T* C/Y · Zeiss F-Distagon 16mm F2.8 AEG · F-Distagon 2,8/16 T* · F-Distagon 2.8/16 Contax · Contax 16mm fisheye · Contax Zeiss 16mm f2.8 fisheye · コンタックス F-ディスタゴン 16mm F2.8 · コンタックス Fディスタゴン T* 16mm F2.8 AE · CONTAX Carl Zeiss F-Distagon T* 16mm F2.8 AEG 魚眼
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AE (1975–2005) | Contax/Yashica | 1975–2005 | — | — |
- Element and group count, focal length (15.8 mm), 180° diagonal field, projection formula, aperture scale 2.8–22, focusing range to 0.3 m, built-in filter turret (UV, Or 57, Y 50, B 11), 37.6 mm back focal distance, 66.5 mm first-to-last vertex and approx. 460 g are from Carl Zeiss's data sheet, cat. no. 10 48 39 (Oberkochen, undated; the D-73446 postcode on it dates the print to 1993 or later). Kyocera's 2003 product page gives the same 7群8枚, 180°, 0.3 m and 460 g, and adds 70 × 61.5 mm. English Wikipedia's C/Y table and Japanese Wikipedia agree on every figure.
- Zeiss's sheet does not give the number of diaphragm blades, and neither does Kyocera; the field is left empty.
- Years: Japanese Wikipedia dates the lens to 1975, the year of the Contax RTS; the end date is the close of Kyocera's Contax business in 2005 (Japanese Wikipedia). Kyocera's lineup page of February 2001 still carried it, and its product page was live in 2003.
- Price: ¥475,000 with case is Kyocera's Japanese list price as archived in 2003, for the AE lens at the end of its life. No launch price in any currency was found. The tax status of the figure is not stated on the page (the 18mm page of the same series breaks its price into product price plus 5% consumption tax; this one does not).
- Where it was made: no source read here says whether the C/Y 16mm was built in Oberkochen or in Japan. Sellers' titles write AEG, which is their reading of the engraving on the lens offered, not a record. The `country` field is left empty.
How to tell them apart
- A fisheye with a domed front element inside a fixed, scalloped metal hood and a filter turret ring behind it; 70 mm across and 61.5 mm long, 460 g (Zeiss, Kyocera). The widest lens in the Contax/Yashica range and the only 16 mm in it: there was no C/Y Hologon
- Front ring engraved Carl Zeiss F-Distagon 2,8/16 T* with the serial; 'Lens made in West Germany' or 'Lens made in Japan' on the barrel is what sellers read as AEG or AEJ. Minimum aperture 22 in white (AE)
- The same optical design was sold in Contarex mount (the F-Distagon of the 1960s, before T* coating) and in Rollei's QBM mount with HFT coating; the C/Y lens is the one with the T* engraving and the three-claw Contax/Yashica bayonet with its aperture-simulator lever. Nikon's 16mm f/2.8 fisheye and Canon's FD 15mm f/2.8 are the look-alikes on other mounts and carry their makers' names
- Not the Hasselblad F-Distagon 30mm f/3.5, which shares the design name but is a 6×6 lens with a leaf shutter
AE (1975–2005):
- Minimum-aperture figure 22 engraved in white, not green: the lens was only ever made in the AE barrel and has no MM coupling pin
- Filter turret ring behind the bulbous front element with the four positions UV, Or 57, Y 50 and B 11 engraved (Zeiss data sheet); fixed scalloped metal hood around the front; cap is a 70 mm slip-on (Kyocera product page)
- AE (1975–2005): The only version. Kyocera's lineup page of February 2001 still listed the lens as 'F・ディスタゴンT*16mmF2.8（AE）', and its 2003 product page sold it as 'AEタイプ' at ¥475,000 with case; no MM barrel was ever catalogued for it. Where it was made is not settled by any source read here: sellers write AEG, and apotelyt's catalogue treats it as a German lens, but no production record was found.
Specifications
- Formula
- Retrofocus full-frame fisheye, 8 elements in 7 groups; image height u = 2f·sin(w/2) (Zeiss data sheet)
- Construction
- 8 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.3 m
- Dimensions
- 70 × 61.5 mm
- Weight
- 460 g
- Filter
- Built-in filter turret (UV, Or 57, Y 50, B 11); no front thread, fixed metal hood, 70 mm slip-on cap
- Years manufactured
- 1975–2005
- Coating
- T*
- Original price
- ¥475,000 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 ¥540,000)
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
Optical formula — Retrofocus full-frame fisheye, 8 elements in 7 groups; image height u = 2f·sin(w/2) (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 F-Distagon T* 2,8/16 is the fisheye of the Contax/Yashica range and the widest lens Carl Zeiss made for it: a full-frame (diagonal) fisheye whose 180° field fills the 24 × 36 mm negative corner to corner rather than drawing a circle inside it. Zeiss’s data sheet gives eight elements in seven groups, a true focal length of 15.8 mm, f/2.8 to f/22, focusing to 0.3 m, and about 460 g; Kyocera’s product page adds the barrel dimensions, 70 mm across and 61.5 mm long. The image is drawn to the formula u = 2f·sin(w/2), which Zeiss calls equivalent projection. Zeiss’s own text pitches it at panoramas “where distortion phenomena can be avoided by skilful camera work”, at detail work in cramped spaces, and at pictures in which the fisheye perspective is itself the point, and makes a particular claim for its illumination at full aperture.
The optical design is older than the mount. Zeiss had sold a 16 mm F-Distagon for the Contarex in the 1960s and the same design went to Rollei with HFT coating; the Contax version of 1975, with T* multicoating, was its last incarnation. Because a domed fisheye front cannot take a screw-in filter, the lens carries Zeiss’s usual turret of four built-in filters, UV, orange 57, yellow 50 and blue 11, behind the front element, and a fixed scalloped metal hood around it; the cap is a 70 mm slip-on. Kyocera’s page lists the Mutar I teleconverter as usable with it and the Mutar II and III as not.
It was sold in one barrel only. When Zeiss and Kyocera introduced the MM lenses in 1985, with the green minimum-aperture figure and the extra coupling for shutter-priority and program modes, the 16 was left in its AE form, and it stayed that way: Kyocera’s lineup page of February 2001 still lists it as an AE lens, as it does the 15mm f/3.5, and its 2003 product page sells it as the AE type at ¥475,000 with case. That late Japanese list price is the only price found; the launch price in any currency is not. Where the C/Y lens was built is not recorded in any source read here, though sellers’ titles usually write AEG, their reading of a “Made in West Germany” engraving on the copy in hand. No published review of the Contax version was found; what exists is forum comment, which calls the lens very sharp in the centre and good to the edge, without measurement.
When buying, look first at the front element: it is unprotected by design, and scratches and cleaning marks on the dome are the usual damage. Check that the filter turret clicks through all four positions, that the diaphragm opens and closes freely (the AE barrel shows the “ninja-star” iris shape two or three stops down, which is normal), and that the aperture-simulator lever on the mount moves. The fixed hood cannot be removed, so a dented hood is a dented lens.
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 F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.