Mirotar T* 500mm f/8 (C/Y)
Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1997
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Carl Zeiss Mirotar T* 500mm F8 · Contax Mirotar 500mm f/8 · Contax Carl Zeiss Mirotar T* 500mm f/8 C/Y · Mirotar T* 8/500 · Mirotar 8/500 T* Contax · Zeiss Mirotar 500 f8 CY · Contax Mirotar 500mm F8 AEG · Mirotar 500mm F8 MMJ · コンタックス ミロター 500mm F8 · ミロター T* 500mm F8 · CONTAX Carl Zeiss Mirotar T* 500mm F8 ヤシカ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mirotar T* 8/500 in Contax/Yashica mount | Contax/Yashica | 1997–2005 | — | — |
- Fixed aperture: there is no diaphragm. Kyocera's specification table gives the aperture scale as なし（F8固定）, Contax UK's page as 'f8 (Fixed)'. max_aperture and min_aperture are therefore both 8, and exposure is set with the shutter alone; Contax UK's page on the 500mm f/4.5 says the same of that lens and suggests neutral-density filters. Where the lens was made is not stated by Kyocera, Contax UK or Japanese Wikipedia; nothing here rests on a seller's AEG or MMJ suffix.
- Introduction year: the one dated statement found is an owner's post in a dprforum thread calling the lens 'a relatively new design (1997)'. Contax UK's page introduces it as newly announced but carries no date, Japanese Wikipedia gives no release year (it dates the 500mm f/4.5 and 1000mm f/5.6 to 1975 but not this lens), and the Zeiss datasheet URLs that English Wikipedia cites returned 404 when tried in November 2026. The year is therefore a single-source figure, and the whole page is flagged accordingly. The end date is the end of Kyocera's Contax business in 2005; the lens was still listed on kyocera.co.jp in February 2003.
- Weight and length: 795 g and 88×114 mm from Kyocera's page and Contax UK; English Wikipedia's table, citing Zeiss's datasheet, gives 802 g and 88×113.5 mm. Both are rounded figures for the same lens; Kyocera's is used in the table as the one read directly. Angle of view 4°9' (Kyocera) against '2w 4.9° diagonal' (Contax UK), the same figure in different notation.
- Construction: 4 groups, 6 elements from Kyocera, Contax UK and Japanese Wikipedia (4群6枚); Contax UK adds that two of the six are mirrors. Kyocera's page describes it as 2枚の反射鏡とレンズ系を組み合わせた反射屈折光学系, with a rear-surface mirror (裏面反射鏡) and a correcting lens group. The 500mm f/4.5 and 1000mm f/5.6 Mirotars are 5-element, 5-group designs of Contarex ancestry and have nothing optically in common with this lens.
- Converters: Kyocera's compatibility table marks the Mutar T* I as mountable but with corner darkening and vignetting (周辺光量低下、絞込みでケラレ), and the Mutar T* II and III as 特に良好 (especially good). The Contax metal hoods, soft hood and gelatin-filter holder are all marked 不可 (not usable).
- Price: ¥280,000 with case is Kyocera's manufacturer's suggested price (メーカー希望小売価格) on the page as captured in October 2002 and again in February 2003, before tax. No launch-year list price in yen, dollars or marks has been found, so this late price stands as the only one. Contax UK's page gives none.
How to tell them apart
- The small Mirotar: under 800 g and 114 mm long, against 4.5 kg for the 500mm f/4.5 and 16.5 kg for the 1000mm f/5.6. A Mirotar with an 82 mm filter thread and no bellows is this lens; the two big ones have slide-in filters, a filter turret and bellows focusing
- Reads Carl Zeiss Mirotar T* 8/500 on the front; the Contarex-era Mirotars were f/4.5 and f/5.6 lenses, and Contax UK's specification gives the mount as the Contax/Yashica bayonet only, so a Mirotar 8/500 is a C/Y lens. Yashica's own ML 500mm f/8 Reflex is a different, Japanese-designed mirror lens in the same mount
- Fits every Contax/Yashica body from the RTS of 1975 to the Aria and RX II; because the aperture is fixed, program and shutter-priority modes on the MM-era bodies have nothing to control, and the finder shows the body's default wide-open f-number (owners' reports on dprforum)
Mirotar T* 8/500 in Contax/Yashica mount:
- A short fat barrel, 88 mm across and 114 mm long, with an 82 mm screw-in filter thread at the front and a large dark central spot (the secondary mirror housing) in the middle of the front glass (Kyocera's 2002 specification page; Contax UK's product page)
- No aperture ring and no f-number scale beyond the fixed f/8: Kyocera's table reads 絞り目盛り なし（F8固定）, so there is nothing to set and no AE/MM distinction to look for. A C/Y body with the lens mounted shows its own wide-open f-number in the finder, typically 1.4 or 1.2, while metering correctly (owners' reports on dprforum)
- Takes the 82 mm K-81 snap-on front cap and came in case No. 10; the Contax hoods and the gelatin-filter holder do not fit (Kyocera's 2002 page)
- Mirotar T* 8/500 in Contax/Yashica mount: The only version: Kyocera's page carries no MM tag, Japanese Wikipedia lists a single 4-group, 6-element lens, and no coating, barrel or edition change is recorded anywhere consulted. Where it was made has not been established from a source: the barrel engraving is the only reliable indicator, and sellers' AEG and MMJ tags are not evidence¹.
Specifications
- Formula
- Catadioptric (folded mirror) design: a concave primary mirror with a central hole, a small secondary mirror at the front and achromatised refracting elements behind; 6 elements in 4 groups, two of them mirrors, with no diaphragm
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/8–f/8
- Min. focus
- 3.5 m
- Dimensions
- 88 × 114 mm
- Weight
- 795 g
- Filter
- 82 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1997–2005
- Coating
- T*
- Original price
- ¥280,000 with case, Kyocera's list price before tax as still published in October 2002 and February 2003 (archived kyocera.co.jp); no launch price has been found (today ¥317,000)
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The Mirotar T* 8/500 is the small, late Mirotar: a conventional folded-mirror telephoto for the Contax/Yashica mount, 88 mm across, 114 mm long and 795 g, with an 82 mm filter thread and a fixed aperture of f/8. Kyocera’s product page describes it as a catadioptric system combining two mirrors with a lens group, a rear-surface mirror and correcting optics, and recommends it for animal, landscape and sports photography; Contax UK’s page, which reads like the launch announcement, explains the folded path (primary mirror forward to the small secondary at the centre of the front glass, back through the hole in the primary, then through achromatised refracting elements) and counts six elements in four groups, two of them mirrors. It has nothing in common optically with the two Contarex-era Mirotars that had been in the C/Y line since 1975: those are 5-element, 5-group lenses of 4.5 kg and 16.5 kg with bellows focusing and slide-in filters, and this one is a lens a photographer can carry.
When it appeared is the one poorly documented thing about it. Japanese Wikipedia dates the 500mm f/4.5 and 1000mm f/5.6 to 1975 but gives this lens no year; Contax UK’s page calls it newly announced without saying when; and the only dated statement found is an owner’s post on dprforum calling it “a relatively new design (1997)”. That is a single source, and the page is flagged for it. What is certain is that it was in Kyocera’s Japanese catalogue in October 2002 and February 2003 at ¥280,000 with case, before tax, and that it went with the rest of the Contax line when Kyocera stopped in 2005. Kyocera’s compatibility table marks the Mutar T* II and III converters as especially good with it and the Mutar I as usable but vignetting; none of the Contax hoods or the gelatin-filter holder fit.
There is no diaphragm. Kyocera’s table says so in as many words (絞り目盛り なし, F8固定), and the consequences show up on the body: a C/Y camera has no aperture signal to read, so the finder displays the body’s default wide-open f-number, 1.4 or 1.2 depending on the model, while the meter, reading the light that actually arrives through the mirror system, exposes correctly. Owners on dprforum worked this out for themselves and confirmed it against a 135 mm lens at f/8. Exposure is set by shutter speed alone, which on a mechanical body with whole-stop speeds (an S2 owner’s complaint) limits fine control; program and shutter-priority modes on the MM-era bodies have nothing to vary.
The same owners describe a dim finder that makes focusing the hard part, exposures that come out right, and results that are “sharp and contrasty” once the lens is on a solid tripod with the mirror locked up, with the ring-shaped out-of-focus highlights of every mirror lens; one found its colours a little blue-green and its contrast weaker than its sharpness, another thought its resolution and contrast outstanding to the edges and its light fall-off low. Several carried it where a 300mm f/2.8 would have stayed at home. Where it was made is not stated by Kyocera, Contax UK or Japanese Wikipedia; sellers tag it AEG or MMJ, but neither label applies to a lens with no aperture ring, and only the barrel engraving tells.
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 Mirotar T* 500mm f/8 (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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