Planar T* 55mm f/1.2 '100 Jahre Planar' (C/Y)
Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1996
Also known as: Contax Planar 55mm f/1.2 · Carl Zeiss Planar T* 55mm F1.2 100 Jahre · Planar T* 55mm F1.2 MMG 100 Jahre · Contax Carl Zeiss Planar 55mm F1.2 100 years · Planar 1,2/55 T* 100 Jahre · Planar 1.2/55 C/Y · Contax 55mm f1.2 100th Anniversary · CONTAX Planar T*55mm F1.2 100周年 · コンタックス プラナー 55mm F1.2 · コンタックス Carl Zeiss Planar T* 55mm F1.2 100 Jahre · プラナー 100周年 55mm F1.2 MMG
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Jahre Planar, MM (1996–97) | Contax/Yashica | 1996–1997 | — | 1,000 (English Wikipedia; dealer listings) |
- Construction (8 elements, 7 groups), 0.6 m closest focus, 77 mm filter, 500 g and 80 × 60 mm are apotelyt's figures, with English Wikipedia's lens table agreeing on the construction. No Kyocera product page for this lens exists in the 2002–03 archive, it having sold out years before, and no Zeiss data sheet was found. The 55.5 mm actual focal length is Japanese Wikipedia's. Blade count not found.
- Date: apotelyt and dealers give 1996, the Planar centenary year; Japanese Wikipedia lists it as a 1997 limited lens. The run of 1,000 may simply have been sold across both years. The table uses 1996 with 1997 as the end.
- Price: the only figure found is a forum recollection on dprforum of a 1996 US list price of around $7,500, which no price list confirms; it is recorded here and kept out of the price field. No yen list price was found.
- Origin: dealers' MMG label is the only evidence for West German manufacture; no maker source was found, so the country field is left empty.
How to tell them apart
- Name ring reads Carl Zeiss Planar 1,2/55 T*; 'Planar 100 Jahre' engraved on the barrel; 77 mm filter thread; green 16 on the aperture ring (MM)
- Not to be confused with the Planar T* 85mm f/1.2 anniversary lenses (50 Jahre of 1982 and 60 Jahre of 1992, 85 mm focal length) or the modern Otus 1.4/55 (ZF.2 / ZE mounts with electronic contacts, no C/Y bayonet)
100 Jahre Planar, MM (1996–97):
- Barrel engraved 'Planar 100 Jahre' for the centenary of Paul Rudolph's Planar design of 1896; MM lens with the green minimum-aperture numeral
- 77 mm filter thread, about 500 g and 80 × 60 mm: far larger than the 55 mm-filter 50mm Planars
- 100 Jahre Planar, MM (1996–97): The only version. A limited run marking a hundred years of the Planar, sold as an MM lens. Dealer listings describe copies as MMG, i.e. engraved 'Made in West Germany', but no maker document naming the place of manufacture was found. apotelyt and dealers date it 1996, Japanese Wikipedia 1997².
Specifications
- Formula
- Planar double-Gauss derivative, 8 elements in 7 groups; actual focal length 55.5 mm
- Construction
- 8 elements / 7 groups
- Aperture range
- f/1.2–f/16
- Min. focus
- 0.6 m
- Dimensions
- 80 × 60 mm
- Weight
- 500 g
- Filter
- 77 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1996–1997
- Coating
- Zeiss T* multicoating
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 Planar T* 55mm f/1.2 is the rarest and fastest lens of the Contax/Yashica line: a run of 1,000 made in 1996–97 and engraved “Planar 100 Jahre” for the hundredth anniversary of the Planar, the symmetrical double-Gauss that Paul Rudolph computed for Zeiss in 1896 and from which every later Planar descends. It was sold as an MM lens, so it couples fully with the program and shutter-priority bodies of the late 1980s and 1990s, and dealers describe copies as MMG, that is made in West Germany, though no maker document naming the factory was found. apotelyt and the dealers date it 1996, the centenary year; Japanese Wikipedia lists it under 1997.
It is a large lens for a 55: eight elements in seven groups, an actual focal length of 55.5 mm by Japanese Wikipedia, 77 mm filters, about 500 g and 80 × 60 mm, against the 55 mm filters and 190–275 g of the two 50mm Planars. The closest focus is 0.6 m and the aperture runs to f/16. Where it was made and how many blades it has were not established, and no list price appears in any maker or dealer document found; a collectors’ thread on dprforum recalls a 1996 US price around $7,500, which nothing confirms.
No published review of the lens was found, only collectors’ forum remarks, which call it very sharp at full aperture and put its out-of-focus rendering below the Planar 85mm f/1.2’s; those are owners’ opinions rather than tests and are left out of the review list. The lens appears so seldom that its two anniversary siblings, the 85mm f/1.2 of 1982 and 1992, are much the easier to find.
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 Planar T* 55mm f/1.2 '100 Jahre Planar' (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
- Zeiss 1.2/55mm Planar for Contax Yashica 100 Years Anniversary MINT boxed
- CONTAX Planar T 55mm F1.2 MMG 100周年 (C/Y) 【AB】
- 極上品 CONTAX コンタックス Planar T*55mm F1.2 MM
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