S-Planar T* 100mm f/4 bellows lens (C/Y)
Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1978
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Contax Carl Zeiss S-Planar T* 100mm F4 · Contax S-Planar 100mm f/4 bellows · Carl Zeiss S-Planar 100mm 4 C/Y · S-Planar 4/100 T* · Contax 100mm f/4 S-Planar bellows lens · Zeiss S-Planar 100mm F4 Bellows Contax · コンタックス Sプラナー 100mm F4 · S-プラナー T*100mm F4 ベローズ · Carl Zeiss S-Planar 100mm F4 ヤシカ コンタックス
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellows lens (West Germany, 1978–) | Contax/Yashica (on the Contax bellows) | 1978 | — | — |
- Everything on this page except the apotelyt mention rests on Japanese Wikipedia's entry for the S-プラナー100mmF4 (1978; 4 groups, 6 elements; 55 mm screw-in attachment; made in West Germany; six-blade diaphragm; a bellows lens outside the AE and MM series; very expensive, awkward to carry and use, sold in small numbers; prone to haze and easy to repair). apotelyt's C/Y page names it as a macro lens for use on bellows and says little is known about it, with no row in its table. No Zeiss data sheet, Kyocera page, weight, dimensions, magnification range or price has been found.
- The lens is absent from Kyocera's 2002 lens index, which lists the Makro-Planar 100mm f/2.8 (AE) as the 100 mm macro; Japanese Wikipedia says the Makro-Planar succeeded it. No discontinuation date was found.
How to tell them apart
- Front ring engraved S-Planar 4/100 T*; the lens has no focusing helicoid, so there is no distance scale, no depth-of-field scale and only an aperture ring on a short barrel (Japanese Wikipedia)
- Not the Makro-Planar 100mm f/2.8, a helicoid lens reaching 1:1 on its own; not the Hasselblad S-Planar 120mm f/5.6 or the Rollei SL66 S-Planar, which carry those systems' mounts and shutters; not the Makro-Planar 60mm f/2.8, which Zeiss also sold as the S-Planar 60mm f/2.8 in C/Y
Bellows lens (West Germany, 1978–):
- No focusing ring and no distance scale: the barrel carries only the aperture ring, and focus comes from the bellows (Japanese Wikipedia)
- 'Made in West Germany'; six diaphragm blades; 55 mm filter thread (Japanese Wikipedia)
- Bellows lens (West Germany, 1978–): The only version. Japanese Wikipedia lists it apart from the AE and MM lenses because it is neither: a bellows lens head with no helicoid, sold in the C/Y bayonet for the Contax auto bellows. It was very expensive and inconvenient to carry and use, and sold in small numbers; the same entry says it is prone to internal haze and straightforward to service¹. Succeeded by the helicoid Makro-Planar 100mm f/2.8.
Specifications
- Formula
- S-Planar, 6 elements in 4 groups; no focusing helicoid — a macro lens head for the Contax bellows
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4
- Diaphragm blades
- 6
- Filter
- 55 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1978
- Country
- West Germany
- Coating
- T*
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 S-Planar T* 4/100 is the odd lens of the Contax/Yashica range: a macro lens head with no focusing helicoid, made to be focused by the Contax auto bellows. Japanese Wikipedia, the one substantive source found, dates it to 1978, gives six elements in four groups, a 55 mm filter thread, a six-blade diaphragm and West German manufacture, and lists it outside the AE and MM series because it belongs to neither. “S-Planar” was Zeiss’s name at the time for a Planar computed for close distances, used on the Hasselblad and Rollei SL66 120 mm lenses and, in C/Y, on the first 60mm f/2.8 before it was renamed Makro-Planar.
The lens was very expensive, awkward to carry and to use, and sold in small numbers; the same entry adds that it is prone to internal haze and straightforward to service. The helicoid Makro-Planar 100mm f/2.8, with its floating element and 1:1 on its own mount, succeeded it, and by 2002 Kyocera’s lens index carried only the Makro-Planar at 100 mm. No Zeiss data sheet, Kyocera product page, weight, magnification range, price or review of the S-Planar has been found, so most of the specification remains unknown. A copy is identified by the short barrel with nothing on it but an aperture ring and the S-Planar 4/100 engraving.
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 S-Planar T* 100mm f/4 bellows lens (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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