Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Sonnar T* 180mm f/2.8 (C/Y)

Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1982

Known as “Olympia Sonnar”

Also known as: Contax Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 · Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 180mm F2.8 · Contax Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm F2.8 MMJ · Contax Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm F2.8 MMG · Contax Zeiss Sonnar 180mm F2.8 AEG · Sonnar T* 2,8/180 · Sonnar 2.8/180 T* C/Y · Zeiss 180mm f/2.8 Sonnar C/Y · Contax 180mm 2.8 Sonnar · Olympia Sonnar 180mm F2.8 Contax · コンタックス ゾナー 180mm F2.8 · CONTAX Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 180mm F2.8 MMJ · カールツァイス ゾナー T* 180mm F2.8 · オリンピアゾナー 180mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
AE (West Germany, 1982–85) Contax/Yashica 1982–1985 — —
MM (West Germany and Japan, 1985–2005) Contax/Yashica 1985–2005 — —
  1. Element and group count (5群6枚, floating system), angle of view 14°, closest focus 1.4 m, 815 g, 78 × 131 mm, 72 mm filter and the aperture scale 2.8–22 are Kyocera's own figures for the MM lens from its product page archived 2002–03. The same page lists a built-in sliding metal hood, a 75 mm slip-on cap or the 72 mm K-73 metal screw-in cap, case No. 5, and rates the Mutar T* I as good (with vignetting or light fall-off at small stops) and the Mutar T* II and III as especially good. apotelyt's table and English Wikipedia's give the same 6/5, 1.4 m, 72 mm, 78 × 131 mm and 815 g.
  2. Weight: lenstip's specification page gives 985 g and 82 × 131 mm against the 815 g and 78 mm of Kyocera, apotelyt and English Wikipedia. Kyocera's figure, the maker's own, is the one used here.
  3. Close-range correction: Kyocera's page says the Olympia Sonnar adopted a floating system in this (MM) form; Japanese Wikipedia lists a 近距離補正機構 on both its AE row and its MM row; apotelyt records only that the MM barrel was modified. Whether the 1982 AE lens already had the floating group, or gained it with the MM barrel, is therefore not settled by the sources consulted. The element and group count is the same in both, and no source reports a recomputed formula.
  4. Generation dates: Japanese Wikipedia gives 1982 for the AE lens; 1985 is the year the MM barrels arrived across the range after the 159 MM body of 1984; 2005 is the year Kyocera announced it would no longer produce Contax cameras (English Wikipedia). No separate discontinuation date for the lens was published.
  5. Price: ¥154,000 with case is Kyocera's Japanese list price as still shown in 2002 for the MM lens; no 1982 launch price was found. Craig Marshall put a good used copy at US$400–600 in 2019.
  6. The number of diaphragm blades is not given by Kyocera, apotelyt or either Wikipedia; the field is left empty.
  7. Name: Japanese Wikipedia says only the early Contax RTS catalogues called it the Olympia Sonnar, after the 180 mm f/2.8 Sonnar of the 1936 Contax rangefinder line; the lens lists wrote Sonnar, and the barrel reads Sonnar 2,8/180. The citation English Wikipedia attaches to this lens is titled 'Planar T* 2,8/180', a slip in that reference, not a lens.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Carl Zeiss Sonnar 2,8/180 T* with the serial on the front ring; a 78 mm barrel 131 mm long with a sliding built-in hood, a 72 mm thread and a C/Y bayonet; 815 g
  • Not the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 (Olympia-Sonnar) for Exakta, M42 or Pentacon Six, which is a five-element Jena lens in an aluminium barrel without T* or a bayonet; not the Hasselblad Sonnar 180mm f/4, the Rollei Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 HFT or the Contax 645 Sonnar 140mm, which carry their mounts' names
  • AE or MM: white or green 22 on the aperture ring and the MM cam at the rear; country engraved on the barrel, since MM lenses exist from both West Germany and Japan
  • The Apo-Sonnar 200mm f/2 is a 2.6 kg lens with slide-in filters; the Tele-Tessar 200mm lenses are f/3.5 and f/4

AE (West Germany, 1982–85):

  • Minimum-aperture numeral 22 in white on the aperture ring; no MM cam at the rear flange
  • 'Made in West Germany' on the barrel
  • Built-in sliding metal hood and a 72 mm filter thread, as on the MM

MM (West Germany and Japan, 1985–2005):

  • Minimum-aperture numeral 22 in green; MM cam at the rear flange for program and shutter-priority bodies
  • Both 'Made in West Germany' and 'Made in Japan' engravings occur (seller shorthand MMG and MMJ); the engraving, not the generation, gives the country

Specifications

Formula
Sonnar-type telephoto, 6 elements in 5 groups, with a floating close-range correction; angle of view 14°
Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Min. focus
1.4 m
Dimensions
78 × 131 mm
Weight
815 g
Filter
72 mm
Years manufactured
1982–2005
Country
West Germany (AE); West Germany and Japan (MM)
Coating
T*
Original price
¥154,000 with case (Kyocera's Japanese list price as still shown in 2002 for the MM lens; no 1982 launch price found) (today ¥174,000)

What reviewers say

History

The Sonnar T* 180mm f/2.8 arrived in 1982, seven years into the Contax/Yashica range, as its fast 180: six elements in five groups with T* multicoating, a 14° field, focusing to 1.4 m, a 72 mm filter thread, a built-in sliding hood, an aperture scale from f/2.8 to f/22 and, by Kyocera’s figures, 815 g in a barrel 78 mm across and 131 mm long. The early RTS catalogues called it the Olympia Sonnar, reviving the name of the 180 mm f/2.8 Zeiss telephoto of the 1936 Contax rangefinders, though the lens lists and the barrel say Sonnar. Zeiss’s data sheet called it the speed giant among the Contax telephotos and aimed it at press and sports work; Kyocera’s product page adds portraits, for the background blur its aperture and close focus allow. Lenstip’s 985 g is the one figure out of line with the maker’s.

The AE barrel of 1982, made in West Germany, was followed in 1985 by the MM barrel with the green minimum-aperture numeral and the rear cam that lets the 159 MM and later bodies set the aperture in program and shutter-priority modes. Kyocera’s page for the MM lens says the Olympia Sonnar adopted a floating system and came back with a higher degree of finish, and apotelyt counts the 180 among the few MM lenses whose barrel was actually modified. Japanese Wikipedia, however, credits both the AE and the MM rows with a close-range correction mechanism, so whether the floating group was new to the MM or inherited from the AE is not settled; the element count did not change, and no source reports a recomputed formula. MM lenses were made in both West Germany and Japan, so the engraving on the barrel, not the generation, gives the country. Kyocera was still listing the lens in 2002 at ¥154,000 with case, and it stayed in the range until Kyocera left the camera business in 2005.

In use it is a heavy lens with a reputation for rendering. Japanese Wikipedia quotes Hioki Munehiro’s praise for a full, mellow drawing unusual in a 180 and for its colour; an owner on FredMiranda who compared several Contax telephotos called it the most Zeiss-like of them for colour, contrast and sharpness, with the Tele-Tessar 200mm f/3.5 close behind, and another keeps it for portraits for its bokeh. Craig Marshall, testing it for video in 2019, called it one massive prime but praised the floating-element correction, the close focus, the minimal breathing and the short barrel extension, and found its multi-bladed iris gives a more dramatic bokeh than a Cooke’s; he put a good used copy at US$400–600. Kyocera rated the Mutar T* II and III teleconverters as especially good with it and the Mutar I as good, with some vignetting at small stops.

Buying: check the green 22 and the rear cam for an MM lens, the country engraved on the barrel, the sliding hood for free movement and the front element behind it for haze, and the floating mechanism by focusing to 1.4 m and back. No serial table, production total, blade count or 1982 launch price has been found for either generation.

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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 Sonnar T* 180mm f/2.8 (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Apo-Sonnar T* 200mm f/2 (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 135mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Tele-Apotessar T* 300mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/3.5 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/4 (C/Y)

Sources (8)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.