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

Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/3.5 (C/Y)

Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1975 · Tele-Tessar telephoto, 6 elements in 5 groups

Also known as: Contax Tele-Tessar 200mm f/3.5 · Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar T* 200mm F3.5 · Contax Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar 200mm F3.5 AEG · Contax Zeiss Tele Tessar 200mm f3.5 AE · Tele-Tessar T* 3,5/200 · Tele-Tessar 3.5/200 T* C/Y · Zeiss 200mm f/3.5 Tele-Tessar C/Y · Contax 200mm 3.5 Tele-Tessar · コンタックス テレテッサー 200mm F3.5 · CONTAX Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar T* 200mm F3.5 AEG · カールツァイス テレテッサー T* 200mm F3.5 · Tele Tessar 200/3.5 Contax

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
AE (West Germany, 1975–85) Contax/Yashica 1975–1985 — —
  1. Element and group count (5群6枚), closest focus 1.8 m and the 67 mm screw-in filter are Japanese Wikipedia's, confirmed by English Wikipedia's and apotelyt's tables. No Kyocera page exists for this lens: it had left the range seventeen years before the 2002 site.
  2. Weight and size: English Wikipedia gives 750 g and 77.5 × 121.5 mm; apotelyt gives 780 g and 77 × 122 mm. Neither is the maker's figure, and the Zeiss data sheet is a scan without extractable text. English Wikipedia's 750 g is used here, with the 30 g difference noted.
  3. The minimum aperture and the number of diaphragm blades are not given by any source consulted; both fields are left empty.
  4. Dates are Japanese Wikipedia's: 1975 launch and 1985 end of production, the year the 200mm f/4 MM replaced it. No list price in any currency was found.
  5. apotelyt's FAQ says the 'Tele-Tessar 200mm' is one of the MM lenses with a modified barrel; since Japanese Wikipedia lists the f/3.5 only as an AE lens and the f/4 only as an MM lens, that remark reads as a description of the f/4 that replaced it rather than of an MM f/3.5, of which no example is known.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar 3,5/200 T* with the serial on the front ring; a 77 mm barrel 122 mm long with a 67 mm thread, about 750 g
  • Not the Tele-Tessar 200mm f/4 of 1985 (55 mm thread, 66 mm barrel, green minimum aperture) nor the Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 (72 mm thread, built-in sliding hood); the Hasselblad and Rollei Tele-Tessars are 350 and 500 mm lenses, and the ZM Tele-Tessar is an 85 mm f/4 rangefinder lens
  • AE only: a white minimum-aperture numeral and no cam at the rear on every copy

AE (West Germany, 1975–85):

  • Minimum-aperture numeral in white on the aperture ring; no MM cam at the rear flange: the lens was never made in MM form
  • 67 mm filter thread and a 77 mm barrel 122 mm long; the later 200mm f/4 is a 55 mm, 66 mm lens
  • Country engraved on the barrel

Specifications

Formula
Tele-Tessar telephoto, 6 elements in 5 groups
Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5
Min. focus
1.8 m
Dimensions
77 × 122 mm
Weight
750 g
Filter
67 mm
Years manufactured
1975–1985
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 Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/3.5 was the 200 of the Contax RTS launch range of 1975: six elements in five groups with T* multicoating, focusing to 1.8 m, with a 67 mm filter thread and, by the figures of English Wikipedia and apotelyt, 750 to 780 g in a barrel 77 mm across and 122 mm long. It was made in West Germany as an AE lens, with the white minimum-aperture numeral and no cam at the rear, and it never received the MM barrel: Japanese Wikipedia records its production ending in 1985, the year the Contax/Yashica range went over to MM lenses, when the smaller and lighter Tele-Tessar 200mm f/4 took its place. It is therefore one of the few C/Y lenses that exists in a single form, and the only 200 mm Zeiss made for the mount between the launch and the Apo-Sonnar 200mm f/2.

Little has been written about it. The Zeiss data sheet survives only as a scan, Kyocera’s 2002 site predates nothing of its life, and no blog or video review was found. The one owner comparison located, on FredMiranda, puts it a very close second to the Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 for colour, contrast and sharpness among the Contax telephotos its author tested. apotelyt’s remark that the Tele-Tessar 200 mm is among the MM lenses whose barrel was modified is best read as a description of the f/4 that replaced it, since no MM f/3.5 is listed by Japanese Wikipedia or known from the market.

Buying: the lens is ten years of production and forty years of age, so the T* coating, the diaphragm and the helicoid are what to check; the 67 mm thread and 77 mm barrel separate it at a glance from the 55 mm, 66 mm f/4. No minimum aperture, blade count, serial table, production total or list price has been found for it in the sources consulted.

Expand Collapse

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 Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/3.5 (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Show 1 more listing

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: Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/4 (C/Y) · Sonnar T* 180mm f/2.8 (C/Y) · Apo-Sonnar T* 200mm f/2 (C/Y) · Tele-Tessar T* 300mm f/4 (C/Y)

Sources (5)

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.