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

Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/4 (C/Y)

Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1985 · Compact Tele-Tessar telephoto, 6 elements in 5 groups

Also known as: Contax Tele-Tessar 200mm f/4 · Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar T* 200mm F4 · Contax Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar 200mm F4 MMJ · Contax Zeiss Tele Tessar 200mm f4 MM · Tele-Tessar T* 4/200 · Tele-Tessar 4/200 T* C/Y · Zeiss 200mm f/4 Tele-Tessar C/Y · Contax 200mm 4 Tele-Tessar · コンタックス テレテッサー 200mm F4 · CONTAX Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar T* 200mm F4 MMJ · カールツァイス テレテッサー T* 200mm F4 · Tele Tessar 200/4 Contax

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
MM (1985–92) Contax/Yashica 1985–1992 — —
  1. Element and group count (5群6枚), closest focus 1.5 m and the 55 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 is absent from the lens index on Kyocera's 2002 site, consistent with the 1992 end of production.
  2. Weight and size: apotelyt gives 540 g and 66 × 121 mm; English Wikipedia gives 550 g and 66.5 × 122 mm. Neither is the maker's figure, and the Zeiss data sheet is a scan without extractable text. apotelyt's 540 g is used here, with the 10 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: 1985 launch and 1992 end of production. No list price in any currency was found.
  5. apotelyt's FAQ names the 'Tele-Tessar 200mm' among the MM lenses with a modified barrel. Since Japanese Wikipedia lists the f/3.5 only as an AE lens and this f/4 only as an MM lens, the remark reads as a note that the MM-era 200 is a different barrel from the AE-era one, which it is; it does not establish an AE f/4.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar 4/200 T* with the serial on the front ring; a slim 66 mm barrel 121 mm long with a 55 mm thread, the same filter size as the Planar 50mm f/1.4 and the Sonnar 85mm f/2.8; about 540 g
  • Not the Tele-Tessar 200mm f/3.5 of 1975–85 (67 mm thread, 77 mm barrel, white 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
  • MM only: a green minimum-aperture numeral and the cam at the rear on every copy

MM (1985–92):

  • Minimum-aperture numeral in green and the MM cam at the rear flange: Japanese Wikipedia lists the lens only in its MM table
  • 55 mm filter thread on a 66 mm barrel 121 mm long, about 540 g; the 200mm f/3.5 it replaced is a 67 mm, 77 mm, 750 g lens
  • Country engraved on the barrel; no source consulted says where it was made

Specifications

Formula
Compact Tele-Tessar telephoto, 6 elements in 5 groups
Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/4
Min. focus
1.5 m
Dimensions
66 × 121 mm
Weight
540 g
Filter
55 mm
Years manufactured
1985–1992
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/4 was the compact 200 of the Contax/Yashica range’s MM era: six elements in five groups with T* multicoating, focusing to 1.5 m, with a 55 mm filter thread shared with the standard lenses and, by the figures of apotelyt and English Wikipedia, 540 to 550 g in a barrel 66 mm across and 121 mm long. Japanese Wikipedia dates it to 1985, the year the range went over to MM lenses, as the successor to the West German Tele-Tessar 200mm f/3.5 of 1975, half a stop slower, 200 g lighter and a size smaller in every dimension; it also records the end of production in 1992, which makes it the shortest-lived of the C/Y telephotos and explains why Kyocera’s 2002 site has no page for it. It exists only as an MM lens, with the green minimum-aperture numeral and the rear cam, and no source consulted says where it was made.

Nothing substantial has been published about its performance: the Zeiss data sheet survives only as a scan, and no blog or video review was found. apotelyt’s note that the Tele-Tessar 200 mm is among the MM lenses with a modified barrel is, in the light of Japanese Wikipedia’s tables, a statement that the MM-era 200 is a different lens from the AE-era one rather than evidence of an AE f/4, of which no example is known.

Buying: the 55 mm thread and slim barrel separate it at a glance from the 67 mm f/3.5; check the green numeral and the cam at the rear, the coating and the diaphragm. 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/4 (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: Tele-Tessar T* 200mm f/3.5 (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.