Vario-Sonnar T* 35–135mm f/3.3–4.5 (C/Y)
Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1993
Also known as: Contax Vario-Sonnar 35-135mm f/3.3-4.5 · Contax Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 35-135mm F3.3-4.5 · Contax 35-135mm F3.3-4.5 MMJ · Vario-Sonnar T* 35-135mm f/3.3-4.5 MMJ · Vario-Sonnar 3,3-4,5/35-135 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 3,3-4,5/35-135 · Contax Zeiss 35-135 Vario-Sonnar · Vario-Sonnar 35-135 C/Y · コンタックス バリオゾナー 35-135mm F3.3-4.5 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 35-135mm F3.3-4.5 (MM) · CONTAX Vario-Sonnar T*35-135mm F3.3-4.5 MMJ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MM (Japan, 1993–2005) | Contax/Yashica | 1993–2005 | — | — |
- Family focal length and aperture are the wide end: 35 mm and f/3.3, the aperture falling to f/4.5 at 135 mm. Element and group count (15群16枚), angle of view (64° to 18°), aperture scale 3.3–5.6–8–11–16–22, 1.3 m close focus with 0.26 m at 1:4 in macro, 860 g, 85 × 107 mm, 82 mm filter, case No. 5 and the ¥240,000 list price are from Kyocera's archived product page of October 2002. Zeiss's datasheet (cited by English Wikipedia, now offline at zeiss.com) calls it a 3.8× one-touch zoom.
- Close focus: 1.3 m from Kyocera, Japanese Wikipedia and Pebble Place's specification table, against 1.2 m on apotelyt, lenstip, English Wikipedia and Aperturepedia. Kyocera's figure is the stronger, being the maker's own; the 1.2 m figures may derive from Zeiss's sheet, which could not be read for this page.
- Weight: 860 g from Kyocera, lenstip, English Wikipedia, Aperturepedia and Pebble Place. Apotelyt's catalogue gives 735 g, which is English Wikipedia's figure for the 28–85, and is treated as an error.
- Length: 107 mm from Kyocera and Pebble Place, 106.5 mm on English Wikipedia and Aperturepedia. Angle of view: 64°–18° from Kyocera, 63°–18° on lenstip and Pebble Place.
- Aperture blades: six, on Aperturepedia's database alone, so the field is left empty.
- Converters: Kyocera's page allows the Mutar T* I with light fall-off at the long end and vignetting when stopped down there, and rules out the Mutar II and III. Hood: the 82/86S adapter ring with the No. 1 metal hood; Pebble Place prefers the one-piece W-1 hood. Cap K-81, 82 mm snap-on.
- Year: 1993 from Pebble Place's table and Aperturepedia's database; neither names a Kyocera or Zeiss document. No Zeiss or Kyocera launch date was found.
How to tell them apart
- Engraved Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 3,3-4,5/35-135 T* on the front ring; a single broad push-pull ring that zooms when pushed and focuses when turned, with a second, narrower ring behind it that pulls back at 35 mm to engage the macro range (Pebble Place)
- 82 mm filter thread, the largest of the C/Y zooms, shared with the 28–85; the front does not rotate
- Green f/22 on the aperture ring (MM); Made in Japan on the barrel. The MM cam makes it work in every mode on the 159 MM and later bodies, and in aperture-priority and manual on the earlier ones
- Not the Contax N Vario-Sonnar 24–85 or the Sony Vario-Sonnar zooms: those are autofocus lenses with no aperture ring, for other mounts
MM (Japan, 1993–2005):
- Smallest f-number (22) engraved in green on the aperture ring, the MM mark, with the extra cam on the mount that lets Program and shutter-priority bodies set the aperture; Japanese Wikipedia lists the lens in the MM table only
- Made in Japan: sellers write MMJ. No AE or German-built version is recorded
- MM (Japan, 1993–2005): The only version. Japanese Wikipedia lists the 35–135 among the MM lenses alone and Pebble Place gives 1993 as its first year, by which time every new C/Y lens was MM and built in Japan. Kyocera still listed it, with its case, at ¥240,000 in October 2002; the end is taken as Kyocera's exit from the Contax business in 2005, with no separate date for the lens.
Specifications
- Formula
- Vario-Sonnar, 16 elements in 15 groups; 3.8× one-touch push-pull zoom with a macro position at the 35 mm end
- Construction
- 16 elements / 15 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.3–f/22
- Min. focus
- 1.3 m
- Dimensions
- 85 × 107 mm
- Weight
- 860 g
- Filter
- 82 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1993–2005
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- T*
- Original price
- ¥240,000 with case, Kyocera's Japanese list price (メーカー希望小売価格) as published on kyocera.co.jp in October 2002, late in the lens's life; no launch price in any currency was found (today ¥272,000)
What reviewers say
- Pebble Place (pebbleplace.com) (blog) — Used on Canon full-frame DSLRs: well built with a light, smooth focus ring and a push-pull action with no creep, but a large, nose-heavy lens that Zeiss's "compact" label does not fit. Sharp enough that 100% crops still amaze, with typical Zeiss colour, minor CA and some easily corrected barrel distortion at 35 mm; the viewfinder at 135 mm looks more like f/5.6 and focusing in dim light is hard. The macro mode is "the stand-out feature", a serious close-up lens rather than a parlour trick.
History
The Vario-Sonnar T* 35–135mm f/3.3–4.5 is the longer of the two large general-purpose zooms Carl Zeiss designed for the Contax/Yashica mount in its last decade, a 3.8× push-pull zoom of sixteen elements in fifteen groups that appeared in 1993, according to Pebble Place’s table and Aperturepedia’s database, and stayed in Kyocera’s catalogue until the end of the Contax business in 2005. It exists only in the MM barrel and only as a Japanese-built lens; sellers write MMJ. Kyocera’s own page of October 2002 gives the figures: 64° to 18°, f/3.3 at 35 mm falling to f/4.5 at 135 mm, stops to f/22, 1.3 m close focus with a macro position reaching 0.26 m at 1:4, 860 g, 85 × 107 mm and an 82 mm filter, with a list price of ¥240,000 including the No. 5 case. Several secondary tables give 1.2 m instead, and apotelyt’s 735 g is the weight of the 28–85, not this lens. Kyocera allows the Mutar T* I on it, with light fall-off at the long end and vignetting there when stopped down, and rules out the Mutar II and III.
In the hand it is a one-touch zoom: a single broad ring turns to focus and slides to zoom, and a narrower ring behind it pulls towards the camera at the 35 mm setting to engage the macro range, where the big ring becomes the zoom and the small one the focus. Pebble Place, who used the lens on Canon full-frame DSLRs over many years, found the push-pull action smooth and well damped with no zoom creep, the focus lighter than on the Planar 100mm f/2, and the macro engagement occasionally stiff. The front does not rotate, so polarisers stay put, and the hood is a two-piece affair, the 82/86S ring with the No. 1 metal hood, which Pebble Place replaces with the one-piece W-1. The lens is big and front-heavy on a DSLR, and the aperture is the weak point: the finder at 135 mm looks more like f/5.6 and manual focusing in failing light is hard without focus aids.
Optically Pebble Place rates it above a Canon 24–105mm f/4 L at 35 mm for resolution, with corners that are good rather than excellent at f/8, easily corrected barrel distortion, neutral colour, minor chromatic aberration, light fall-off that disappears by f/5.6–8, and pretty rather than destructive flare into the sun. Bokeh at 135 mm is pleasant in most conditions but no match for a fast prime, and for portraits the reviewer reaches for the Planar 100 instead. The macro mode, with its slightly wide-angle feel and a small zoom range of its own, is called the stand-out feature and the reason to own the lens. On the MFlenses forum the 35–135 and its twin the 28–85 are weighed against each other as the one travel zoom, the choice turning on whether the extra reach or the wider end matters more; the two share the 82 mm thread, the push-pull layout and the macro ring.
Still open: a Zeiss or Kyocera launch date, the aperture blade count (Aperturepedia’s six is unconfirmed) and any production figure or serial table.
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 Vario-Sonnar T* 35–135mm f/3.3–4.5 (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
- Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 35-135mm F3.3-4.5 - Contax Yashica — SN 8174895
- コンタックス CONTAX Vario-Sonnar T* 35-135mm F3.3-4.5 MMJ 一眼カメラ用レンズ #57
- Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 35-135mm F3.3-4.5 レンス゛MMj(中古良品)
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