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

Vario-Sonnar T* 40–80mm f/3.5 (C/Y)

Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1975

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Contax Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 40-80mm F3.5 AEG · Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 40-80mm F3.5 AE · Contax Vario-Sonnar 40-80mm f/3.5 · Contax 40-80mm f3.5 AEG Germany · Vario-Sonnar T* 3.5/40-80 · Vario-Sonnar 3,5/40-80 · Zeiss 40-80 3.5 C/Y · CONTAX Vario-Sonnar T* 40-80mm F3.5 · Contax Zeiss 40-80mm AEG · コンタックス バリオゾナー 40-80mm F3.5 · バリオゾナー T* 40-80mm F3.5 AEG · CONTAX Vario-Sonnar 40-80mm F3.5 AE

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
AE (West Germany, 1975–) Contax/Yashica 1975 — —
  1. Construction (13 elements in 9 components), true focal lengths 41.1–77.7 mm, 55°–31° diagonal, f-stop scale 3.5–22, filter mount (slip-on 59 mm, screw thread M55 × 0.75), focusing range to 1.2 m, ø67 and ~87 mm are from Carl Zeiss's data sheet, cat. no. 10 47 27, issued from D-7082 Oberkochen, West Germany (read from the Wayback Machine's capture; the live URL returned 404 on 1 November 2026). Japanese Wikipedia gives the same 9群13枚, 1.2 m and φ55.
  2. Weight: Zeiss's sheet says approx. 660 g and lenstip.com repeats 660 g; English Wikipedia prints 605 g against 67 × 87 mm. The maker's figure is used. Stronger: Zeiss.
  3. Launch year: 1975 is from Japanese Wikipedia alone; the Zeiss sheet is undated, and English Wikipedia gives no year. The single-source badge is set for it. No end date is published; the lens is absent from Kyocera's product pages captured in 2002.
  4. Distortion: Zeiss's curve at 40 mm is barrel throughout, passing −2% at about 12 mm from the centre and reaching roughly −6% of image height at the corner; relative illuminance at f/3.5 falls to about 25% at the corner and at f/8 to about 60%. The sheet's text claims image quality equal to the best fixed-focal-length lenses at medium focal lengths and a plane of sharpness that is 'maintained exactly during focal length change'.
  5. No price was found: Kyocera's archived pages post-date the lens and no US, DM or yen list price has been located.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Vario-Sonnar 3,5/40-80 T* with a plain, not green, 22; a constant f/3.5 2:1 zoom of 67 × 87 mm and about 660 g with a 55 mm thread, the only C/Y standard zoom made in West Germany
  • Focuses only to 1.2 m, further than any other C/Y zoom, and has no macro position (Zeiss data sheet; Japanese Wikipedia)
  • Not the 35–70 f/3.4, a Japanese-built MM lens with a 67 mm thread and macro setting, which replaced it as the compact standard zoom
  • Shares the 55 mm thread with the Planar 50s, Sonnar 85/2.8, Distagon 35/2.8 and the 80–200 f/4

AE (West Germany, 1975–):

  • The only version: an AE lens, so the smallest f-number (22) is engraved in plain white, not green, and the lens works in aperture-priority and manual only on the MM-era bodies
  • Made by Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen: the data sheet is issued from D-7082 Oberkochen, West Germany, and English Wikipedia names it as one of the two German-built C/Y zooms; sellers write it as AEG
  • A single broad knurled ring over most of the barrel in Zeiss's drawing, 67 mm across and about 87 mm long, with a 55 mm thread (Zeiss data sheet)

Specifications

Formula
Vario-Sonnar constant-aperture zoom, 13 elements in 9 groups¹
Construction
13 elements / 9 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/22
Min. focus
1.2 m
Dimensions
67 × 87 mm
Weight
660 g
Filter
55 mm (0.75 mm pitch), M55 × 0.75 screw-in; slip-on filters of 59 mm also fit (Zeiss data sheet)
Years manufactured
1975
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.

Optical formula — Vario-Sonnar constant-aperture zoom, 13 elements in 9 groups¹
ⓘ What these charts mean

MTF (modulation transfer function) shows how much contrast the lens keeps at a given fineness of detail, from the center of the frame to the corner — the coarse curves track punch, the fine ones resolving power, and a gap between solid and dashed lines means astigmatism. Relative illumination (falloff) shows how much darker the corners are than the center at each aperture. Manufacturers only began publishing these for modern lenses; no 1950s maker issued them, which is why older families here cite period magazine bench tests instead.

History

The Vario-Sonnar T* 3,5/40–80 was the zoom in the lens range with which the Contax RTS was launched in 1975, and a Zeiss product in the fullest sense: its data sheet, catalogue number 10 47 27, is issued from Oberkochen, and English Wikipedia counts it with the 70–210 f/3.5 as one of only two Contax/Yashica zooms made in West Germany. Thirteen elements in nine groups give a constant f/3.5 across true focal lengths of 41.1 to 77.7 mm and a 55° to 31° angle of view, in a barrel 67 mm across and about 87 mm long that Zeiss claimed was smaller than a medium telephoto, with a 55 mm thread, 59 mm slip-on filters, and about 660 g; it focuses only to 1.2 m and has no macro setting. Zeiss’s text promises image quality at the middle of the range equal to the best fixed-focal-length lenses and a plane of sharpness held exactly as the focal length changes.

It is an AE lens, with a plain white 22 on the aperture ring, and no MM version was ever made: Japanese Wikipedia lists it only among the AE lenses, and by the time Kyocera’s product pages were archived in 2002 it was gone, the Japanese-built 35–70 f/3.4 having taken its place as the compact standard zoom. On the 159 MM and later bodies it therefore works in aperture-priority and manual modes only. Neither the year it was dropped nor any list price has been found.

Zeiss’s own curves are candid about its limits. At 40 mm and f/3.5 the 10 cycles/mm contrast runs around 90% in the centre and about 55% at the corner, and the 40 cycles/mm curve is only about 50% even on axis; by f/8 the 10 and 20 cycles/mm curves run above 80% across most of the frame. Distortion at 40 mm is barrel throughout, passing 2% of image height at about 12 mm from the centre and reaching roughly 6% at the corner, a large figure for a zoom that starts at 40 mm, and relative illuminance wide open drops to about a quarter at the corner, recovering to about 60% at f/8. No blog or video review of it has been found; owner threads on it exist but add little beyond curiosity about how it compares with the primes.

For a buyer it is the only Oberkochen-made standard zoom for the mount and is usually priced below the Japanese 35–70, partly because 1.2 m is a long close-focus limit and partly because the 35–70’s reputation overshadows it. Check that the zoom ring moves evenly over its travel, that the diaphragm closes to 22 and opens cleanly, and that the T* front surface is free of cleaning marks. Open points: when production ended, the number of diaphragm blades, a serial record, and any price at launch.

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 Vario-Sonnar T* 40–80mm f/3.5 (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: Vario-Sonnar T* 28–70mm f/3.5–4.5 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 28–85mm f/3.3–4 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 35–70mm f/3.4 (C/Y) · Vario-Sonnar T* 70–210mm f/3.5 (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.