Vario-Sonnar T* 70–210mm f/3.5 (C/Y)
Carl Zeiss · Contax/Yashica · 1980
Also known as: Contax Vario-Sonnar 70-210mm f/3.5 · Contax Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 70-210mm F3.5 · Contax 70-210mm F3.5 AEG · Vario-Sonnar T* 70-210mm f/3.5 AEG · Vario-Sonnar 3,5/70-210 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 3,5/70-210 · Contax Zeiss 70-210 Vario-Sonnar Germany · Vario-Sonnar 70-210 C/Y · コンタックス バリオゾナー 70-210mm F3.5 · Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 70-210mm F3.5 (AE) · CONTAX Vario-Sonnar T*70-210mm F3.5 AEG
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AE (West Germany, 1980–) | Contax/Yashica | 1980 | — | — |
- Family focal length and aperture are the wide end, 70 mm and f/3.5; the aperture is constant across the range. Element and group count (12群15枚), 1.8 m close focus with a 0.3 m macro position and the 67 mm filter are from Japanese Wikipedia's AE table; English Wikipedia, apotelyt, Kamerastore and Aperturepedia give the same 15/12, 67 mm, 1,145 g and 77 × 186 mm. Apotelyt prints 0.30 m as the minimum focus, which is the macro figure, not the normal range.
- Smallest aperture f/22, from English Wikipedia and Aperturepedia. Aperture blade count: not given by any source read; Aperturepedia leaves it blank.
- Year: 1980 from Kamerastore's product text and Aperturepedia's database, neither citing a Zeiss document. The lens is absent from Kyocera's archived product pages of 2002, so production ended before then; no end date was found. Zeiss's datasheet survives on the Wayback Machine only as a scanned PDF whose text could not be extracted for this page.
- Where made: Oberkochen, West Germany, from apotelyt's FAQ ('both the 40-80mm and the 70-210mm zooms were produced by Zeiss in Oberkochen') and English Wikipedia; the later Vario-Sonnars were built in Japan.
- No list price in any currency was found. Apotelyt gives a used range of US$500–1,000.
How to tell them apart
- Engraved Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 3,5/70-210 T* with Made in West Germany; a long (186 mm), heavy (1,145 g) constant-aperture push-pull zoom with a 67 mm thread, by far the largest C/Y zoom
- Minimum aperture in white (AE); no green figure, no MM cam. It meters and works in aperture-priority and manual on every C/Y body, but not in Program or shutter-priority on the 159 MM and later
- Not the Contax N Vario-Sonnar 70–200mm f/3.5–4.5 (autofocus, no aperture ring, N bayonet) nor the Yashica ML 70–210 zooms sold for the same mount
AE (West Germany, 1980–):
- Smallest f-number engraved in white, not green: an AE lens, without the MM cam, so Program and shutter-priority bodies cannot set its aperture
- Made in West Germany on the barrel: one of the two C/Y zooms built at Oberkochen, the other being the 40–80mm f/3.5. Sellers write AEG
- AE (West Germany, 1980–): The only version recorded. Japanese Wikipedia lists the 70–210 in its AE table alone, with no MM entry, and no Japanese-built or MM-marked example is documented in anything read for this page, though the absence has not been confirmed against a Zeiss or Kyocera list. It does not appear among the lenses on Kyocera's 2002 product pages, so it had left the catalogue by then; when is not documented.
Specifications
- Formula
- Vario-Sonnar, 15 elements in 12 groups; constant-aperture one-touch push-pull tele zoom with a macro position
- Construction
- 15 elements / 12 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5–f/22
- Min. focus
- 1.8 m
- Dimensions
- 77 × 186 mm
- Weight
- 1145 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1980
- 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 Vario-Sonnar T* 70–210mm f/3.5 is the heavy constant-aperture telephoto zoom of the Contax/Yashica range and one of only two C/Y zooms built by Zeiss at Oberkochen, the other being the 40–80mm f/3.5 of 1975. Fifteen elements in twelve groups, 1,145 g, 77 mm across and 186 mm long with a 67 mm thread, it is the largest zoom Zeiss made for the mount. Kamerastore and Aperturepedia date it to 1980. It focuses to 1.8 m in the normal range and to 0.3 m in a macro position, stops down to f/22 and holds f/3.5 from 70 to 210 mm. The barrel is the AE type, with the smallest f-number in white and no MM cam: Japanese Wikipedia lists it in the AE table only, and no MM example has turned up in the material read here, though a Zeiss or Kyocera list confirming that was not found. It is missing from Kyocera’s product pages of 2002, so it had been dropped by then, well before the Japanese-built 80–200mm f/4 and 100–300 that stayed to the end.
It is a one-touch push-pull zoom, the single ring turning to focus and sliding to zoom. On an RTS, 139, 137 or any later body in aperture-priority or manual it works like every other C/Y lens; on the 159 MM, 167 MT, RTS III, ST, RX, AX and Aria the Program and shutter-priority modes need an MM lens, so with this one the camera falls back to aperture priority. Kamerastore’s product text notes the AE barrel and the “ninja star” out-of-focus highlights its diaphragm produces when stopped down, a trait of the older German lenses with their many-sided but not rounded irises. No blade count was found.
No published review was found. The lens’s reputation on owners’ forums rests on its build: in an MFlenses thread comparing the Japanese 28–85 and 35–135, the German 70–210 is the yardstick against which the later zooms’ construction is judged and found lighter. Apotelyt puts its used price at US$500–1,000, above the 80–200mm f/4 that replaced it for most buyers at a third of the weight. No list price in any currency was found.
Still open: the end of production, whether any MM-barrelled or Japanese-built example exists, the blade count, a launch price and a 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* 70–210mm f/3.5 (C/Y)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.