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

Sonnar 135mm f/4 (Tele-Rolleiflex)

Carl Zeiss · Rolleiflex TLR · 1959

Also known as: Tele-Rolleiflex Sonnar 135mm f/4 · Tele Rolleiflex Sonnar 135mm F4 · Tele-Rolleiflex Zeiss Sonnar 4/135 · Rolleiflex Tele Sonnar 135mm · Rollei Tele-Rolleiflex Carl Zeiss Sonnar · Tele Rollei Sonnar 135 · テレローライフレックス ゾナー 135mm F4 · テレローライ ゾナー 135mm · ローライフレックス テレ ゾナー 135mm F4

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Sonnar 135/4 on the Tele-Rolleiflex (1959–1975) Rolleiflex TLR 1959–1975 — —
  1. Formula: a Sonnar by name; no source read for this page gives its element or group count, so `elements` and `groups` are left empty. Zeiss's other 135 mm f/4 Sonnars of the period (the Contarex and Jena lenses) are four elements in three groups, but that is a different lens and is not carried over.
  2. Filter: Bay III, which Japanese Wikipedia assigns to the Tele-Rolleiflex along with the 80 mm f/2.8 lenses. Bay IV, sometimes stated for the Tele, is the Wide-Angle Rolleiflex's bayonet on the same page.
  3. Minimum focus: 2.7 m (Leon Van Kemenade, 35mmc, who calls it 'ridiculous' for portraiture); the Rolleinar 0.35 close-up set is the remedy named by him and by forum users. Not a maker's figure, so `mfd_m` is left empty.
  4. Years and production: 1959 (ja.wikipedia; en.wikipedia K7S), to 1975 as the body page gives it. About 8,500 Tele-Rolleiflexes by serial-number data (35mmc); camera-wiki.org's figure was not read for this page.
  5. Shutter: Synchro-Compur MXV, 1s–1/500 and B, from the body page; no lens-side source.
  6. Condition: balsam separation between cemented elements of the taking lens is common in these Sonnars and 'nearly impossible to fix' (35mmc); Van Kemenade's copy showed its effect on three frames of one roll and none on later rolls.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A fixed taking lens on the Tele-Rolleiflex only: Carl Zeiss Sonnar 1:4 f=135mm on the front ring, Bay III bayonet, below a matching Heidosmat 135 viewing lens on a body with a noticeably deeper front than a 2.8F
  • Not the Schneider Tele-Xenar 135mm f/4 HFT of the Rolleiflex 4.0FT (2007 on), the multicoated reissue with a Copal shutter and 1.5 m close focus; nor the Hasselblad, Contax or Jena Sonnars, which are removable lenses

Sonnar 135/4 on the Tele-Rolleiflex (1959–1975):

  • Front ring reads Carl Zeiss Sonnar 1:4 f=135mm with a Zeiss serial, on the long-fronted Tele-Rolleiflex body below a Heidosmat 4/135 viewing lens; the only 135 mm lens on a classic Rolleiflex
  • Type 1 bodies (1959) have an uncoupled selenium EVS meter; Type 2 (from 1970) takes 220 film (ja.wikipedia). The lens is the same on both

Specifications

Formula
Sonnar type; the element and group count is not given by any source read for this page
Aperture range
f/4
Shutter
Synchro-Compur MXV, 1s–1/500, B
Filter
Bay III
Years manufactured
1959–1975
Country
West Germany

What reviewers say

History

The Sonnar 135mm f/4 is the taking lens of the Tele-Rolleiflex, the long-lens twin-lens reflex Franke & Heidecke introduced in 1959 (Prochnow’s K7S) and built until 1975. It is the only telephoto Carl Zeiss ever supplied for a Rollei TLR and the only lens the Tele-Rolleiflex was offered with, a Sonnar type behind a Synchro-Compur MXV, 1 s to 1/500 with B, inside the Bay III bayonet that the 80mm f/2.8 cameras also use. The camera was Rollei’s answer, along with the Wide-Angle Rolleiflex of 1961, to the interchangeable-lens Mamiya TLRs: rather than let the lenses come off, Rollei built a whole camera around each focal length, with a matched Heidosmat 135 viewing lens above. No source read for this page gives the lens’s element and group count; Zeiss’s other 135mm f/4 Sonnars of the time are four-element, three-group lenses, but the Tele-Rolleiflex lens is its own computation and the figure is left open.

Two bodies carried it. The Type 1 of 1959 has an uncoupled selenium meter with EVS coupling of shutter and aperture; the Type 2 from 1970 added the 12/24 switch for 220 film. The lens did not change. Its one serious limitation is the close focus of about 2.7 m, which Leon Van Kemenade, reviewing a Type 1 for 35mmc in 2024, calls ridiculous for the head-and-shoulders portraiture that a 135 on 6×6 invites; the answer in period and now is the Rolleinar 0.35 close-up set, a pair of supplementary lenses in Bay III, which is expensive. About 8,500 Tele-Rolleiflexes were made by serial-number reckoning, against roughly 4,000 Wides, so it is scarce rather than rare, and in 2024 Van Kemenade saw them selling for over £1,000.

The lens’s reputation is high and its condition is the problem. Van Kemenade loves the way it renders and calls it still a wonderful lens, but his copy, like many, has balsam separation between the cemented elements of the taking lens, which he describes as common in these Sonnars and nearly impossible to fix; it showed on three frames of one roll and not on later ones. Slow Compur speeds, as on any Rolleiflex of the age, were cured by a service. His verdict is that the pros outweigh the cons for a venerable, slightly odd old TLR that demands more diligence than most, and that anyone offered the chance to shoot one should not pass it up. The Tele-Xenar 135mm f/4 HFT of the Rolleiflex 4.0FT, Schneider’s multicoated lens of the 2000s with a 1.5 m close focus and a Copal shutter, is the modern successor and a different lens.

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 Sonnar 135mm f/4 (Tele-Rolleiflex)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Tele-Xenar 135mm f/4 HFT / Tele-Apogon (Rolleiflex 4.0FT) · Distagon 55mm f/4 (Wide-Angle Rolleiflex) · Planar 80mm f/2.8 (Rolleiflex) · Sonnar 150mm f/4 · Sonnar 150mm f/4 (SL66)

Sources (3)

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.