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

Sonnar 150mm f/4

Carl Zeiss · Hasselblad V · 1957 · Sonnar

Also known as: Zeiss Sonnar 150mm f/4 · Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 150mm f/4 · Sonnar 4/150 · Sonnar 150/4 · Hasselblad 150mm Sonnar · Hasselblad 150mm f/4 · Sonnar C 150mm f/4 · Sonnar CF 150mm f/4 · Sonnar T* 4/150 CFi · Hasselblad 150mm CF · Zeiss Sonnar 150mm f4 C T*

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Sonnar C 4/150, chrome (1957 baseline) · Synchro-Compur, 1s–1/500 and B Hasselblad V 1957–1969 — —
Sonnar C 4/150, black (non-T*) · Synchro-Compur, 1s–1/500 and B Hasselblad V 1969–1973 — —
Sonnar C T* 4/150 · Synchro-Compur, 1s–1/500 and B Hasselblad V 1973–1982 — —
Sonnar CF T* 4/150 · Prontor CF, 1s–1/500 and B, plus F setting Hasselblad V 1982–1998 — —
Sonnar CFi T* 4/150 · Prontor CFi, 1s–1/500 and B, plus F setting Hasselblad V 1998–2013 — —
  1. Element and group counts, exact focal lengths, weights, closest focus and filter fittings are from the Zeiss data sheets hosted by Hasselblad Historical (C150, CF150, CFi150). No separate sheet exists for the chrome or black C lens; their figures are those of the C T* sheet, which describes the same optics.
  2. Generation start years follow the barrel and shutter families as a whole (C 1957, black from about 1969/70, T* 1973, CF 1982, CFi late 1998); no source consulted gives a month for the 150mm's own changeovers, and old stock overlapped the new.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The letters after the focal length are the generation: none or C (Synchro-Compur, 1957–82), CF (Prontor CF, 1982–98), CFi (1998–2013). There is no CFE 150 and no CB 150 — a databus-equipped fast 150 is the shutterless FE f/2.8, a different family
  • Filter mount sorts the eras at a glance: bayonet-50 on every C version, bayonet-60 on CF and CFi
  • Only the CF and CFi carry the green F setting that allows open-shutter use on a 2000- or 200-series body
  • Weight climbs steadily across the run — 710 g (C), 785 g (CF), 850 g (CFi) per the Zeiss sheets — while the optical formula never changes

Sonnar C 4/150, chrome (1957 baseline):

  • Satin-chrome barrel engraved Carl Zeiss / Sonnar 1:4 f=150mm; no red T*; single coating
  • Synchro-Compur with the EV interlock lever — aperture and shutter-speed rings move together until the cross-coupling lever is pressed
  • Bayonet for Hasselblad series 50 filters, the standard C fitting (Zeiss data sheet)
  • Red-ink Zeiss date code inside the rear mount; before 1980 the last two digits are the month and the leading digit(s) plus 1957 the year

Sonnar C 4/150, black (non-T*):

  • Black-anodised barrel with the same C engraving, EV interlock lever and bayonet-50 filter mount as the chrome lens; no red T*
  • Same 5/3 optics and 710 g as the chrome lens — the change is finish only

Sonnar C T* 4/150:

  • Red T* after the Sonnar name; black barrel; bayonet-50 filter mount; EV interlock lever retained
  • Zeiss data sheet: cat. no. 101025, 5 elements in 3 groups, 151.2 mm exact, f/4–32, 1.4 m closest focus, 710 g, Compur size 0 reflex shutter with automatic iris diaphragm

Sonnar CF T* 4/150:

  • Black barrel with a rubber focusing grip, Prontor CF shutter and a green F on the speed ring for open-shutter use on the 2000/200-series bodies; EV interlock becomes a push-button
  • Bayonet-60 filter mount replaces the C lens's bayonet 50 — the quickest way to sort a CF from a C
  • Zeiss data sheet: cat. no. 10 11 14, 5 elements in 3 groups, 151.2 mm exact, 1.4 m at 1:7.1, 785 g

Sonnar CFi T* 4/150:

  • CFi engraved after the focal length; no databus contacts on the bayonet plate — there was no CFE 150
  • Bayonet-60 filter mount; F setting retained; 850 g, the heaviest version of the family
  • Zeiss data sheet: cat. no. 10 11 36 - 9901, 5 elements in 3 groups, 151.5 mm exact, 1.4 m at 1:7.1

Serial-range notes

red-ink code inside the rear mount, before 1980
Zeiss stamped a date code in red ink inside the rear mount. On the chrome, black and C T* lenses it reads YY(Y)MM, with the year the leading digit or digits plus 1957 — so 1105 is May 1968. This is the practical way to date a C-generation 150, since Zeiss lens serials are running numbers with no published block-to-year table for this focal length.
red-ink code inside the rear mount, 1980 onward
From 1980 the code is two reversed year digits followed by a month letter, A = January: 28E is May 1982, 89K is November 1998. This covers the whole CF and CFi run.

Specifications

Formula
Sonnar
Construction
5 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/4–f/32
Shutter
In the lens on every version — Synchro-Compur on the C (1957–82), Prontor CF then CFi from 1982, 1s–1/500 and B, flash sync at every speed
Min. focus
1.4 m
Weight
710 g
Years manufactured
1957–2013
Country
West Germany, then Germany
Coating
Single-coated on the chrome and black C lenses; T* multicoated from 1973

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
low
Vignetting
very slight
Flare & ghosting
well controlled
Optical formula — Sonnar
Schematic cross-section drawn for this site from the Zeiss data sheet (C150) — 5 elements in 3 groups; curvatures and spacing stylized.
Schematic cross-section drawn for this site from the Zeiss data sheet (C150) — 5 elements in 3 groups; curvatures and spacing stylized. — Drawn for this site
ⓘ 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 150mm Sonnar was there at the beginning. It appears in the Hasselblad catalogue alongside the 500C of 1957 and left it only when the V system itself ended, and across those fifty-six years the glass inside never changed: five elements in three groups, an exact focal length of 151.2 mm, a diagonal field of 29°, an aperture scale running f/4 to f/32 and a closest focus of 1.4 m, all as given on Zeiss’s data sheet for the lens (cat. no. 101025). What changed was everything around the glass — the finish, the coating, the shutter, the filter mount — which is why the family reads as a history of Hasselblad’s barrels rather than of its optics.

Zeiss was in no doubt about the lens’s place in the system. Its C-generation sheet opens by saying that “many photographers consider the Sonnar T* f/4 - 150 mm the most important supplementary lens for the Hasselblad camera,” notes that “even at full aperture the lens covers the entire 6 x 6 cm format,” and credits the compact Sonnar layout — few glass-to-air surfaces, short overall length — with “excellent corner-to-corner illumination of the image field.” The uses it lists are portraiture, press, sports and stage work. Twenty-five years later the CF sheet repeats those sentences almost verbatim; the argument had not needed revising.

The visible history runs in four steps. The 1957 lens is satin chrome with a Synchro-Compur shutter, single coating and the EV interlock lever that ties the aperture and speed rings together until the cross-coupling lever is pressed. A black-anodised version followed around 1969/70 with the same optics and the same 710 g. Multicoating arrived in 1973, marked by the red T* after the Sonnar name — Zeiss dated T* on the Hasselblad line to that year, and no source consulted fixes the month for this focal length specifically. In 1982 the Prontor CF shutter replaced the Synchro-Compur across the whole line: the CF 150 gains a rubber focusing grip, a push-button EV release, a green F setting for open-shutter use on the focal-plane bodies, and a bayonet-60 filter mount in place of the old bayonet 50. Weight goes to 785 g (cat. no. 10 11 14).

The last version came with the CFi barrels at the end of 1998. Its sheet abandons the “most important supplementary lens” formula for a narrower claim — “the Sonnar T* 4/150 CFi lens has been the classical portrait lens in the Hasselblad system” — and explains why: at roughly twice the frame diagonal the focal length gives “the ideal perspective for classic head and shoulder portraits,” with flash synchronisation to 1/500 s. The lens is now 850 g, and its exact focal length is printed as 151.5 mm rather than the 151.2 mm of the two earlier sheets, a discrepancy no source consulted accounts for. There was never a CFE or CB 150: buyers who wanted databus metering at this focal length bought the shutterless f/2.8.

Reviewers have been consistent about it. Daren of Learn Film Photography, using a black T* lens, calls it the one lens in his Hasselblad kit he would not sell, finding it sharp corner to corner with very little vignetting or chromatic aberration wide open and flare well held by the T* coating; his complaints are the 1.4 m closest focus and the modest maximum aperture. Erin Emery’s V-system guide describes it as the most common and affordable portrait lens in the system and the one most portrait photographers should buy, while noting that those chasing outright sharpness go to the 180.

What remains open: who at Zeiss Oberkochen computed the lens, whom no source consulted names; the months of the chrome-to-black and T* changeovers and any serial boundary marking them; whether the CFi sheet’s 151.5 mm reflects a real change or a re-measurement; any original list price, in dollars or kronor, from a dated price list; and every production figure, which would have to come from Nordin’s compendia.

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 taken with the Sonnar 150mm f/4
Inokashira Benzaiten, Tokyo — shot on a Sonnar 150mm f/4 (ejstanz) — ejstanz, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Sonnar 150mm f/4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $350 across 53 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $230–$480). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $350.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$350$230–$48053
2026-09-06$350$230–$48054

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Sonnar 150mm f/2.8 · Sonnar 180mm f/4 · Sonnar 250mm f/5.6 · Tessar 160mm f/4.8 · Variogon 140-280mm f/5.6

Sources (6)

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.