Carl Zeiss 45mm 1:2.8 T* Tessar Contax/Yashica – review
Carl Zeiss Tessar 45mm 1:2.8 T* Contax/Yashica lens review, aka Carl Zeiss 45mm 1:2.8 C/Y.
Mount – Contax/Yashica (C/Y)
A simple and reliable prime lens, with a very well-known label.
The lens for the test was provided by Egor Nikolaev (Егор Николаев) – many thanks and greetings.
Carl Zeiss 45mm 1:2.8 C/Y specifications
| Name engraved on the lens | Carl Zeiss Tessar 45mm 1:2.8 T* |
| f[mm] | 45 |
| A max [1/f] | 2.8 |
| A min[1/f] | 22 |
| Lens design [el.] | 4 |
| Lens design [gr.] | 3 |
| Filter thread Ø front(rear)[mm] | 49 |
| Lens Shade | – |
| closefocus[m] | 0.6 |
| Dimension Ø x length [mm] | -18 |
| Weight[g] | 87gr |
| Year | 1982 |
| Style | CY |
| Notes |
More data
| Floating elements | NO |
| Aperture blades number | 6 |
| Confidence in the test results of reviewed copies | Enough high |
| Reviewed Lens SN: | 7439053 |
Historical note
Carl Zeiss 45mm 1:2.8 C/Y lens exterior
Carl Zeiss 45mm 1:2.8 T* Tessar Contax/Yashica mounted on Contax Aria
Carl Zeiss 45mm 1:2.8 C/Y sharpness
Сlose-distance resolution test, minimal distance
Testing methods description
- Target: 10-15 cm picture, printed on glossy photo paper
- Distance: 1.7m
- Camera: Sony A7II (24mpx, full-frame, tripod, remote control). M-mode, ISO fixed, WB fixed, SteadyShot – OFF.
- The test was repeated for every F-stop on every focus position with manual focus adjustment for each shot. That is to avoid the effect of field curvature.
- RAW processing: Capture One, default settings. All quality settings – 100%. Crops – 300×200 px
Original target image (printed in horizontal orientation on 10cm X 15cm glossy photo paper)
Scene preview
Test results
Long-distance resolution test
Testing methods description
- Target: cityscape
- Distance: > 200 meters to center focus point
- Camera: Sony A7II (24mpx, full-frame, tripod, remote control). M-mode, ISO fixed, WB fixed, SteadyShot – OFF. The focus point is on the center only.
- RAW processing: Capture One, default settings. All quality settings – 100%. Crops – 300×200 px
Scene preview
Test results
Note: yes, I see a little lack of sharpness on F5.6, and it was a surprise because I’ve made three tries and all three show this behavior. Probably it is a focus-shift because I didn’t refocus on F5.6 for this lens because of the risk to move the DOF on corners. So it isn’t a deviation and seems not critical for understanding the lens sharpness and I decided to keep the test result as is.
Carl Zeiss 45mm 1:2.8 C/Y aberrations
Vignetting
Geometric distortion
Coma aberrations
Chromatic aberrations
Long-distance bokeh
Test #1
Test conditions: the lens was focused on minimal distance on the scale (0.6m), buildings are on “infinity”-distance.
Test#2:
Test conditions: lens was focused on 1.0m
Light bubbles bokeh – long distance
Test #1
The lens is on the minimal focusing distance 0.6m, lights are on infinity (cityscape)
Test #2
Test conditions: lens was focused on 1.0m
Carl Zeiss 45mm 1:2.8 C/Y – final conclusion
Usually, pancakes aren’t gems and top-performers, they are about small size and convenience. This type of lenses with optical scheme 4el.3gr and 45mm 1:2.8 is very old, well known, and many companies have created “true pancakes” based on this design. (I mean really thin lenses). What about Tessar at all – it has been introduced by the Carl Zeiss company in 1902, so, if you interested – start to dig from Wiki.
Our reviewed current Zeiss is a typical pancake and has a few nice and a few poor traits:
- It has an average IQ because of bad corners. They stay bad even at F8.0
- On the other hand, the middle and center are very good and it makes this lens suitable for cropped-cameras
- But don’t expect the same “thin”-exterior on mirrorlesses – the flange focal distance of Contax C/Y is 45.5mm it means that the height of an adapter, for example, for Sony-E should be 27.5mm
- The lens is not very fast, it starts from F2.8 and becomes good at F4
- Most of the aberrations display some expected behavior for near-fifties. Just the vignetting looks higher than usual, but nothing critical for modern digital cameras
- Bokeh is a very subjective material and I think that here it is definitely not bad – enough smooth in the center and has elements of “swirly”-type, it looks like a bonus from problems in corners
Obviously, any cheap near-fifty will be better. But, as it was said above – this average IQ is the payment for the small sizes.
The main reason to get this lens – it looks very sexy on a film camera (I don’t have Contax to show it, sorry, Google may help). The second reason – it is really small and able to save a couple of centimeters on your digital set. And it is demanded on cropped-cameras at least because it is still faster than modern collapsible kit-zooms.
Can it be recommended as a near-fifty standard lens? No. Probably, for cropped cameras, but mostly – no. There are better variants. Can it be recommended as a little stylish lens for film-cameras? Yes, 100%.
Have a nice day!
The very helpful video If you need to fix something in this Zeiss:
2 Comments
Heinz · 2023-01-05 at 17:48
Thank you for this detailed review.
Yes, the lens shows strong focus shift. Refocus for smaller aperture is needed! If refocused it shines from f/5.6 on!
All the best,
Heinz
Tony · 2023-01-05 at 19:34
Thank you for the comment. I can say more – almost all prime lenses from that era have focus-shift at least between the first and the second steps. Does it mean that tons of photos of that years a bit misfocused – is a question