West Germany and Japan · 7 lenses

Contax (Carl Zeiss for Contax/Yashica)

Contax began as a Zeiss Ikon camera name in 1932. The Contax SLRs these lenses fit came from a 1973 deal between Carl Zeiss in West Germany and Yashica, code-named Project 130. It produced the Contax RTS in 1975, styled by Porsche Design, and a new C/Y mount shared by Contax and Yashica bodies. Zeiss designed the lenses, Planar, Distagon, Sonnar and Tessar among them, and most carry Zeiss's T* multi-coating. Manufacture was shared between Zeiss and Yashica's optical works at Tomioka, and Tomioka took on more of it over time. The lenses come in two kinds. AE lenses are the earlier ones, and MM lenses add a setting that lets the camera choose the aperture. Often that's the only difference, and some collectors prefer an older AE lens because it may be German-made. Kyocera bought Yashica in 1983 and ended all camera production in 2005.