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

Sonnar T* 90mm f/2.8 (Contax G)

Carl Zeiss · Contax G · 1994 · Sonnar, 5e/4g

Also known as: Contax G Sonnar 90mm f/2.8 · Sonnar 90mm f/2.8 G · Sonnar T* 2.8/90 · Contax G 90mm · Zeiss Sonnar 90mm Contax G

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Sonnar T* 90mm f/2.8 (Contax G) Contax G 1994–2005 — Unpublished — Kyocera released no figures
How to tell them apart (expand)

Sonnar T* 90mm f/2.8 (Contax G):

  • 46 mm filter; the longest G lens; a built-in sliding hood

Specifications

Formula
Sonnar, 5e/4g
Construction
5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
240 g
Filter
46 mm
Years manufactured
1994–2005
Country
Japan
Coating
Carl Zeiss T* multicoating
Original price
US$660 (1995, Popular Photography via Wikipedia) (today $1,360)

What reviewers say

History

The portrait lens of the launch trio: five elements in four groups, 240 grams, 46 mm filter, one-metre close focus, $660 in 1995. On film it draws the way a Sonnar should — Emulsive’s Matthew Thompson would pair one G2 with the 28 and another with the 90 for weddings — and it is the lens the autofocus handles worst. Drew Chambers found the G1 struggled to focus it for portraits; Ibraar Hussain put the G2’s hit rate with it near half. The trouble is the body’s phase-detection at long focal lengths and close distances, not the glass.

Bought cheaply for that reason, and worth it with the discipline the manual describes: centre, lock, recompose.

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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 T* 90mm f/2.8 (Contax G)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $160 across 36 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $130–$200). Tracked since 2026-09-10, 9 days: down 6% from $170.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$160$130–$20036
2026-10-18$160$130–$20036
2026-10-17$160$130–$20036
2026-10-16$160$130–$19036
2026-10-15$160$130–$18034
2026-09-21$160$140–$21037
2026-09-18$170$140–$21040
2026-09-11$170$140–$20038
2026-09-10$170$140–$20038

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

Show 102 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-10-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Planar T* 45mm f/2 (Contax G) · Vario-Sonnar T* 35–70mm f/3.5–5.6 (Contax G)

Sources (5)

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.