2 interactive lens diagrams
Contax/Yashica SLR mount, 1970s-2000s | 35 mm SLR
The Contax/Yashica mount joined Yashica camera bodies with Carl Zeiss-designed lenses in a 35 mm SLR system. It arrived with the 1970s Contax RTS/Yashica collaboration and became a favorite among photographers who wanted Zeiss optical character in a more modern reflex platform than earlier Contax rangefinders.
C/Y lenses include Planars, Distagons, Sonnars, Makro-Planars, Vario-Sonnars, and specialty lenses with Zeiss T* coatings. Yashica ML lenses and other compatible optics broaden the system beyond Zeiss-branded glass, while still sharing the same manual-focus bayonet.
The mount is historically important as a bridge from classic Zeiss formulas into late manual-focus SLR photography. In catalog comparisons, C/Y lenses often make a strong contrast against Japanese manual-focus contemporaries because they share the same reflex constraints but a different optical design culture.
Flange focal distance 45.5 mm, bayonet mount. 0° at 12 o'clock from the camera front; the lens-side view is the horizontal mirror. Dotted strokes mark photo-scaled or schematic (not-to-scale) dimensions.