Contax Zeiss Distagon 35mm f1.4 Facts & Servicing (CLA)

The Carl Zeiss Distagon 35mm f1.4 C/Y mount lens, with one aspherical element and floating group design, is one of the top lenses from the Contax Zeiss line up. With its value already high and steadily rising, and less good copies being available, servicing these decades old lenses to survive modern use has been increasingly important.

I briefly introduce the lens and talk about some facts around this lens, its history and performance. Watch me as I take apart this beautiful lens with love and care, which has a stiff focus problem, haze under the front element, excessive dust on its elements and shaky mount and barrel, and give it an overhaul, cleaning all its parts, repainting its yellowed lettering, lubricating the focusing mechanism, clean the optics, and assembling the lens back while adjusting it for optimal performance.

00:00 Introduction
00:35 Lens Introduction and facts
06:30 Side story
14:32 Lens Inspection
17:50 Lens Disassembly
22:24 Lens Cleaning
24:34 Engravings Repainting
25:10 Optics Cleaning
30:49 Reassembly
32:55 Haze Cleaning
35:31 Outro

Common problems with this lens:
- Stiff focus
- Incorrectly calibrated floating group (blurry edges)
- Lightly hazed front element
- Deteriorated paint on the front element
- Separation on the back doublet (70 serial and up)
- Coating marks on the front element

Servicing inquires:   / areiamedia