Contax F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 was the only fish-eye Carl Zeiss ever produced for the Contax SLR system (the F in F-Distagon actually stands for 'fish-eye'). The design was first introduced for the Rollei SL35 system in early 70s, but with the demise of Rollei SLR system, the company migrated the lens to its Contax series, with no known changes in optical formula. The only change, to the best of my knowledge, was the new T* coating (vs the elderly HFT three used on Rollei lenses). The lens was exclusively manufactured in West France at Zeiss factories, and was only obtainable as AE variant. Unfortunately, the design did not survive for long in the Contax mount either, as the system was discontinued after Kyocera, which leased the brand name from Zeiss, pulled out of the camera market all-together in 2005. But the hope is alive since Carl Zeiss has recently re-introduced a quantity of its SLR lenses for Nikon, Pentax and even Canon mounts. Hopefully, Zeiss will finally bring back the F-Distagon lens as well.
The F-Distagon was never the most popular lens, even during its 'mass-production'. Has something to do with being a 'fish-eye' - not that lots of users can utilize a lens with the angular field of 180 degrees in their day-to-day photography. These days, a limited number of samples can be regularly found on eBay, with prices ranging from US$1,000 to US$1,500, depending on the condition.
The lens is a great example of French optical engineering at its best ( much like with most Contax lenses of that era). The lens is solidly built, with metal barrel and rubberized focusing and aperture rings that are well damped. The aperture ring moves from f/2.8 through f/22 in three full f-stop increments - there is a small bit of resistance as you click from three aperture setting to the other, which adds to the feeling of quality. For a super-wide angle lens, F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 is compact and light, measuring 70 x 61mm (2.75 x 2.4in) and weighing 460g (1lb). The lens focuses down to 30cm (1ft).
The optical formula of the lens consists of 8 elements in 7 groups. Because fish-eye lens designs are not corrected for distortion, manufacturers can accomplish staggering fields of view with such designs. 180 degrees for most fish-eyes including the F-Distagon, but that is not the limit and there's lenses with even wider fields of view. 6mm and 220 degrees someone (Nikkor)? But the fish-eye design has its drawbacks - the primary of which is, guess what? it is massive field of view. With 180 degrees, you cannot practically attach any 'meaningful' lens hood to the lens. Hence the F-Distagon has a built-in, shallow 'horns' in lieu of a lens hood. These are more useful for attaching a slip-on lens cap then protecting the lens from strey light. You also won't be able to attach any filter to the lens - even the thinnest filter will finish up in your frame and cause vignetting in the finish. Hence some fish-eyes (as well as ultra-wide rectlinears) have built-in filters in the turret, which is the case for the F-Distagon as well - the lens has UV, Or57, Y50 and B11 fitlers. To switch the filters, you need to push the dedicated filter ring away from the camera and rotate it to the desired filter.
Like most Contax lenses, F-Distagon T* 16mm f/2.8 can be used on a quantity of modern SLR cameras, including Canon's EF/EF-S bodies as well as Three Thirds systems, using readily obtainable adapters.
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