Schneider Kreuznach Tele-Xenar

[John Irvine]

I just dug up a Schneider Kreuznach Tele-Xenar f : 5.5 36cm on a shutter that says nothing except 740869 and Compound. It is mounted on a lensboard that says "Technica 3", "Linhof Munchen", "Format 9X12" and might be the shutter name. The black paint is comming off the lens revealing a brass barrell. The lens "looks" clean and clear. The shutter works - i.e. it is fast at high speeds and slow at low speeds. Apperature is clean and smooth.

I am not a lens finatic by any means but am interested in information anyone give me about this lens.

 

[tony lockerbie]

Hi John,
If it is from a Tech. 111 then the lens would date from the early fifties. Not that Schneider changed them all that much (apart from coating improvements) over the years. The format is 9x12cms, or 5X4 inches, making this a short tele....approx. 135mm in 35mm terms. Others may know more about it's optical make-up, but I'm guessing that it is a four glass design, and the tele designation means that it doesn't need anything like 360mm of bellows draw to focus on infinity, much less in fact. I have never used this lens, although I used to have the 240mm version, which was an excellent lens.
The old compound shutters in this size make a wonderful noise when fired, so even if you don't have a camera to put it on, you can have fun just firing it off!
I don't know which cameras the technika boards fit (apart from Technikas) but I think that Wistas may be the same.

 

[leighmarrin]

I've got nearly the identical lens and shutter, except mine is on a blank 4x4" lensboard. Thus far I've not exposed any film with my Tele-Xenar 36cm lens. I've read it is supposed to cover 5x7" stopped down, but with no movements. In case you don't know, Compound shutters will be damaged should you cock the shutter when on the "B" or "T" settings. If you surf the web, there is a listing of Schneider serial numbers that will let you date your lens.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've got a 36cm Tele-Xenar of similar vintage. It's a very usable lens on 4x5", plenty sharp at normal 4x5" shooting apertures like f:16-22. It doesn't require an enormous amount of bellows draw at non-macro distances, so it can be used on cameras that have only a double-extension bellows.

Tech III boards don't generally fit cameras other than the Tech III (Tech IV/V/MT boards are widely used on many cameras), but it's easy enough to transfer a lens to a different lensboard if need be.

 

[John Irvine]

Thanks for the information. I first dug this lens out of some of my father's stuff about 15 years ago. I shot a couple of pictures with it then and experienced no problems. It got shoved to the back and was forgotten about. At the time I didn't know the camera had "movements" on it and wouldn't have know what to with them if I did, so I cannot judge the coverage. It very definitely needs less than 360mm of bellows to focus on infinity. I had no problem with that the few times I used it and the Ikeda has fairly limited bellows extension. The lensboard fits my (my father's) Japanese Ikeda 4X5.

This has piqued my interest. Whenever this snow melts and it warms up a tad I'll have to go out and try it again.

 

[Jesper]

I have found that a little time spent in the archives of Schneider-Kreuznach usually turns up a lot of useful info on their vintage lenses.
http://www.schneider-kreuznach.com/archiv/archiv.htm

 

[John Irvine]

I plan on spending some more time. Following leighmarrin's suggestion I was able to get a date from the serial number. It was between '42 and '48.