Schneider Curtagon 4/28: largest DR among single coated MFL?

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

There is a category of lenses you put on the camera and already looking through the liveview you feel a breath of inspiration of how they render. Retina DKL ones belong to the category. There is something special in Schneider and Voigtlander clarity, lights and colours, in the way they transform an ordinary scene into a kind of luminous event.

Here comes a couple of shots taken with an old and slow Curtagon 4/28, to share the feeling.

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UPD: edited the thread title to put forward its comparative dimension.

benadamx · Joined: 25 Feb 2019 Posts: 329

i would put steinheil-munchen culmigon 35mm f/4.5 in the same category, it is old and slow but there's something special about the rendering, this curtagon certainly seems that way also

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

Very nice shots! Anybody compared the 35mm Curtagon to the Xenagon? The Xenagon is much smaller and a bit slower. It comes in AKA and Diax, and maybe Robot mount IIRC. The Xenogon is Schneider's Leica mount (later production I think) more advanced lens. Tiny spelling difference but large price difference.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

Thank you, jamaeolus! I don't have Xenagon. Found some samples in Flickr which look fine.

Benadamx, I looked at samples from Steinheil Culmigon 4.5/35, it's truly a nice lens.

simple.joy · Joined: 30 May 2022 Posts: 437

Great shots! Seems like a wonderful lens for streen shots. Like 1 small

Another lens I've seen show similar qualities is the Schacht Ulm S-Travenar 35 mm R f/2.8, but I haven't used it for anything it's probably best at yet.

Have never heard about the Xenagon... only know the Xenotar.

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 514 Location: Jersey C.I.

I used a Retina IIIS for several years, before I "went digital", and accumulated a set of Schneider lenses for it, from 28mm to 135mm, ... they're all well worth having, the 85mm Tele-Arton is a special favourite of mine Smile

The Retina is retired now, but I've got a DKL-PK adaptor and still use the Schneider lenses on Pentax cameras, both film and APS-C digital Smile

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

Thank you so much, fellows!

I am sure there are several more lenses to add to the list. Besides, forum members in various moments showed how well a particular glass, more vintage or modern, may inspire with its special way to draw shapes and lights.

What I find particularly interesting in German DKL lenses is the balance they manage to keep between gently lit shadows and successfully darkened lights, as if polarizing filters are already integrated into the glass.

For instance, in my ordinary infinity test Nex often overexposes the image with many lenses, making the sky slightly washed out. The matter is that shadowed and darkened surfaces dominate at least a half of the shot, which usually makes the Nex calculate a longer exposure thus overlighting the sky. Not in the case of Voigtlander and Schneider lenses. Skoparex, Skopar-X and Curtagon render a generally rich, dramatic sky. Like in this shot taken with the 28mm Curtagon.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3754 Location: Switzerland

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 514 Location: Jersey C.I.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

An interesting fact indeed! I suppose single coating in Voigtlander and Schneider lenses is special as compared to, say, Soviet single coating. I previously mentioned my unscientific impression of polarized light coming from these German lenses. It would be interesting to dig deeper. Later I will put aside a Jupiter-8 or another single coated lens and Skopar or Curtagon to compare how they render skies from the same shooting point.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

Here it is, the same scene shot with several single coated lenses on Sony Nex with a lens booster on, while the camera was set at ISO 100 and installed on a tripod.

I don't have other 28mm single coated lenses, I think, to confront with Curtagon. So I used instead a couple of 35mm. And then added an excellent Minolta MD 3.5/35-70 at 35mm (without the lens booster), just to compare the rendering of the same contrasted areas. Sorry for the inclined frame orientation, the tripod screw does not hold the plate tight any more.

All shots are SOOC jpeg resized. Each lens was used to shoot wide open and at f5.6. The sun today is faithless, altered with clouds. I needed to catch good moments to get comparable results. There are still light variations which may have an impact on the final result. Even if the test does not pretend to be scientific, I wished to better understand the "magic" light effect of Voigtlander and Schneider lenses, and I regret a bit the quickly changing light which might impact this.

The lenses involved, on lens booster:
1. Isco Westron 2.8/35
2. Auto Revuenon 2.8/35 (presumably Tomioka)
3. Voigtlander Skoparex 3.4/35
4. Schneider Retina-Curtagon 4/28

5. Minolta MD 3.5/35-70 at 35mm (without lens booster)

The image is clickable.

From what I see, the Skoparex rendering is the brightest while Curtagon comes closer to multicoated Minolta in how it captures bright zones in the same time having a larger DR seen in the shadows (drawn darker by Minolta, especially at f5.6). Auto Revuenon is a kind of surprise both w/o (stray purple light on the sensor) and at f5.6 where it shows a very balanced rendition of lights and shadows, even at a price of less contrasty image, as compared to the contrast richer Curtagon.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1571

I made a new set of images, in more constant (and less contrasty) light conditions. The same Sony Nex with lens booster, ISO 100, tripod.

The first shot of each lens is w/o, the second at f5/6. The sequence is conserved:
1. Isco Westron 2.8/35
2. Auto Revuenon 2.8/35 (presumably Tomioka)
3. Voigtlander Skoparex 3.4/35
4. Schneider Retina-Curtagon 4/28

5. Minolta MD 3.5/35-70 at 35mm (for comparison, no lens booster)

The image is clickable.

What changed when the sun is gone: Isco Westron and Auto Revuenon which do not catch stray sun beams anymore preserve contrasts better, this time Isco retaining sky details at remarkably well f5.6. Skoparex gives always a lighter picture (with better lit shadows), especially w/o, and Curtagon once again keeps a high and very well balanced dynamic range. Minolta taken for the sake of pure comparison is undeniably sharper but giving a narrower DR.

From these two unscientific comparisons I may conclude that single coating lenses in general may provide a wider DR (which is more difficult to appreciate in harsher light conditions because of flare and other "parasite" effects).

Meanwhile the DR provided by Curtagon and then by Skoparex which change more visibly light rendition (both light and colour balance) still differ them from the other two lenses which seem to give a good DR but a less contrasty image. Might that be an effect of the glass used in the production of the lenses?

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

Interesting test. Thanks!