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Schneider Novoflex Xenar 4.5/135mm
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 10:10 pm    Post subject: Schneider Novoflex Xenar 4.5/135mm Reply with quote
Schneider-Kreuznach produced their well-known Xenar 4.5/135mm lens also for Novoflex, to be built in their Novoflex squeeze-focus system. Some 1100 of these Novoflex Xenar lenses with squeeze focus were made, probably the rest has been used for a bellows lens in a black version, called LEINOX.
I am trying to make a list of serial numbers of these two lenses, so if any of you has either, I would appreciate it if you could send me the serial number.
Lex


PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I sometimes see this for sale. Wonder if it is worthwhile. I found some picks on flickr. They look very sharp and very good separation but Bokeh seems pretty busy.

Pics not mine:
Novoflex Xenar 4.5/135mm by Ouwesok, on Flickr


Valkparkiet by Ouwesok, on Flickr

Kaalkopibis by
Ouwesok, on Flickr

Kaalkopibis by Ouwesok, on Flickr

Neushoorn by Ouwesok, on Flickr

What is the idea behind this lens construction?


PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
D1N0 wrote:
I sometimes see this for sale. Wonder if it is worthwhile. I found some picks on flickr. They look very sharp and very good separation but Bokeh seems pretty busy.

Pics not mine:
Novoflex Xenar 4.5/135mm by Ouwesok, on Flickr


Valkparkiet by Ouwesok, on Flickr

Kaalkopibis by
Ouwesok, on Flickr

Kaalkopibis by Ouwesok, on Flickr

Neushoorn by Ouwesok, on Flickr

What is the idea behind this lens construction?


Hey, this looks like my 'squeezy' Laugh 1

The idea is that focussing by squeezing is faster than the normal way with turning some ring around.

Does it work ?

Focussing by squeezing indeed works pretty fast. What i missed in using this lens compared to the traditional way is the feeling how to focus it. With lenses that focus by helicoid you get the feeling with that particular lens in a few hours. With the way of focussing the Novoflex/Xenar focusses it lasts much longer to be in full control.
As the other Novoflexes (the Schnellschuss types) take far less time to get used to, this little squeezy was not the most succesful Novoflex product

Apart from the focussing, the Schneider Xenar is a nice performer. Not outstanding but at least nice.


PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 9:44 am    Post subject: Re: Schneider Novoflex Xenar 4.5/135mm Reply with quote
SandroB wrote:
Schneider-Kreuznach produced their well-known Xenar 4.5/135mm lens also for Novoflex, to be built in their Novoflex squeeze-focus system. Some 1100 of these Novoflex Xenar lenses with squeeze focus were made, probably the rest has been used for a bellows lens in a black version, called LEINOX.
I am trying to make a list of serial numbers of these two lenses, so if any of you has either, I would appreciate it if you could send me the serial number.
Lex


Mine has serial nr 9904158


PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
[quote="Ouwesok"]
D1N0 wrote:


Hey, this looks like my 'squeezy' Laugh 1

The idea is that focussing by squeezing is faster than the normal way with turning some ring around.

Does it work ?

Focussing by squeezing indeed works pretty fast. What i missed in using this lens compared to the traditional way is the feeling how to focus it. With lenses that focus by helicoid you get the feeling with that particular lens in a few hours. With the way of focussing the Novoflex/Xenar focusses it lasts much longer to be in full control.
As the other Novoflexes (the Schnellschuss types) take far less time to get used to, this little squeezy was not the most succesful Novoflex product

Apart from the focussing, the Schneider Xenar is a nice performer. Not outstanding but at least nice.


Small world Wink .So it sits at infinity and focusses closer when you squeeze? Does it automatically go back to infinity? Is the dial in front for fine adjustment? Or spring tension?

The one I saw in an auction had 9991544


PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
[quote="D1N0"]
Ouwesok wrote:
D1N0 wrote:


Hey, this looks like my 'squeezy' Laugh 1

The idea is that focussing by squeezing is faster than the normal way with turning some ring around.

Does it work ?

Focussing by squeezing indeed works pretty fast. What i missed in using this lens compared to the traditional way is the feeling how to focus it. With lenses that focus by helicoid you get the feeling with that particular lens in a few hours. With the way of focussing the Novoflex/Xenar focusses it lasts much longer to be in full control.
As the other Novoflexes (the Schnellschuss types) take far less time to get used to, this little squeezy was not the most succesful Novoflex product

Apart from the focussing, the Schneider Xenar is a nice performer. Not outstanding but at least nice.


Small world Wink .So it sits at infinity and focusses closer when you squeeze? Does it automatically go back to infinity? Is the dial in front for fine adjustment? Or spring tension?

The one I saw in an auction had 9991544


As with all the schnellschuss Novoflexes, by default it is focussed at minimal distance, when you squeeze the trigger, the lens is retracted and focusses on infinity. Depending on where your subject is, focussing starts by a total squeeze en letting go until you have focus ór, when the subject is near, squeezing it until focus.
When you let the squeeze thing go, the lens returns to minimal focussing distance.


The dial in front can be used to either limit the minimal distance and make focussing even quicker ór it can be used to fix the focussing mechanism so you do not have to keep the 'thing' squeezed.


PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks. A nifty design.


PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 9:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Interesting. Never seen that before. But a Schneider 135mm 4.5 ought to be really sharp.


PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have the bellows version, not in black but in a silver (aluminium) finish. It is marked "Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 1:4.5/135"; S/N is 9090216.


PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for all the contributions. One of the serial numbers I already had, another one was new to me. I recently used my squeeze focus Novoflex Xenar again and indeed, it takes a bit to get used to the mechanism. Once you got used to it, the lens works pretty fast. Novoflex experimented continuously with ways to make focussing easier and faster, but this was not the most succesful contribution.
Lex


PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have meanwhile become more familiar with my copy (the bellows version). It is quite sharp in the centre, with some field curvature and a pronounced focus shift. I’m using it on my Bronica S2 which works quite well.

First pic f/4.5, second f/5.6, both taken on Fomapan 100 film.

#1
[url=http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/202012/big_11535_20014_05_1.jpg][img]http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/202012/11535_20014_05_1.jpg[/img][/url]

#2
[url=http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/202012/big_11535_20014_07_1.jpg][img]http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/202012/11535_20014_07_1.jpg[/img][/url]

Edit: 2nd post but images don’t work? Am I doing something wrong?


PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 11:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote




Give the address (see below) once between [img] and [/img] and no [url].

http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/202012/11535_20014_05_1.jpg

or

http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/202012/11535_20014_07_1.jpg


PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
[quote="e6filmuser"]Give the address (see below) once between [img] and [/img] and no [url].

http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/202012/11535_20014_05_1.jpg

or

http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/202012/11535_20014_07_1.jpg[/quote]

Thank you kindly for your help!


PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2021 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
my squeezy has #9904042
Groetjes,Evert


PostPosted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
focus-limitation by fixing the two screws on the sides. one for farthest, the other for nearest. is very accurate for sports. successrate very high then. since hub/extension will then be only in a range of only a few millimeters. as almost all novoflex: rotation and universal-A-mount(not to be confused with the later Konica/Minolta/Sony) 49mm filter sunshade built-in- deep tube.
I have box and instructions. dont know which years it was made but could investigate. NB: I have some spare parts if someone has a defective one. no optical elements.
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