Schacht Travelon 1.8/50

[Mos6502]

I've been looking for an example of this lens for my edixas for a long time. It's not an easy lens to find in the U.S. (and does not seem particularly common in Europe either for that matter). I spied one in an ebay listing for a beat up Edixa-Mat reflex. BIN was $399. I offered $50, and within seconds of submitting the seller accepted the offer! I guess it never hurts to try.

The camera arrived today - it is more or less wrecked. The lens though extremely filthy does at least seem to have decent glass. The aperture blades are oily and sticky so I can't use it on my film cameras until it gets a cleaning, but I did make a few test shots on digital.


First pic after cleaning... lens still needs more cleaning to be 100%.


Checking front and back OOF rendering at f/4.


Bokeh at f/1.8 and f/5.6


Lens is very sharp at f/4.

I found the Travelon to be soft wide open, but I think this is due to it needing a cleaning inside and out. It is very sharp by f/2.8 - although not really a spectacular performer. OOF rendering is very edgy wide open, in common with all other Schacht lenses I have used. Overall I would say it is about on par with the Takumar 1.8/55 which commonly sells for half as much (but which will not work with Edixa SLRs!).


[/i]

Informal handheld comparison between the Petri 1.8/55 (top), 2/50 preset(middle), and Schacht Travelon (bottom).

[calvin83]

The price is good and the performance is not bad. It is not as sharp as the top Germany 50s of its time but the color and low light performance is pretty good.

[mo]

So that is not a typo, it is a Travelon? They have some very interesting lenses that came with the Edixa cameras....I like your bartering technique...go for the knees and hope for the best.

[Mos6502]

Yes, the Travelon name is part of what makes this lens a hard one to search for online.

It was also a very expensive lens when it was new sitting between ISCO Westrocolor and the Schneider Xenon, which didn't give it much of a gap to fill - not to mention that since most people bought Edixa SLRs because they were cheap they usually opted for the slower cheaper lenses like the Cassaron, Iscotar, and Travenar.

I'm hoping to see a bit more performance once it gets a proper cleaning inside, but I do like the contrast and color reproduction even as it is.

Here it is on one of my Edixas:
Edixa Prismat LTL by berangberang, on Flickr

The Schneider style DOF scale is pretty cool too.

[mo]

It certainly is a pretty lens,thanks for the details,I knew about the westrocolor but not this lens.

[kds315*]

Well, I hope it does not mean "travel on" (to another lens)

Not a bad lens seemingly, but to me nothing to write home about

Let#s hope the cleaning does its magic!

[iangreenhalgh1]

[Lloydy]

I have the bigger brother, the 100 3.3 Travegar, and it's OK. A lens with a certain 'character' I suppose. I quite like it though.

[calvin83]

From my experience, most lenses from Schacht in not inferior to other West Germany makers at the same time. The two Schacht lenses I tried(2.8/90 and 3.5/135) have pretty good resolution and contrast with nice bokeh. The coating is pretty weak, though.

I would like to add we should compare lens produced at the same time

[scsambrook]

[Mos6502]

I've liked all the Schacht lenses I've come across - the only problem with them is, especially in the early ones - it is very hard to find them in good condition. The coating and the cement used was not the best, and you usually find them with deteriorated coating, bubbles in the cement or separation (and the seller almost always thinks it should still be worth as much a mint example).

The Travegon 3.5/35 is one of the nicest wide angle lenses of its era (pit it against a lithagon or westron and it'll blow it out of the water), and the 2.8/90 is pretty good too.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I'm not damning anything, just saying I've yet to see a Schacht lens that stood out as something better than it's contemporaries, but conversely, all the Schacht lenses I have seen have been good, I've only owned one, a 3.5/135 and I sold it because it wasn't as good as the contemporary Schneider Tele-Xenar 4/135, CZJ Sonanr 4/135 or Zeiss Sonnar 4/135 that I also own. It was better than the Steinheil 2.8/135 I also had though.

[Mos6502]

I also don't feel that the lens is spectacular, although I am hoping it may do a little better with a proper overhaul. A lot of these early 60's fast 50s are soft wide open, people wanted fast lenses for easier focusing on SLRs - but rarely used aperture over f/2.8 so it was not too important that the lenses were sharp at 1.8 or 1.7 on all of these six element designs that probably would have worked better as f/2 lenses.

I have a personal opinion that most old German lenses are overrated anyway, performing no better than most old Japanese lenses of the same era but commanding two or three times as much money.

[mo]

I think the fact you wanted to use it on your Edixa camera, was the main reason you bought it? We could all sit home and collect stamps but were is the fun in that (forgive me all you stamp collectors,perhaps I should pick on the pen collectors )? Using and collecting lenses is much more fun...especially when you don't pay a premium price.

It is nice to see the different sample images on the forum.

[calvin83]

[Abbazz]

Congratulations on the new lens!

[Mos6502]

[calvin83]

I agree the Orikkor and the two takumar is pretty unique. That is why the are more expensive than other Japanese 50s.

(OT)
From what I know, the Orikkor and the Nikkor-S are the only two seven elements 2/50s made in Japanese for SLR.

[iangreenhalgh1]

[Mos6502]

[Oldhand]

Thanks for posting your experience so far with this Travelon lens.
I only have one A.Schacht lens - the Edixa-Travenar-A 2.8/50
If your lens is meant to be a superior optic to the Travenar-A, then it has enormous potential to be truly wonderful.
Here is one image from mine which I consider to be very good indeed.
OH

[philslizzy]

[Mos6502]

The lens is at the shop and should be ready by the weekend. I've got a roll in an Edixa waiting for its return.

[Mos6502]

Well I went to pick up the lens on monday when it was supposed to be ready - and the shop was closed early.
I called and left a message saying I would be back the next day. Showed up and the shop was closed early.
Called again, and left a message again saying I would be there at a specific time (well before the shop closes) - I arrive and guess what? The shop is closed and the business next door tells me the guy left early again.
This time I did not leave a message but taped a note to the door saying that I would be there again - tomorrow - at the same time to pick up the lens.

Let's see how they mess this up this time.

[Nordentro]

The Travegon 35mm f/2.8 is a fantastic lens, I use it alot for group pictures because of it`s great corner sharpness!