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[Solved] Steinheil Munchen - meaning of 'D' and 'S'
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PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2018 2:39 am    Post subject: [Solved] Steinheil Munchen - meaning of 'D' and 'S' Reply with quote

I've been trying to do some research on the Steinheil lenses before I hope to purchase one, specifically Quinar series. I've not found any description of what the 'D' and 'S' in the names signify. I've also seen the 135mm listed as both "Quinar" and "Tele-Quinar". The Vademecum wasn't any help unfortunately. It mentioned a Cassar and a Cassar-S, with the S being found on different cameras, and a Quinon and Quinon-S. No clues about an underlying significance.

I've only seen the 'D' with Auto lenses, although not all of them. "Double" coated? Way too old to mean "digital" right? Unless it meant computer designed?

What about 'S'? Is it just a different mount? A newer model? Single coated? A quality indicator like Meyer's Q1 mark?

I've seen these 135/2.8 variants: (I do understand that VL refers to coatings, and Macro refers to closer minimum focus distance)
Quinar VL
Auto-Quinar
Auto-D-Tele-Quinar
Macro-Tele-Quinar
Macro-S-Tele-Quinar


Thanks for the insights!


Last edited by paleblue on Mon May 28, 2018 2:59 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 1:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Possibly more clues. I've found a brochure from July of 1969 referring to "Steinheil Macro-S lenses now available for immediate delivery", where a Christmas 1968 edition of the same publication only referred to Steinheil Macro lenses. This seems to be when the 'S' was added. I'm not sure if it's a new version, or just new branding. An even earlier September 1968 publication mentioned a special exclusive sales agreement between Steinheil and Seymore's (a camera shop specializing in Exakta). It read like Seymore's was helping to bail out Steinheil after they were losing too much money in production. This might mean there's a small possibility the 'S' stands for Seymore's, and this is a new production line.

http://www.ihagee.org/USA/exaktanews769.pdf

new edit:

In a Christmas 1970 publication of this newsletter there is mention of "Steinheil now offers the 1971 version of their famous 135mm Lens, the new 135mm F2.8 fully automatic Auto-S ("Super") Tele Quinar."

I haven't found mention of an Auto-S-Tele-Quinar before (only the 'D' version, which has been listed in the previous publications I mentioned) - but this seems to indicate it IS a model bump, and that it stands for 'Super'! Not sure what 'D' ever meant, although I did see a listing that referred to the lens' "Automatic Diaphram" so D maybe just means diaphram? No idea why it's usually red on the lens though.


PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 2:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK! I think I can put the 'S' to rest!

An Exakta newsletter from September 1970 has a headline "Fully Automatic 135mm F2.8 Steinheil Auto-S ("Super") Tele Quinar". The Macro-S advert in the same newsletter doesn't give the same description, but unless somebody has found more details, I'm satisfied.


PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 3:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just to add another note about the 'S' in Zeiss/Jena lenses, this is from a whitepaper on lens names from zeiss:

Quote:
Special lenses were therefore developed
for such applications. Unlike normal
lenses, they were optimized for shorter
distances to the subject and offered in that
range the best quality in terms of
definition, edge definition and distortion.
On the other hand, however, they
displayed certain drawbacks when they
were used at large distances. Zeiss
distinguished such lenses that were
optimized for close-ups with the letter
"S" in front of their type designation.


PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2018 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

paleblue wrote:
Just to add another note about the 'S' in Zeiss/Jena lenses, this is from a whitepaper on lens names from zeiss:

Quote:
Special lenses were therefore developed
for such applications. Unlike normal
lenses, they were optimized for shorter
distances to the subject and offered in that
range the best quality in terms of
definition, edge definition and distortion.
On the other hand, however, they
displayed certain drawbacks when they
were used at large distances. Zeiss
distinguished such lenses that were
optimized for close-ups with the letter
"S" in front of their type designation.


That only applies to Zeiss, not to Steinheil lenses!!