Schneider Tele-Xenar 18cm f/5.5 for Reflex Korelle

[luisalegria]

I spotted this on ebay for what it was, a rather uncommon lens -





This Schneider was made sometime between 1939 and 1942 according to the serial number, so most likely it is wartime production. The mount is almost certainly for the Reflex Korelle, the pre-WWII versions, that had an M41x1 screw mount. The Kochmann Reflex Korelle was an early interchangeable lens 6x6 SLR. The Korelles switched to different mounts (bayonet and then a larger screw) in later models. This distinctive lens has also been documented in pre-war Korelle sales materials, though with an black enameled barrel instead of nickel plate like this one.

It seems to have the actual Tele-Xenar formula, five elements in three groups, which is quite unlike the Xenar, which is of course a four element-three group Tessar. The Tele-Xenar is a telephoto design that seems to be capable of great compression - the reduction in physical extension vs focal length that is the purpose of telephoto design. The total physical length of the lens from iris to focal plane at infinity focus seems to be around 120mm, or a ratio of around .66, which is fairly extreme. The similar and more common Schneider 135mm f/4.5 also made for Korelle (and Exakta, etc.) is actually longer than this 180mm, probably because it is actually just a Xenar.



This was very easy to mount for SLR, because M41 is very close to M42, and it screws right in to an M42 extension tube. A 30mm tube gives it just a bit past infinity on an M42 camera, and of course on any camera with an M42 adapter. This implies that the designed back focus was around 75mm, which is in the ballpark for the 6x6 SLR for which it was made. This fix should work for any pre-war Reflex Korelle lens, in the unlikely case such a lens is found. Loose Korelle lenses are not common.

This is a very heavy lens, in spite of its small size. It is totally made of nickel-brass, in the pre-war style. The aperture mechanism is manual, this is not a preset. The lens actually opens wider than f/5.5, though the larger aperture is unmarked; I am guessing its actually an f/4 or nearly so, comparing with other 180mm's I have. It stops down to f/32 which is typical of the day. Also typical is that it is not threaded for filters. It has a clear section around the rim where a press-on filter or hood adapter was intended to go, but I didn't have one of the proper size. This is an uncoated lens, as best I can tell.

Performance is pretty much as expected - this will not win any prizes for sharpness wide open. Using it beyond f/5.5 reduces sharpness greatly, and I consider the unmarked larger aperture as unusable except for focusing. Stopped down to f/8 it is as sharp as anything on my sensor. Contrast was not terrible, but it does flare considerably in backlit situations, especially at larger apertures. Of course, I had no hood for it. Bokeh seems quite nice. All in all, a collectors item.

Samples -















The bird f/5.5 -




Crop -

[connloyalist]

A 7 year old thread, but it mentions something I was wondering about. I just took delivery of a 1940/41-ish Schneider Tele-Xenar 18cm 5.5 in exakta mount. But as is mentioned in the previous post, while the aperture ring is marked down to 5.5, it actually opens up somewhat wider than that. Comparing the shutter speed to what I see on a CZJ Biotar I guesstimate it actually opens up to about f/5.

One of the things I do when testing a new lens is checking how much focus peaking I get when shooting wide open compared to stopped down. From initial tests the answer here is: pretty good. More experimenting to follow.

Regards, C.

[luisalegria]

Hi C
Good luck!
These are pretty things.

[stevemark]

And here's the Reflex Korelle:



S

[KEO]

I recently got one of these in M42 mount, and while it looks incredibly cool and it's incredibly heavy for its size, it's not sharp at all.

Some have suggested that the elements in mine are misaligned, and that may be true, but disassembly seems quite complicated so I haven't progressed very far with checking that. It's one of those old German lenses that are extremely high quality but also over-engineered.

[yoyomaoz]

As it happens, I have been playing with the 180mm f5.5 just over the past few days. Mine is in Zenit mount so its barrel is considerably longer than yours. In fact I had some difficulty initially working out what camera it was designed for, as it never occurred to me that Schneider would make a lens for a Zenit - Schneider seemed like a better lens maker than Zenit was a camera maker so it seemed a complete mismatch. Never the less it was so, and when I worked that out I only had to buy a 39-42mm collar as the Zenit flange distance is almost the same as M42. With the lens adapted to M42 using the collar adapter and thus mounted on an M42 adapter it focused like yours - a little past infinity. Not a problem with mirrorless. I have shot a few experimental images over the past couple of days and will post some shots here when I get a chance.

I was a little surprised at how nice the images are. Though I should not be - I have previously posted here about another Schneider tele Xenar I bought a while back - the 105mm f3.5. I love its rendering. It remains to be seen if the 180mm is as good for me as that one has been. The 105mm is for me about perfect for portraits. It renders skin tones beautifully. Some examples can be seen in the thread linked below.

Thread on the 105mm tele Xenar. With pics.

http://forum.mflenses.com/schneider-kreuznach-105mm-f3-5-tele-xenar-in-exakta-mount-t79602,highlight,%2Btele+%2Bxenar+%2B105mm.html

[Plexigringo]

Hi,
I'd like to add some interesting info to this topic.
I have a Reflex Korelle camera, which came to me via my girlfriends grandfather heritage in Hungary.
The camera unfortunately has shutter cock issue, it's jammed and as I researched it most likely not reparable.
It's in a pristine condition. With the camera, there have been 5 lenses. One of them is a Schneider tele Xenar 180 mm.
The other 4 are Wollensak Verito Diffused 6 1/8", Tessar 135 mm f4.5, Hugo Meyer Primoplan 100mm f/1.9, and a small Tessar 80mm f2.8, all in mint condition. At the time this set came to me I only had a Nikon FA so I had adapter made for F mount on the Wollensak and Primoplan.
As it turned out the Wollensak was totally unusable on my Nikon FA, extremely hard to have a good focus with it, but the Primoplan producing some of the best portraits I've ever took. 2 weeks ago I was able to acquire a Nikon D750 body and I'm excited to see the images with those 2 lenses already having F mount adapter. I'm hesitant to invest more money for ordering the adapter for the Schneider tele Xenar and for the 2 Tessars.
I had a chance once to see the Wollensak on D3400 ad it gave a beautiful soft portraits, I expect even nicer results on full frame.
I know the Primoplan will be fantastic.
Prior to purchasing the D750 I was torn between whether I should invest in a high quality MF film camera or go for a full frame digital.
since I have a young child eventually I decided for the D750 but later I have plan to put those lenses on MF film camera because I'm sure there will be a good potential for having worthy photos with such lenses. I will post 3 photos of the Primoplan and the Wollensak mounted on the Nikon FA + one portrait taken with the Primoplan on Portra 400 with the Nikon FA. I hope with the background story they will be not too off topic.

[alex ph]