Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 0.7x wide-angle lens

[iangreenhalgh1]

I found this in a local charity shop for 3ukp, so I thought it was worth trying, it was nearly 300USD new so not a cheap item.

It's a modern design with 4 elements, so should be much better than the common and cheap 2 element wider/macro attachments.



It's quite large, feels very solid and well made, rear thread is 55mm so it fits nicely onto my Hexanons. I tried it on my 3.5/28 EE Hexanon, just pointing out the back door because the weather is atrocious, but it gives some insight into what the lens does and does not do.

First thing I noticed was after adding the converter, the lens needed to be refocused to the 2m mark to obtain infinity.

Centre sharpness appears fine and holds up well into the corners, which are a little less sharp than the centre but still good.



100% crop from the centre, looks like it hasn't degraded the sharpness:



My next concern was CA in the edges, the cheaper converters are notorious for introducing CA, especially at the edges.

100% crops of top left and top right corners, some blue CA is visible but it's not objectionable and only really noticeable if pixel peeping, it only exists in the corners too so I'm happy to say CA isn't a problem with this converter.




Finally, distortion, the 0.7x converter on the 28mm Hexanon gives just over 19mm, which is pretty wide, so you would expect some barrel distortion.



Hmm, looks fairly free of distortion to me, but I don't know how to measure distortion other than with my eyes.

Here I drew some red lines on and you can see how the drainpipe on the left and the door on the right that form the verticals are still straight. Also, the diagonals formed by the wall and the garage roof are still straight lines too, so the distortion can't be very much.



So, I have to conclude from this initial test that this is an excellent piece of kit, it doesn't seem to degrade sharpness apart from very slightly in the corners, it doesn't introduce CA other than a tiny bit in the corners and it doesn't add a load of barrel distortion.

[dan_]

Interesting results. What f-stop did you use?

[iangreenhalgh1]

Hi Dan, sorry, I forgot to mention that. F8, I focused on the TV aerials.

[ForenSeil]

Looks pretty decent, especially compared to most of the other converters I've seen

[iangreenhalgh1]

Yes, converters are largely not good at all, most are 2 elements and can be reversed for macro, those are definitely to be avoided. I had a 1970s Schneider Ultrawide Aspheric converter, figured that would be good, but it introduced a lot of CA and the corners were smeary, so that got sold ages ago and I lost interest in converters, then I saw this in the local charity shop and figured 'why not' I'd read that the modern 4 element types could be good, but the people writing about them were using small sensor bridge cameras so were only used to so-so IQ and not good judges.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I tried it again today and I'm very surprised by the results, it really hasn't degraded the sharpness of the Hexanon at all. There is some very slight smearing on the very edges but that's to be expected with a 19mm fov. There is a tiny bit of CA on the very edges too, but you really have to pixel peep and look for it.

I think a good 28mm lens like the Hexanon 3.5/28 I used coupled with this converter is a far better budget ultrawide option than the low quality cheap ultrawides like the crappy Cosina 3.8/19 or Cosina 19-35 zoom.

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[Attila]

I never expect this result from a converter! Congrats!

[iangreenhalgh1]

I never expected it either, so I'm rather pleased with my little bargain.

I wonder if it will work with my 24mm Hexanon too, that would make a 16.8mm lens, which would be rather interesting to play with.

[Attila]

[diffid]

ha ha, I too just bought one from a charity shop today for £5.00. , exact same adapter, in excellent condition.

Not sure what 35mm equivalent focal length lens to use with it though on an APS-C camera? Widest I have is a 30mm Lydith or nasty Canon EF-S kit lens 18mm at the widest. Loathed to use that though, I always focus manually and really dislike the horrid narrow focus ring on the EF-S range, at the end of the barrel, always seem to get my fingers in the shot and slightest knock it goes out of focus.

[iangreenhalgh1]

Nice find for a fiver, these were 200 quid when new.

Try it on the Lydith, I used mine on 24 and 28mm lenses and it worked great so should work fine on the lydith.

If memory serves me, the Lydith has a 49mm front thread, the schneider converter is 55mm I think so you will need a stepping ring, dirt cheap on ebay from china. Some electricai tape will do to try it I think.

[stingOM]

Nice find. Looking forward to some more shots!

[iangreenhalgh1]

I forgot to post the second set of shots, this time I used the Hexanon 2.8/24, so this gives an ultra wide view equivalent to a 16.8mm lens. I think it works superbly well with the Hexanon 24 so next step it to try it on my Tokina 17mm, which would give a really flippin wide view.

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[stingOM]

Very decent indeed considering it is a WA adapter on top of your prime.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I think it actually outperforms my Tokina 17mm.

Some stitched shots:

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[fuzzywuzzy]

Impressive!