Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f/1.9 in DKL mount

[Arutemu]

Got this lens with a nearly destroyed Kodak Retina camera attached at an antique store for $15. The camera went straight into the garbage bin, the lens got attached to my DKL to LM adapter and mounted to the Techart LM-FE autofocus adapter on the A7R II. I was very pleasantly surprised with the sharpness and rendering. This was wide open @ f/1.9.

Timothy by Artem, on Flickr

[mr_tibbs2004]

👍

[papasito]

Did you use pp? Contrast? Sharpness?
Thanks for sharing

[Arutemu]

[caspert79]

Your image looks very nice. How would you rate this lens compared to other lenses? I have one here that looks shabby and had a stuck aperture. Would like to know if its worth having it repaired.

[papasito]

[caspert79]

[Arutemu]

[caspert79]

[jamaeolus]

You can often get Xenon 1.9 in DKL mount for not much money. Watch for kodak instamatic reflex. These used the defunct 126 film cartridges and frequently come on the bay for pretty low. I got one for 40 or so. The DKL mount is great as it is very robust mount and you can purchase adapters for several mounts. I stack the DKL to EF and EF to nex helicoid adapter which solves one of the few problems with the lens, it's long minimum focus.

[woodrim]

I have this lens and like it very much. I find it very sharp with very characterful bokeh. The minimum focus distance is not very short, so I use with a helicoid.


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[jamaeolus]

Lovely butterfly images!

[caspert79]

Wow, great images!

[tb_a]

The Xenon is an optimized Biotar, 6 lenses in 4 groups. A.W. Tronnier who "invented" the Xenon for Schneider later on optimized it further by splitting the front doublet. This was then the Ultron (6 lenses in 5 groups) as introduced by Voigtländer in the early 1950's.
Generally speaking, almost every lens designed by Tronnier was extraordinary and always amongst the best of it's time. The Ultron design survived until date, the contemporary Sony FE 50/1.8 is still an original Ultron.

Just my 2 cents.....

[Oldhand]

[serkol]

My Xenon 50/1.9 DKL + Sigma fp

_FP01734_2048px by serkol64, on Flickr

_FP01762___2048px by serkol64, on Flickr

_FP01759 by serkol64, on Flickr

[serkol]

double

[alex ph]

Arutemu, very well done! Both my Rollei 1.8/50 and Exakta 1.9/50 versions do render milkier wide open.

Serguei, what colours with Sigma Fp, a pretty filmic senstion.

[alex ph]

Arutemu, very well done! Both my Rollei 1.8/50 and Exakta 1.9/50 versions do render milkier wide open.

Serguei, what colours with Sigma Fp, a pretty filmic senstion.

[Arutemu]

[kiddo]

Wow very nice results, it seems to be sharoert than Septon, isn't it? Maybe different formula?

[BrianSVP]

This is a lens I always end up coming back to. Just such pleasing rendering, sharpness, and color.

Here's just a quick snap I took of my young nephew the other day. This lens really loves those rich early evening tones!


I adore the Septon, too, but it has a very different look, and it's much more expensive and hard to find a copy without cement separation. This lens can easily be found fr 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the Septon. Look for the version without "Retina" in the name that was sold with the Instamatic Reflex, as it has a much shorter MFD at 2 ft/0.6m but is optically identical. The front barrel is also much less susceptible to dinging than that on the "Retina" version, which is very soft aluminum.

[kiddo]

Very nice result and so different than Septon, it's weird how these lenses from same time are so different , unfortunately all these fast dkl mount lenses are very sought after, don't remember seeing one for sale for cheap