Schneider Xenon 40mm f2.0

[ChrisR]

It appears to be a straightforward enlarger lens, though I'm unable to find it in any listing. From the serial number it's 1995, so I wonder if it was designed for quickly banging out enprints from those small negatives - APSC was it?

It doesn't have a mount for which I have an adaptor, so I haven't done much with it yet.

[mgoodm3]

f2 is unusual for an enlarging lens

[ChrisR]

That's what I thought!
I worked for a while in a photo processing lab. The machine processor we had didn't use flash so short exposure times were used as much as possible. Imagine if you have 1000 prints to run off, a few seconds each is a lot.
I think we had Componons, not very good wide open.

Schneider list a 40/f2 Xenon for movie use, which is $1000s, but it doesn't look like this.

Maybe this will make me a good 25 diopter close-up lens

[Harold Gough]

[rjlittlefield]

[Planapo]

ChrisR, If I remember correctly, I read somewhere that these Xenons were intended for use with microfilm.
So, I'd try this one reversed on bellows.

What is the outer diameter of the barrel?
Is there a filter thread on the front of this lens, or is the groove profiling I can see in your picture, just there to prevent reflexion?

--Betty

[ChrisR]

Thanks Betty.
The outside diameter of the barrel is about 40mm, and the mount about 24mm
The front element is held in with a screwed ring, which is the thread you can see, 30mm.
The outer barrel is 17mm long including the knurled ring.

The front surface is flat, so I've been trying it reversed, stuck with double sided sticky tape to a body cap with a hole, at about x7. I had to peel it off to measure it!

On the back of the camera (x27) it looks pretty sharp at x7 , f2.8

It has a 5 bladed iris with ugly inwqrd curving leaves.

Chris

[Planapo]

Thanks for the measurements, Chris.

The thread of the rear mount then seems to be M25.

I have had a look at my Schneider lenses that have a similar barrel. The filter threads are all situated on the inside of the outmost ring, so it looks like your 40mm has no filter thread. That would be a pitty! Would have been the smoothest way for reverse mounting via a stepping ring. Or do you think that grove profiling is a filter thread? Because you say the diameter is 30 mm, and in fact 30,5 mm filter thread size can be found on those lenses. However, I reckon "Mrs. Ballcock's plumber" would be able to come up with another mounting solution, if, at all, the sticky tape proved to be not secure enough.
So, you've got yourself a nice bellows lens then.

Is there anything about the "5 bladed iris with ugly inward curving leaves" that bothers you? I ask because I wonder, if that has any effect on the image?
I have one older Schneider lens that has a nice iris with 15 blades but the newer ones are all 5 bladed.

--Betty

[rjlittlefield]

[Planapo]

Thanks for your assessment, Rik. Schneider might probably then have gone from 15 to 5 blades in their enlarging lenses as this should have reduced production costs.

I can remember those hexagons with my Minolta X-700, that appeared with flare and old non-AF lenses with a 6 bladed iris when sunlight hit the lens at an angle.

--Betty

[dmillard]

From Wikipedia:

"Cine-Xenon

A 6-element double gauss lens for film projection.

* 26 mm f/2.8
* 30 mm f/2
* 35 mm f/2
* 35 mm f/2.8
* 40 mm f/2
* 45 mm f/2
* 45 mm f/2.8
* 50 mm f/2
* 50 mm f/2.8
* 55 mm f/2
* 60 mm f/2
* 60 mm f/2.8
* 65 mm f/2
* 70 mm f/2
* 75 mm f/2
* 80 mm f/2
* 85 mm f/2
* 90 mm f/2
* 90 mm f/2.5
* 95 mm f/2
* 100 mm f/2
* 105 mm f/2
* 105 mm f/2.4
* 110 mm f/2
* 115 mm f/2
* 120 mm f/2
* 125 mm f/2
* 130 mm f/2
* 135 mm f/2
* 140 mm f/2
* 145 mm f/2
* 150 mm f/2
* 150 mm f/2.8

Note that some Xenon formula lenses sold for motion picture use are marked 'Xenon' rather than 'Cine-Xenon'."

Sorry Chris - I just noticed after posting that you had already considered, and dismissed , this possibility.

David

[Yann E.]

I know I am unearthing an old thread here, but I have an excuse : I was not a member of this forum...

First, all "traditional" Xenon lenses (i.e. before the name became a marketing gimmick instead of a lens layout designation) are 6/4 Planar type lenses (single outer elements, inner cemented doublets), as opposed as 6/4 Plasmat types (outer cemented doublets, single inner elements) like the Symmar line.

They were used not only as projection lenses, but also as high-end taking lenses for 8, 16 and 35mm motion cameras and as taking lenses on SLRs. The Wikipedia list is far from complete, from memory I can add :
16mm f2 (C mount)
25mm f1.5 (C mount)
25mm f0.95 (C mount)
28mm f2 (C mount)
50mm f2.3 (C mount)
50mm f1.9 (M42 & Rollei mounts)
50mm f1.8 (M42 mount)

They were not meant to be enlarging lenses, but are actually pretty good performers at short distances so it is quite possible that some "leftover" lens cells were remounted in enlarging barrels and sold as such, either when the 2/40 (also used for some SLRs using the "126" film pack) was abandonned or just before the "Componon-S" enlarging lenses line was launched. The mount seems to be the typical 26mm thread, and the front cell (NOT the barrel mount) should take 30.5mm filters. Also, to mount it reversed you can unscrew both lens cells and remount them reversed in the barrel, provided you don't loose the spacing rings that could be in place.

I know for a fact (I own one) that some 4/50 Componon of the last black metal barrel series are actually Xenon lenses, without Schneider ever advertizing the fact that those Componon were not of the usual Plasmat type but actually of the Planar type.

Reversed, the 4/50 "Compoxenon" is an excellent performer for macro work, and so is the 2/16 Xenon. Did you give yours a try ?

[ChrisR]

[Planapo]

But Chris' Xenon 2/40 pictured above, was manufactured between 1995 and 1996.
Hmm,...

--Betty

[ChrisR]

35mm f/2.0 Mid 1977 (looks much like the one above)
28mm f/2.0 Approx 1943 (looks older!)