any comments about Xenar 300mm F5,6 (not tele)?

[koh303]

I have just gotten a set of replacement front and rear cells for a Xenar i got a while back which had some coating issues.

It is smaller and lighter then my Symmar S, both are MC, and both have the coverage i need.

Can any one comment on this lens? seems to be scarce info about it online...

[Dan Fromm]

https://www.schneideroptics.com/info/vintage_lens_data/large_format_lenses/xenar/data/5,6-300mm.html

[IanG]

Xenar's were never Multi Coated. This page (https://www.schneideroptics.com/pdfs/photo/Xenar_data.pdf) has more information, same site as Dan's link..

The Xenar's were redesigned and the earlier post WWII f4.5 (f4.7) range replaced by the 150mm & 300mm f5.6, & 210mm f6.1, range with the black faced Copal and black lens barrels. It's a slightly sharper lens than the f4.5 version and provided photographers with a smaller, lighter, budget alternative to Schneider's Symmar S lenses of similar focal length.

The last of these lenses were assembled & sold off cheaply by a handful of specialist dealers in the early 2000's, the SN of my 150mm f5.6 Xemar indicates 2001 manufacture. In the UK Robert White were the only dealer selling them, it may have been Badger Graphics in the US.

Perhaps the problem was that in most of the world (outside North America) the majority of LF users were professional photographers and most preferred Symmars or the equivalents from Nikon, Rodenstock, Fuji etc. While there's always been an amateur LF tradition in the US that disappeared almost completely in other countries particularly Europe in WWII. Shortages of films & paper after the war fuelled the switch to smaller formats here in Europe and it was rare to see amateurs using LF even in the 1990's it was the digital revolution that made LF more practical in Europe with second-hand equipment flooding the market at rock bottom prices.

You don't see many of the black f5.6 (f6.1) Xenars for sale compared to the earlier Chrome f4.7 & f4.5 possibly because Schneider never sold that many. They are good lenses.

Ian

[djdister]

I think the Xenar can render out of focus areas quite nicely - shoot it close to wide open sometimes...

[Bernice Loui]

They are lower contrast compared to a modern plasmat with more than enough resolution-shaprness. The Xenar has endured for decades and remains one of the classic photo optics. Like them enough to have a set from 105mm to 480mm. They are not for everyone as they do not have the hard hitting, high contrast-apparent sharpness look that became fashionable towards the end of the film era, aka Fuji Velvia.

Don't get caught up in the multi-coatings or this-that, try out the lens and see if it work for you. This all that really matters. While the opinion of others is just that, there are examples and they should be considered as just examples.

http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/test/BigMash210.html

Bernice
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I have just gotten a set of replacement front and rear cells for a Xenar i got a while back which had some coating issues.

It is smaller and lighter then my Symmar S, both are MC, and both have the coverage i need.

Can any one comment on this lens? seems to be scarce info about it online...

[IanG]

They are lower contrast compared to a modern plasmat with more than enough resolution-shaprness. The Xenar has endured for decades and remains one of the classic photo optics. Like them enough to have a set from 105mm to 480mm. They are not for everyone as they do not have the hard hitting, high contrast-apparent sharpness look that became fashionable towards the end of the film era, aka Fuji Velvia.

Don't get caught up in the multi-coatings or this-that, try out the lens and see if it work for you. This all that really matters. While the opinion of others is just that, there are examples and they should be considered as just examples.

http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/test/BigMash210.html

Bernice
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The last series of Xenars, black barrel f5.6/f6.1, are remarkably well coated and my experience with a 150mm f5.6 and also a 150mm f4.5 T (coated) CZJ Tessar is the contrast is much better than the older single coated Symmars, I shoot them alongside Multi Coated lenses and don't notice any contrast difference.

I've used Schneider LF lenses for nearly 40 years and would add that their lens coatings improved quite significantly in the 60's and 70's but the coatings on the last Xenar the 150mm f5,6, 210mm f6.1 and 300mm f5.6 is particularly good for single coating.

Ian

[EdSawyer]

I have a late black 150/5.6 xenar also. Nice lens, and amazingly tiny and light. really perfect when you want the smallest lens. I agree that the tessar/xenar formula has nice bokeh, particularly for portraits.

[jcoldslabs]

If I'm not mistaken, the Caltar "Pro Series" 300mm f/5.6 is a rebranded Schneider Xenar. I have a late copy that has "Made in Germany" on the side and came in a Copal 3. It has a nice, modern coating that looks identical to the coating on my 360mm Symmar-S in terms of color (purple-ish and orange-ish), but it might just be single-coated, I'm not sure. How do you tell?

In any case, the specs match what Dan linked to above. It's a great lens for 8x10 and 5x7.

Jonathan

[David Karp]

Those Caltar Pros are rebranded Xenars. These "Made in Germany" Caltar Pros are to be distinguished from the Caltar Pro series made by Komura and, I imagine, labeled "Made in Japan." According to Kerry Thalmann's article in View Camera mag there was a 300mm f/6.3 Komura-made Caltar Pro.

Only pointing those out so future shoppers doing research don't end up with a lens different from the one they thought they were getting.