What is a 300mm Schneider Xenar?

[Duane Polcou]

Greetings. I am looking for a 300mm lens for 4x5 Black and White landscape and backpacking that isn't too heavy (like a 12 in. Ektar) or too, too expensive (like a 300 M Nikkor). What exactly is a 300mm Schneider Xenar lens? When googling this I often see references to Tele-Xenar, as well. Are Xenars and Tele Xenars two different things? Also, I'm assuming it's coverage is more than adequate for 4x5. Does anyone have any experience using these - are they decently sharp, coated, etc? Thank you LF brain trust, as always.

[Nick_3536]

It's a Xenar with a focal length of 300mm. -)

Tessar design. Yes more then enough for 4x5.

Tele will need less bellows.

I've got shorter ones but Xenars are fairly common having been around for quite a while.

[Gene McCluney]

Xenars are "Tessar" formula lenses (in general) that are sharp, but have limited coverage. Tele-Xenars are telephoto lenses designed to focus infinity with less bellows extension than their non-telephoto focal length equivalents. Telephoto lenses do not have wide circles of definition, thus less movements. If you want a long focal length lens for a field camera with a short bellows, you should consider a telephoto style lens. "Xenars" in general are very sharp lenses, but have less room for movements than say, Symmars.

[Oren Grad]

A 300 Xenar will have ample room for movement on 4x5. But it may not meet your size/weight criterion.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Are Xenars and Tele Xenars

No, the 300 mm Xenar is a standard lens made by Schnedier Kreuznach, it is a classical tessar-type, 4-elements, covering about 60°f/22, used in the past for the 18x24cm and the 8"x10" format
A tele xenar is a 300mm telephoto with a much smaller bellows drag than 300mm when focused at infinity. A xenar requries about 300mm of bellows drag at infinity.
All specs can be found in the Scheider Kreuznach archive as scanned .pdf brochures. Most in German.
http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/archiv/archiv.htm

look for : Aufnahme-Objektive
für Mittel- und Großformat

All German lenses fabricated after ~ 1950 are coated. Not multicoated, but with an anti-reflection coating ; but not necessarily "single coated" as can be read sometimes. This pre-1970 coating is more than adequate for many photographic situations.

Xenars can deliver excellent images. They were superseded by 6-element lenses because LF professional photoraphers demanded a wider image circle to use camera movements.
To get an idea of the limitations of a 60° angle of view, if you wish to frame a landscape picture with 1/3 of ground and 2/3 of sky only by shifting the back from a position where the horizon is in the middle, you reach the limits of a tessar design = image circle = focal length +15%.
In a modern 70-75° 6-element standard lens you get a circle = focal length +40%.

tele xenars cover much less than 60°. So a 300 tele xenar is for 4x5" with movemnets or 5"x7 with limited movements.

[Mark Sampson]

So a 300mm Schneider Xenar will be *about* the same size and weight as the 12" Ektar (that's too heavy for you). If you can't afford a new 300mm Nikkor-M, look for a used one. I think the Nikkor is one of the great bargain lenses when you look at the price-performance ratio.

[Gene McCluney]

So a 300mm Schneider Xenar will be *about* the same size and weight as the 12" Ektar (that's too heavy for you).


After all, an Ektar is a high quality Tessar design, as is a Xenar. Tessars in general are smaller and lighter than the 6 element designs typified by the Symmar and Sironar lines of lenses.

[Ernest Purdum]

If you are looking for small and light, look for a smaller maximum aperture. f4.5 gives a nice bright groundglass image but, by letting your eyes accommodate to the lower light level, use of a much smaller aperture is perfectly feasible.

[Michael Gudzinowicz]

Duane, The 300 Xenar will cover 8x10. If the one you are considering is an older lens (pre-1940-50), it is likely that performance (sharpness) will just be adequate for 4x5. In any case, it is a large lens. If you do not want to use a modern f/5.6 plasmat design, you might want to consider one of the following lenses:

300 mm f/9 Nikkor M
305 mm f/9 Schneider G Claron
300 mm f/9 Fujinon AS
300 mm f/8.5 Fujinon C
305 mm f/9 Schneider APO Artar
300 mm f/9 Rodenstock Apo Ronar
300 mm f/9 Sinar APO Sinaron
300 mm f/9 Docter Apo-Germinar
300 mm f/8 Fujinon T (telephoto)

The G Claron is fairly common and barrel mounted lenses drop into a Copal 1 shutter.

[Frank Petronio]

There are older 300mm Xenars that are in larger, older compound shutters that have a larger maximum aperture, f/4.5 I think. Later ones fit into Copal 3 size shutters, which are smaller and choke the aperture. I had a 1970s era 300mm/5.6 in a Copal 3 that easily covered 8x10 and was sharp and pleasing over the entire frame. It was 67mm front filter size and not very large or heavy. It had a smooth bokeh, was at least a stop faster than those f/9 lenses, and cost less than $300.

Kind of a perfect lens actually ;)

It was smaller than a 12-inch Ektar in a big Acme, but it was the shutter that accounts for the size.

[Nick_3536]

That sounds like my big Fuji 300mm. I guess it's an L. Mounted with a lensboard I don't think I paid much more then $300 from MPEX for it.

[Ole Tjugen]

I had a 300mm f:4.5 Xenar in use until a while ago. It was in a massive Compound #5 shutter, and weighed so much that I sold it along with the 5x7" Technika I used it on. That's the beast I'm holding in my avatar picture...