PDA

View Full Version : Unusual Schneider Center Filter



Steve Goldstein
21-May-2011, 09:37
I have a Schneider center filter marked only 90/8 rather than with the more customary model numbers. It's not multicoated. The thread sizes correspond to a IIIa/IIIb, which would be right for the 90mm Super Angulon, but it's definitely darker than 1.5 stops, more like 2. (Stupid me, I put everything away before I thought to take a meter reading through it.). I've gone through all the center-filter literature on Schneider's archive website and found no mention of one like this, even their oldest literature refers to them by numbers. Has anyone ever seen one like it?

And does anyone know the difference between IIIa and IIIb? They seem to have the same specs.

Thanks!

Asher Kelman
21-May-2011, 10:17
I have a Schneider center filter marked only 90/8 rather than with the more customary model numbers. It's not multicoated. The thread sizes correspond to a IIIa/IIIb, which would be right for the 90mm Super Angulon, but it's definitely darker than 1.5 stops, more like 2. (Stupid me, I put everything away before I thought to take a meter reading through it.). I've gone through all the center-filter literature on Schneider's archive website and found no mention of one like this, even their oldest literature refers to them by numbers. Has anyone ever seen one like it?

And does anyone know the difference between IIIa and IIIb? They seem to have the same specs.

Thanks!


Steve,

I'm far less knowledgeable on the subject than you, but it's important for their wide angle lenses! What's your link for the filters. I need one for a Super Symmar XL 150 mm!

Asher

Dan Fromm
21-May-2011, 10:39
PMFJI. Current ones are at http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/pdf/foto/centerfilter.pdf



For your older one, its probably best to ask Schneider directly. http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/firma.htm#kont

Steve Goldstein
21-May-2011, 11:22
Asher - The 150 SSXL takes the IVa center filter.

Dan - Good idea, I'll contact them about it since it doesn't show up in any of their old literature. And thanks for the new net-ism, I'd never seen PMFJI before.

Leigh
21-May-2011, 11:35
Schneider did offer a 90mm f/8 Super Angulon (not the XL series).

The front diameter is 70mm and the filter thread is M67x0.75.

Suspicion would be that your CF is for that lens.

- Leigh

Dan Fromm
21-May-2011, 12:37
Asher - The 150 SSXL takes the IVa center filter.

Dan - Good idea, I'll contact them about it since it doesn't show up in any of their old literature. And thanks for the new net-ism, I'd never seen PMFJI before.

Pardon Me For Jumping In. Been around for decades (or at least more than one).

Steve Goldstein
21-May-2011, 14:53
Schneider did offer a 90mm f/8 Super Angulon (not the XL series).

The front diameter is 70mm and the filter thread is M67x0.75.

Suspicion would be that your CF is for that lens.

- Leigh

Yes, I'm sure of that, it's marked 8/90mm. But several things about it are weird.

1. It doesn't follow the standard Schneider center-filter naming system.

2. It's 3 stops in the center, not 1.5. (I dug it out and measured it.)

3. The front threads are 82mm, not 86mm!!!

I just noticed the front-thread difference, what I said in my original post is wrong.

So I've got a center filter clearly marked 8/90mm, with 67mm male threads and 82mm female threads, that's 3 stops in the center. The IIIa/IIIb, both of which are listed for the older 90mm Super Angulon (depending on which Schneider literature you look at) are 1.5 stops per Schneider's literature and have 86mm front threads.

I'm specifically wondering if anyone has seen a Schneider CF like mine before. It's not a big deal, this one is perfectly usable, but it's certainly odd. Perhaps it's a great antiquity, and sufficiently valuable to keep me in film for the rest of my life ;)

Sevo
21-May-2011, 14:57
I've got a 65/8 centre filter - as Schneider already had Roman numerals for the filters long before that and still uses them, there must have been some reason why they engraved some with the focal length and aperture. My guess is that these are filters originally sold in kit with a lens after the f/5.6 SA was released and the f/8 got discounted. Past that date, Schneider must have had an interest in marking the f/8 kit filters in a way where split-out ones could not compete with the more expensive generic Roman-numbered filters - maybe they even sourced in some cheaper filters to go with the (now) cheaper lenses. I'll have to measure the density.

Kerry L. Thalmann
25-May-2011, 12:07
It's probably just an older center filter from the time when the f8 Super Angulon line was Schneider's only line of wide angle lenses that accepted center filters. Back then, there was probably just one lens per center filter. So, it made sense to engrave the focal length and maximum aperture on the filter.

Once Schneider started to have multiple lenses that took the same center filter, it no longer made sense to engrave the focal lengths/max. apertures on the filters. This could have happened as soon as the introduction of the f5.6 Super Angulpn series.

The f8 Super Angulon series was initially introduced in 1955 and the f5.6 Super Angulon series was introduced in 1966. Your filter was probably made during this time period when the 90mm f8 Super Angulon was the only member of the Super Angulon Series that had a 67mm filter size. Once the f5.6 Super Angulon series was introduced, the 65mm f5.6 and 75mm f5.6 Super Angulons also shared the 67mm filter size and the same center filter as the 90mm f8 Super Angulon. At that point, it no longer would have made sense to engrave the center filter with 90/8.

This is all speculation and conjecture. Do you have the original pouch/container the filter came in? This can also help determine the approximate age of the filter. Older Schneider center filters came in brown leather pouches. Newer ones came in blue or black cordura pouches, or square plastic cases.

Kerry

Kerry L. Thalmann
25-May-2011, 12:17
BTW, I don't think this filter is all that rare or unusual. I have seen several of these 90/8 center filters over the years. I just always assumed they were older, single coated center filters. All the newer multicoated center filters are clearly labeled "MC" or "MULTICOATING".

I may be wrong, but I think the 65mm f8 and 75mm f8 shared the same center filter and it may have been engraved with both 65/8 and 75/8.

Kerry