Schneider 550 mm XXL Fine Art Lens, a very special lens

A very special ULF lens: 90 cm of image circle, superb sharpness and quality from center to borders

http://www.flickr.com/photos/castors...in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/castors...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/castors...n/photostream/

Sure, if you have more $$$$$$$$$$$ than Donald Trump and a sherpa to carry it.

But it's a modern Dagor.

Federico, I have to admit that it's a thing of beauty! :)

Do you have any of your 12x20 photos online?

When I was younger (last year or so :rolleyes: ), I was seriously considering doing the 18x22 Carleton Watkins thing and this would have been one of my lenses. This was contingent, however, on winning a lottery and needless to say, the desirable thing did not transpire...

In mammoth land, has anyone compared the 550 XXL against a Protar V of similar focal length in actual performance? It seems that in the Protar V lineup there was a 460 with 840mm of coverage and a 632 with 1,160mm (!) of coverage - according to the Carl Zeiss catalog from about 100 years ago.

Just wondering....

Protar lenses are excellent, but of course the 550 XXL provides much more modern performances, and infact it's excellent even when shooting 11x14", 12x20" or other "small" formats ;-)

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Originally Posted by carverlux

In mammoth land, has anyone compared the 550 XXL against a Protar V of similar focal length in actual performance? It seems that in the Protar V lineup there was a 460 with 840mm of coverage and a 632 with 1,160mm (!) of coverage - according to the Carl Zeiss catalog from about 100 years ago.

Just wondering....

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Why think small? I'm sure the coverage claims are exaggerated, but this catalog http://trichromie.free.fr/trichromie.../27/PERIGRAPHE claims that the 500/14 Perigraphe covers 1,250 mm. Slooow Dagor type, by the way.

The big problem, though, is finding one.

E., do you remember what Michael Kadillak reported he was told when he investigated commissioning a small series of W/A lenses for ULF? He approached a designer and asked about having a modern Dagor type designed and made, was told something to the effect of "Oh, you don't want that, we can do much better now." I like my little Beryls but there are better lenses.

I think that http://opticalresolutionsinc.com/index.htm can develop and build LF and ULF lenses on demand, they provided the lens for Flint's Gigapixl project and I suppose that they built Clifford Ross' high-res lens for his R1 9x18" camera.

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Originally Posted by Dan Fromm

Why think small? I'm sure the coverage claims are exaggerated, but this catalog http://trichromie.free.fr/trichromie.../27/PERIGRAPHE

E., do you remember what Michael Kadillak reported he was told when he investigated commissioning a small series of W/A lenses for ULF? He approached a designer and asked about having a modern Dagor type designed and made, was told something to the effect of "Oh, you don't want that, we can do much better now." I like my little Beryls but there are better lenses.

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Better? Absolutely. Nicer? Matter of opinion.:)

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Originally Posted by E. von Hoegh

Better? Absolutely. Nicer? Matter of opinion.:)

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Not to quarrel with Mr. Kadillak's designer, but for my purposes my little Beryls are quite good enough. I don't ask more of them than they can give. I'm sure that you do the same with your Dagors and are happy with what they do for you.