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View Full Version : Need help re: Schneider Xenar 7 1/8" F3.5 with weird serial number



JohnJ
10-Mar-2013, 06:39
I've just bought a 'Schneider Xenar 7 1/8 inch F3.5' barrel lens and the thing I don't understand is why it has an unusual serial number. It does not have a normal numeric serial number (eg 11,000,232) but is "No SC-178". It's also only labelled "SCHNEIDER", not Jos Schneider or Schneider Kreuznach or similar. It doesn't appear to be coated, so may be pre war but appears to be in good condition (mostly anyway) and looks much more like any lens made form the 50's or so.

I don't know if it's some weird fake or just an uncommon Schneider lens, maybe from the war years. Any advice would be appreciated. I can post a pic later if that would help.

Thanks in advance.

EdSawyer
10-Mar-2013, 07:46
pics would help, yes.

sun of sand
10-Mar-2013, 07:46
no idea so sorry if you rushed back in here to only find me
someone will be along shortly

Anyone ever seen a 44mm f/2.8 Ektar?
I contacted prarielist keeper with their anomalies and such but he didn't know. Not a prototype as it's SN# is well in
..maybe one of the consumer product unknowns he talks about ..used for some industrial purpose instead
But maybe someone here has an unusual Signet with one

JohnJ
10-Mar-2013, 20:46
Some pics of the lens in question:

http://photocornucopia.com/images/Lenses/Xenar/IMG_4272_pc_400.jpg
http://photocornucopia.com/images/Lenses/Xenar/IMG_4271_pc_400.jpg
http://photocornucopia.com/images/Lenses/Xenar/IMG_4310_pc_400.jpg

Paul Ewins
10-Mar-2013, 22:40
I recently bought a D.A. Symmar which had been sold by Deardorff that had that same two letter three number system. I'm not aware of any other manufacturer or dealer that had their own serial numbers for Schneider LF lenses. Linhof, Sinar and Durst all used the standard numbers while the Caltar/Orbit lenses had no serial numbers at all. A focal length marked in inches fits with an American source.

JohnJ
11-Mar-2013, 12:58
I recently bought a D.A. Symmar which had been sold by Deardorff that had that same two letter three number system. I'm not aware of any other manufacturer or dealer that had their own serial numbers for Schneider LF lenses. Linhof, Sinar and Durst all used the standard numbers while the Caltar/Orbit lenses had no serial numbers at all. A focal length marked in inches fits with an American source.

OK,thanks. Any ideas where I could get more info about that, or who the US agent may have been?

Paul Ewins
11-Mar-2013, 15:38
Schneider's US agent was Burleigh Brooks who I believe shut down in the early eighties. The mount looks like the typical post war barrel mount and the chrome finish on the cells also looks post war. I expect these would have been ordered as a batch with a blank trim ring which would then have been engraved locally. I don't have any Xenar catalogs for the forties or fifties but most of the f3.5 Xenars were gone by the sixties, so I would expect this to be from the fifties. If you want to follow up the possible Deardorff link try Ken Hough at http://www.deardorffcameras.0catch.com. He sold me the DA Symmar and was able to confirm that the serial number was a Deardorff number.

JohnJ
11-Mar-2013, 19:44
Thanks Paul. I'll try to contact Ken.

swmcl
12-Mar-2013, 02:04
Ha!

I have number SC-177 ... ! It will take 67mm filters and filter adapters and will screw into a Kodak version of the Ilex #5. Its a bit tight but it certainly fits. The shutter I use is the original for the 300mm Kodak Portrait lens.

Cheers!

JohnJ
12-Mar-2013, 03:48
Ha!

I have number SC-177 ... ! ...

That's amazing. Do you know the history of your lens, where it came from, why it has that type of serial # etc? I'm also in Aus so maybe the lens was made for local use in a batch, hence the serial numbers. Any further info that you might have would be apprecited.

Thanks for the info re the shutter too.