Schneider Xenars

[Ted Harris]

I msut have missed it but while looking at Robert White's website just now noticed that they have "the last of the Xenars" or language to that effect. Since these aren't lenses that interest me I hand't noticed they have been/are being discontinued. OTOH if you are interested Robert White's prices are very right on both the 150 at £195 and the 210 at £295. Neither Badger nor Midewst seem to have either lens and BH lists the 210 at $809.

Is RW correct that the lenses have been discontinued?

[Ralph Barker]

The only Xenars I recall seeing on the Schneider site for some time are the Tele-Xenars. The regular Xenars are listed in "Vintage" section, with the statement, "This classic design stood the test of time and was produced until the late 1990's.".

[Jay DeFehr]

I'm printing negs made with the 150 Xenar on my RB Graflex, and they're beautiful. When I bought my RB, I was considering switching the lens for something like a 7 1/4" Verito, or a nice Cooke, etc., but a wise friend suggested I try the Xenar before swapping it out, and that I might be surprised at its performance. I did, and I was, so I kept the Xenar, and I'm glad I did.

Jay

[Ted Harris]

Ralph, I agree; that's why I was surprised when I saw this http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/lenses.htm#LabelSchneiderXenar

[Ole Tjugen]

Yes, they seem to be discontinued. What's more irritating is that the "vintage" section only shows the old f:4.5 Xenars, not the last version. So the newest ones are out of production, yet not "vintage".

FYI I have sveral old Xenars in different focal lengths, even some that are too old to be in the "vintage" section. And I've just bought a new 210mm f:6.1 which I'm fully expecting to love.

[Arne Croell]

Yes, they seem to be discontinued. What's more irritating is that the "vintage" section only shows the old f:4.5 Xenars, not the last version. So the newest ones are out of production, yet not "vintage".

FYI I have sveral old Xenars in different focal lengths, even some that are too old to be in the "vintage" section. And I've just bought a new 210mm f:6.1 which I'm fully expecting to love.
Ole, You can find the information on the 150mm f/5.6 and the 210mm f/6.1 in the archive section of the German site at

http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/archiv/pdf/xr.pdf.

I had thought they had been discontinued for a while; they were not listed anymore in their general printed prospectus that was distributed at the 2002 photokina, i.e. 4years ago. I assume they probably just sold off the remaining stock and now RW bought the last few off their shelves. They are very nice lenses; the f/6.1 210mm (actually a 215mm in reality) was my standard 210mm lens for 10 years.

[Oren Grad]

Ted, the Schneider Kreuznach site lists the Xenars as "Oldies", which they define as "Lenses of this category are crossed off the delivery program".

[Ted Harris]

Oren, as Arne mentioned above, there are old Xenars and older Xenars. The ones in question are more or less current having been formally discontinued by Schneider a few years ago but new ones remain in dealer stock around the world. It does appear that these from Robert White will be the end.

[Jim MacKenzie]

Although I'm new to LF, my 210/6.1 Xenar is already my favourite lens. It's really sharp.

It is only single coated but I understand it only has four elements so that's not a huge issue.

[Oren Grad]

Oren, as Arne mentioned above, there are old Xenars and older Xenars. The ones in question are more or less current having been formally discontinued by Schneider a few years ago but new ones remain in dealer stock around the world. It does appear that these from Robert White will be the end.

Yes, and believe it or not, it's specifically those two - the late model 150/5.6 and 210/6.1 - that are identified by Schneider-Kreuznach as the "oldies", along with the Apo-Symmars, G-Clarons, and a few other relatively modern types. IOW, they're using the term not to refer to their huge archive of "true oldies", but to designate their page of recently-discontinued items.

Didn't mean to get caught up in nit-picking over the semantics - my point was only that Schneider-Kreuznach has in this way specifically acknowledged that those two lenses are discontinued. Anyway, here's the page with the "Oldies" link:

http://www.schneiderkreuznach.de/foto_e/foto.htm

[Ted Harris]

Didn't mean to nit pick either .... you can download the pdf data sheet from the link Oren provided. The file is too big to post here.