Rodenstock vs Schneider

[Herb Cunningham]

Somehow I managed to wind up with two 240 f5.6 lenses, A rodenstock Sironar N Mc and a Schneider Symmar S MC. both in great shape, no marks, etc. I have the box for the Rodie.

The schneider is somewhat larger, although both are in #3 shutters. For general still life use on 8x10, which wins the overall quality contest? The loser gets sold.

Please no ties.

thanks

[Eric Rose]

do a test with some film and then you can tell us which is best for your needs.

[Ted Harris]

Eric has the only answer. The lenses are basically equal and some folk prefer one and some the other. Shoot some film and pick. I once tested three focal lengths of Apo Sironar N's and Apo Symmars and couldn't see any difference at all between the two.

[Oren Grad]

For outdoor work, I prefer the bokeh of the Rodenstock. But that's such a subjective thing that your preference might be the opposite. In any case, I don't know whether the differences that lead me to that preference would be present in close-up still life work.

If you don't care about bokeh, you can probably flip a coin - unless squeezing the utmost in bench-test sharpness out of the lens is an overriding consideration, in which case you need to test the specific samples on hand.

[Jack Flesher]

Hehe -- I was going to say I prefer the Bokeh of the Schneider...

Fact is, Eric hit it on the head; you need to shoot them yourself and make your decision.

Then post the test results here and explain WHY you chose the one you did!

:D,

[Brian K]

Herb you really shouldn't be just trusting the varied opinions on web sites. The first rule is to test them yourself. Even if one lens is generally better then the other there are enough variations in lenses within their own production runs where you might have the worst of the supposedly better lens and the best of the supposedly inferior lens, the only way to know is to test them your self.

[JW Dewdney]

You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out;
You put your right foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your left foot in,
You put your left foot out;
You put your left foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out;
You put your right hand in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your left hand in,
You put your left hand out;
You put your left hand in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your right side in,
You put your right side out;
You put your right side in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your left side in,
You put your left side out;
You put your left side in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your nose in,
You put your nose out;
You put your nose in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your backside in,
You put your backside out;
You put your backside in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your head in,
You put your head out;
You put your head in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

You put your whole self in,
You put your whole self out;
You put your whole self in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokeh-Bokeh,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about

Sorry - feeling more irreverant than usual today!

[Eric James]

Re: Rodey -vs- Schneider in general

Maybe this will provide some insight:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=25476

[Stephen Willard]

If you test them with some film make sure you look at the edges. That is where you are most likely to see a difference. Also check the size of the image circle. One may have a notably larger image circle which affords you more movement.