Schneider Symmar 150/265

[david clark]

I've just aquired one of the above. The guy who sold it to me said that to use the 265, you use the front element alone and on the front of the shutter. Is this correct? Also, does a yellow or orange filter enhance the quality of the image as it does with some triples. Also, when were this lenses made? Thanks, David

[Ernest Purdum]

To use a single cell, you take the front one off. The lens is totally symmetrical, so it doesn't matter which one you use by iself, but behind the shutter is the right place for it. I doubt if a filter would do anything other than cause the usual contrast effects. Schneider is a German company and nearly all lenses sold under their name are made in that country as this one surely was.

[jnantz]

david:

you can find the age of your lens here:

http://www.schneideroptics.com/info/age_of_lenses/

[Michael S. Briggs]

I have an original Schneider brochure on the Symmar. Schneider's instructions for converting the lens are to use the rear cell: "Unscrewing the front section gives you a long distance lens combination with practically double the focal length". Schneider states the coverage of the converted lens as about 30 degrees and suggests that "At full aperture it [the rear element] is eminently suited for portraiture."

There are theoretical optical reasons why removing the front cell rather than the rear one should be better. As to how much difference this actually makes, I don't know. Many photographers prefer to remove the rear cell because the shutter is better protected and significantly less camera extension is needed.

I suggest trying it both ways and seeing if you find the results of acceptable quality.

[N Dhananjay]

As indicated, a single element is typically used behind the stop - the position of the stop helps to correct certain abberations. When you remove one of the cells, you lose some corrections and you should expect performance to be lower. Some of the increased abberations can be compensated for by stopping down. However, there is also an increase in lateral chromatic abberations and this is what the filter is designed to eliminate. It does this by restricting the spectrum. Cheers, DJ

[Robert Brown]

Hi David-- As noted in most of the other replies, removing the front and using the rear element is the 'normal' method for using a convertable lens. Take extreme care that when you remove the front element that you don't let dust or moisture get into your shutter. If the lens is mounted in the correct shutter for being a convertable it should have both a white and green aperture scale, the green (on most Schneiders-I am assuming you have the 5.6) is for the converted 265. Note that the f stop jumps to around f/12, and that focusing on the ground glass will be much more difficult to get a really sharp definition. You may want to try a few test exposures first before committing to any really importanat exposures just to get the feel, bellows factor will creep in a little, and it will be easy to under expose. I have a Symmar 135/235 convertable, and while the 135 shoots circles around the 235, it does a good enough job to get 16x20 prints that are nearly as good as those shot with my 203 7.7 ektar. Hope this helps a little.