How does one start to recognize the differences among lenses?

[Ig Nacio]

Hi,

How does one start to recognize the differences among lenses?
It looks like one big family ; ) !!!

I mean, out of curiosity, I was looking at the family names
among this one brand: Schneider, for example, and it seems
to me it is the same with almost any other manufaturer!

Look at these (sub)names. All of them are Schneider.
APO-Symmar
Symmar-S

Sometimes even the brand name, Schneider, is written as Schneider,
and other times as Schneider Kreuznach.

I don't know if this reveals anything about age or the way they
perform, etc. I mean, I think each 'family' may have something
interesting or that attracts LF photographers. How could I know,
how could I know more?

Thank you, kind regards!

[jp]

It's like cars... Add some letters to the model name and it's a new and better revision. Learn the history of the manufacturer and you will figure out some differences. Sort of like reading old car brochures.

The Kreuznach is the factory location and can be sometimes useful in determining the ages of lenses.
Like if a lens says Carl Zeiss Jena it's probably pre-coldwar if it's uncoated and east German (less desirable) if it's coated (post WWII)
In our global world we sorta pretend it doesn't matter where something is made if the right people are in charge, but traditionally some places are known and well regarded for their craftsmanship at times in history.

[Ig Nacio]

Hi,

Thank you for your message : ) !!!

One thing seems to me in the world of LF lenses.
It is that all, but all lenses are good! That as
opposed to MF and 35 mm. lenses, isn't?
For example, if anybody buys a Schneider lens,
(I asume that) it is very good
EVEN IF
it does or does not have:

Kreuznach written next to ScHNEIDER
APO written next to Symmar
A letter like the 'S' written next to Symmar
etc., etc. etc.

It is almost like saying: "All Schneider are good!"
isn't??

And if you see pictures taken with a specific brand
like: Rodenstock, Fuji, or Nikon, and you like the
way that brand 'sculpts light', then all of the models
in that brand name will generally be optically good
and 'congruent' among them. This generalization
wouldn't be so true for MF and 35 mm. What do
you think?

Kind regards!

[Tin Can]

Buy and sell what you hate.

ymmv

Read old catalogs online, almost all are online.

Buy good shutters, way more of those are now a crapshoot.

[Ig Nacio]

Hi,

That is the thing too, shutters are not being
made any more, isn't?

BTW, who services these large format lenses
and their shutters? Is there a thread to that,
perhaps? I am curious to know if repair and
maintenance shops will still be a while among
us.

Kind regards!

[Dan Fromm]

Lenses have attributes. Focal length, maximum aperture, coverage, design type, weight, size of filter threads, ...

Ig, I don't know why you think that all lenses made by a manufacturer have the same character, whatever that means.

I don't mean to insult you and I could be mistaken, but your questions make me think that you know very little. If you really know very little, you'll get next to nothing from posts. This site has resources. Go to largeformatphotography.info and read the FAQs and articles.

We have another resource that isn't where I just directed you to go. The first post in this https://www.largeformatphotography.i...mainly)-lenses discussion has a link to a list of links to all sorts of information on LF. The list contains brief reviews of highly-recommended books on LF photography. Go to the list, pick a book and study it. You'll learn more from it, and more efficiently, than you will from discussions here.

[Tin Can]

I just read almost all your posts back to 2011.

I hope you read more of ours.

https://www.largeformatphotography.i...741#post731741

Good fortune.

[Drew Wiley]

It's fun to look back in history and see what let up to this. Rudolf Kingslake wrote an excellent little book about the history of lens design, with who came up with certain patents and marketing names.

[ic-racer]

I suspect the identification nomenclature comes from one of the following. Most of the time it makes no sense and sometimes identification labels are ambiguous or even absent.

Marketing
Engineering
Inventory/Logistics

[Pere Casals]

how could I know more?

Here you have all schneider list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnei..._format_lenses

Simply locate at ebay the models, each model has a distinctive look, general purpose are:
3.4 Symmar
3.5 Symmar-S
3.6 Apo-Symmar
3.7 Apo-Symmar L-Series
3.8 Super-Symmar HM
3.9 Super-Symmar XL

Regarding age, you know that from serial number:
https://www.schneideroptics.com/info/age_of_lenses/

These (correction) were the last in production/sold before discontinuation:
https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecom...y.aspx?CID=162

These are vintage:
https://www.schneideroptics.com/info...nses/index.htm