Super Angulon versions

[AlfaQ]

I am looking to buy a Super Angulon f5.6 90mm with a ser # of 14,558,914. The lens is certainly a late SA but the owner claims it is an early XL version before Schneider began labeling the lens with "XL/110". Is this so? I thought the XL lenses first showed up around 2003, which would make this one a 105 deg. non-XL. What's the real dope? Thanks.

[Oren Grad]

You can compare against the physical specifications:

SA 90/5.6: filter size (front mount) 82mm, rear mount 77mm, weight 570g
SA XL 90/5.6: filter size (front mount) 95mm, rear mount 86mm, weight 665g

[Lachlan 717]

Also, the rear elements look totally different.

[IanG]

They look quite different as well not just the rear elements but the overall shape, you can look at them quickly using Google images.

Ian

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

to buy a Super Angulon f5.6 90mm ... he owner claims it is an early XL version before Schneider began labeling the lens with "XL/110"

in the current Schneider offer, there are 3 series : the SA classical, the SA XL and the SA Xl aspherical
I doubt that any lens manufacturer would ever label "110" a lens of focal length = 90 mm !!

The design of various SA 90 might have changed, though. There used to be a SA 90 f/8 ; the current SA 90/6.8 "classical" is a new design, etc ...

In the series of aspherical Schneider SA XL lenses, I'm not aware of any aspherical 90mm.
80, 110, 150 , 210, OK, but to the best of my knowledge, no 90 SA XL aspherical. (??)

[IanG]

I doubt that any lens manufacturer would ever label "110" a lens of focal length = 90 mm !!

5.6/90 XL-110°

Maybe the seller is kidding himself, he'd need to give some evidence that it's an unmarked XL particularly as the Serial number shows it made before April 1995.

Ian

[jb7]

The 90 5.6 has a lot of coverage, though not quite as much as the 90 XL.
maybe 95%, or so, with the missing bit of circle being the really stretchy bit around the edge.

I've considered, from time to time, replacing my 5.6, but other than to make a nice matching set with the 47 and the 72, I can't think of a good reason.

Selling something is an art, perhaps he meant to infer that the 90 5.6 is like perhaps 95% of an XL. Which, perhaps, it is-

[IanG]

I'd never really thought about the angle of coverage, I have a 90mm f5.6 Super Angulon and hadn't realised or noticed it's 105° coverage was any different to my 90mm f6.8 Grandagon's 102°, however the difference comparing both to my 90mm f6.8 Angulon 81° is like chalk and cheese.

The reality is that difference between 105° and 110° coverage is slight, with a 5"x4" camera it's a lot of extra weight, size and cost, but for use on a 7"x5" it's more significant.

Ian

[Phil Hudson]

There are at least 2 versions of the SA 90mm f/5.6 MC before the XL: as far as I know one type have a plain black conical rear group housing similar in look to the 90/8 MC and the 120/8 MC. The other (later?) one has a distinctive stepped rear group housing. I understand it is shaped this was to suit the Schneider helical focus mount, but that may not be the full story.

As for optical differences I'm not aware that any were mentioned in the marketing but I thought I saw a rather flatter rear element on the conical barreled sample compared to a more pronounced curved element on the other one. I might be imagining this as I have not seen them side by side.

There is a possible third type as well which has a stepped rear barrel but needs a deep rear cap to prevent the curved rear element from damage. It may be the same as the stepped type already mentioned but with a shorter rear shroud (similar to the removeable one on the current 90XL) perhaps making it more suitable for non-bellows shift cameras where deep shroud would foul the mechanism? I have one of these.

I'm adding a couple of photos from the ffordes.com website which shows the 2 different rear barrels.......

[AlfaQ]

Thanks to all for the input:

I was imprecise in my initial post about the "XL" label I expected to see on this lens.
The current Schneider 90mm/f5.6 SA XL lenses have the label "XL-110(deg symbol)" on the barrel. This declares the lens as having 110 degree coverage at f22. My understanding has been that the (older) 90mm/f5.6 SA's had 105 degree coverage and no such label on the lens barrel.

My question, really, is: is there some unmarked "transition" SA made between the current "XL-110(deg symbol)"version and the older 105 degree unmarked version, or not?

Either style lens (XL or not) would give me more coverage than I can use, I just don't want to pay for something that's not there.

Oren's suggestion for using the physical description is probably definitive as long as there aren't other versions.

And Ian, could you give me some clues what to expect from a Google image search?

Thanks again to everyone.