This review is about the Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 50mm f/2.8 lens with an M42 mount and 10 aperture blades.
Schneider made several versions of this lens, mine is produced circa 1958 and recognizable by the "Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 1:2,8/50" text on the front, supplemented by "Edixa-Reflex" on the focusing ring. Another identifying feature is the aperture ring, to set the aperture you have to pull the ring backwards before changing the aperture setting. The design of the lens is a classical Tessar design with four elements in three groups, called Xenar by Schneider.
Specifications (10 aperture blade version):
Focal length: 50mm
Minimal focus distance: 0.5 meters
Aperture: f/2.8 - f/22
Aperture blades: 10
Lens elements: 4 elements in 3 groups
Diameter: 49mm
Mount: M42
Manufacturer: Schneider-Kreuznach
Built: late 1950s
Use
This lens is equipped with the M42 mount, making it compatible with a wide range of M42 cameras and with adapters to pretty much every other camera system I use. It takes some getting used to the fact that you have got to pull back the aperture dial before you can change your settings but this also prevents the ring from accidentally moving. Focusing is smooth, the focus ring moves to the right towards infinity. My copy has been modified for digital cameras, meaning that the aperture pin has been pressed down and locked in that position. Thanks to this I need to use stop-down metering when using this lens on an M42 camera.
Images
The images you see below were shot with a Canon EOS 90D set at ISO 200. These images were converted from RAW to JPEG, slightly cropped and resized. No other actions were taken in Photoshop.
In the field
The images below were all shot using a Canon EOS 90D digital camera fitted with an M42 to EOS adapter. They were converted to JPEG and resized. As the 90D has an APS-C type cropped sensor the outer edges of the lens will not show on the photographs it produces. At this point I haven't used this lens of a full frame or film camera so I cannot comment on the amount of vignetting and loss of sharpness at the extreme edges of a photograph. With the 90D one focuses with the lens wide open before stopping down to the desired f-stop. This is where it gets somewhat irritating as you cannot use the aperture dial without first pulling it back. I found this to be a drawback of this lens. However, this is my only gripe. The lens focuses smoothly and I love the colors it produces. It simply loves reds! Wide open it produces a soft bubble bokeh, circular in the center of the image and more of an ellipse at the edges. When shooting against the light you'll get sort of a glow around bright objects such as flowers. However the lens is quite recessed so it doesn't flare easy. As with most other vintage lenses it suffers from chromatic aberration wide open, when stopped down that pretty much disappears completely.
This is fun! I remember this from my days @ Sturkenboom, the ‘pull-back’ ring and the many, as I recall very round and smoothly shaped, aperture blades had my interest when we had it in our second hand department. Never shot with it though. Judging from your photographs it has a nice bokeh. I’m guessing it does not have much of a coating? Have fun with it! When I finally get some adapters for my Sony I would like to borrow it some time :-D
ReplyDeleteThanks Joeri! Ahh, Sturkenboom, I remember it well. ;-)
DeleteIt is a lovely little lens and fun to shoot with, capable of very nice bokeh. You're more than welcome to try it out!
You're also quite right, this lens has no multi-coating. Not a real issue in this case, I like the way this lens renders colors and due to the design of this lens flaring is no big issue.