This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2024) |
Formerly |
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Company type | Private |
Industry | Digital imaging |
Founded | 1913Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany | , in
Headquarters | Ringstraße 132, 55543 Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany |
Products |
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Number of employees | 660 (group total) [1] |
Subsidiaries | |
Website | schneiderkreuznach |
Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH (commonly referred to as Schneider) is a manufacturer of industrial and photographic optics. The company was founded on 18 January 1913 by Joseph Schneider as Optische Anstalt Jos. Schneider & Co. at Bad Kreuznach in Germany. The company changed its name to Jos. Schneider & Co., Optische Werke, Kreuznach in 1922, and to the current Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH in 1998.
In 2001, Schneider received an Oscar for Technical Achievement for their Super-Cinelux motion picture lenses. It is best known as manufacturers of large format lenses for view cameras, enlarger lenses, and photographic loupes. It also makes a limited amount of small- and medium-format lenses, and has at various times manufactured eyeglasses and camera rangefinders, as well as being an OEM lens maker for Kodak and Samsung digital cameras. It has supplied the lenses for various LG devices and the BlackBerry Priv. It also supplied the lenses for the Kodak Regent camera in the 1930s and other classic cameras such as certain models of the Rolleiflex starting in the 1940s, the Kodak Retina and Kodak Retinette camera series in the 1950s and 1960s, and certain specialty lenses for Hasselblad. In 1961, it created Feinwerktechnik GmbH, a manufacturer of electrical-hydraulic servo valves.
In recent years, it has acquired several other companies:
From the start of its production in 1914, Schneider had produced their 500,000th lens by June 1932, its millionth by November 1936, and its 10 millionth lens by January 1967. As of April 2000, it had produced over 14,730,000 lenses. The list below converts any cm designations on earlier lenses to mm (so a 16.5 cm lens is shown as a 165 mm lens).
A Schneider Kreuznach lens made for the German 35mm Rolleiflex SL35 and SL350 SLR cameras equipped with Quick Bayonet Mount (QBM)
A very small lens, available in M42 screw mount.
A perspective-control lens of 7 elements in 6 groups for 35mm cameras, which allows shifting of up to 7 mm, in an axis defined by a separate rotating ring on the lens. The PA-Curtagon is available in Praktica (M42), Exakta, Alpa-Reflex, Contarex, Leica R, Minolta, Miranda, Canon, Nikon, Contarex, and Olympus OM mounts. It was also available for Rollei QBM mount under the name PC-Curtagon.
A Cooke triplet (3-element, 3-group) design with a minimum aperture of f/22.
A 3-element, 3-group design with a minimum aperture of f/22.
A 9/4 wide-angle lens with a minimum aperture of f/22
An update of the f/4.0 model, with an 8/4 design and slightly increased sharpness.
A 10/8 wide-angle lens with a minimum aperture of f/22.
A 28 mm f/2.8 shift lens with 67EW filter thread and a lens shade with filter holder for 74R rimless filters and M92x1.00 filter ring. Many user-changeable mechanically-only mount modules available from Schneider Kreuznach. Also available as Leica PC-Super-Angulon R 28 mm f/2.8 with Leica R mount. Can be modified from a shift-only lens to a tilt-only lens by the German company.
The first variable-focal-length lens with fixed back focal distance for 35 mm cameras, introduced in 1964.
These lenses were available with 19 interchangeable mounts (loosen two screws and replace with a different mount). The mounts each have a small number on them and equate as follows:
Production of the 80–240 mm f/4 is said to be approximately 250 units, the 45–100 mm f/2.8 about 57 units. The 80–240 is split amongst two different variants.
4 elements in 3 groups of genre "Wide Angle Tessar"
The Xenar uses a Tessar -type optical formula, originally designed by Paul Rudolph for Zeiss, with 4 elements in 3 groups, and the rear group is a cemented doublet. The formula could only be used by Schneider Kreuznach after the original 1902 Tessar patent had expired in 1919. Many contemporary lenses with long production runs were based on a similar 4 element / 3 group formula (e.g. Leitz Elmar, Voigtländer Skopar, and Kodak Ektar).
A wide-angle of type Xenon. 7 elements in 5 groups.
Designed in 1925 by Tronnier, it is an asymmetrical derivative of the classical double-Gauss design.
The Variogon is a zoom lens.
PCS stands for "Perspective Control, Scheimpflug", which indicates that this is a tilt and shift version of the Super-Angulon. This lens will shift up to 12 mm up/10 mm down, and tilt up to 10°, all in the vertical axis.
The Leaf Shutter lenses are designed for the Phase One (company) 645 camera platform.
PC-TS APO-DIGITAR for Mamiya / Phase One. Same lens is available as LEICA TS-APO-ELMAR-S 1:5,6/120 mm ASPH for Leica S. It is a tilt–shift lens.
Schneider's line of large format lenses has a reputation for high-quality construction and durability, and all lenses carry a lifetime warranty. Some of the higher-end lenses of the Schneider line are among the most expensive optics available in large format photography.
Introduced in 1930, the Angulon is the original Schneider wide-angle lens line. It is a 6-element, 2-group, symmetric anastigmat design somewhat related to the Goerz Dagor. Compared to many modern wide angles, they are quite compact, though the angle of coverage is only 80°[ citation needed ], although an early catalogue from 1934 [3] lists this series as having an angle of view of 105° (it is unclear as to the test-conditions or what is deemed an acceptable result). They are color-corrected reasonably well, but suffer from significant softening of the image close to the edge of the circle of illumination. Only the outer elements are supported by the mount, the inner elements are mounted by cementing to the outer elements. For this reason they are prone to "slippage", especially if stored "on end"[ clarification needed ] in hot climates.
Coverage of 90-210mm at f/11 [3]
A catalogue from 1934 [3] also proclaims the Angulon f/6.8 series as a convertible anastigmat: "...the components of which can be used separately and give two different foci". When the elements are used separately, their focal lengths are approximately x1.5 for the Rear and x2 for the Front, the narrower aperture results in the need for 2x and 4x longer exposures, respectively.
These are wide-angle lenses which have been developed in several steps. The Super-Angulons are Biogon designs, making for huge, heavy lenses, but also giving very generous angles of coverage. The f/4 lenses give 95° of coverage, the f/8 models give 100°, and the f/5.6 units give a 105° coverage angle. The f/4 and f/5.6 lenses are 8-element, 4-group designs, while the f/8 lenses are older 6-element, 4-group, symmetrical designs. Coating technologies improved along the production life of these lenses, and recent Super-Angulons are multicoated.
This is an update of the Super-Angulon lens design, incorporating modern glass and multicoating technologies, and an expanded angle of coverage.
The Symmar is one of the original Schneider designs, introduced in 1920, and is still relevant and used today. They have a 6-element, 4-group, symmetric design, and give a 70° angle of coverage. The f/5.6 series of lenses are "convertible", meaning that by removing one of the lens cells the user creates a 3 element lens of longer focal length than the complete lens. The resulting 3 element lens has a narrower aperture of f/12 and an angle of view of 40°. These lenses have two aperture markings, one in white for the complete lens and one in green for the converted lens. When "converted" the resulting 3 element lens will produce softer images than the complete lens.
Coverage of the f/6.8-series at "small stop" [3]
The Symmar-S is an incremental improvement to the original Symmar design, adding multicoating to the feature set. The lens is not symmetric like its predecessor and is not convertible. The available focal lengths are slightly different, with the subtraction of the 80 mm, and addition of a 120 mm and two 480 mm lenses of varying speeds.
This is a 6-element, 4-group apochromatic lens design, which has since been replaced by the Apo-Symmar L-Series. Using low-dispersion glass and multicoating techniques, secondary-spectrum reflections have been greatly reduced. The Apo-Symmar lenses up to 360 mm have a 72° angle of coverage, and the 480 mm lenses give a 56° angle.
This is a redesign of the Apo-Symmar line, using new environmentally friendly glass compositions and incorporating slightly more coverage. These are 6-element, 4-group apochromatic lenses with a 75° angle of coverage.
These are 8-element, 6-group variations of the Symmar line, which feature an 80° angle of coverage. The HM in the name indicates that these lenses use high-modulation glass elements.
These are wide-angle lenses of a 6-element, 5-group aspheric design, which give a 105° angle of coverage. These lenses are also heavily corrected for chromatic aberrations, and are physically more compact than other wide-angle lenses of similar focal lengths.
Schneider's inexpensive, classic Xenar asymmetrical, anastigmatic, 4-element, 3-group lens design was introduced in 1919, and is largely unchanged from the original Zeiss Tessar formula. They feature an angle of coverage of 60–62°.
An inexpensive 4-element, 2-group telephoto lens design featuring 35° of coverage. The 1000 mm lenses, by comparison, give only an 18° angle of coverage, but require even less focal distance than other telephoto designs (slightly more than 1/2 the effective focal length, as opposed to about 2/3 for a normal tele lens).
These are apochromatic telephoto lenses using a 5-element variation of the Tele-Xenar design. They can be used on subjects as close as 2 meters without a loss of resolution, and are painted a non-reflective flat grey to reduce thermal absorption and expansion under sunlight or hot studio lights. The 400 mm Compact model is half the length and 70% the weight of the normal Apo-Tele-Xenar 400 mm lens. The 350 mm compact model is actually not a tele-design but a dialyte; however it is called the Apo Tele Xenar 350 Compact. [6]
A 5-element, 4-group design, giving a 60° angle of coverage. These are fast lenses compared to other lens designs of similar focal length, but with somewhat less coverage.
The Tele-Arton is a telephoto design. Earlier f/4 and f/5.5 models are 5 elements in 4 groups. The 250 mm f/5.6 is a modern multicoated 5-element, 5-group lens. All models have a 35° angle of coverage.
The Fine-Art XXL line is designed for ultra-large format shooting, covering 20×24 inches. Both lenses are large and heavy, but are designed with exceptional image quality and a huge 900 mm circle of coverage in mind. The 550 mm lens is a 6/2 construction, giving 78° of coverage, while the 1100 mm lens is 4/4 with 45.7° of coverage. Both lenses are mounted in a Copal 3 shutter, and the longer lens is also available in a barrel mount with Waterhouse stops, if the faster f/14 version is desired.
One of Schneider's original lens designs, a symmetric double gauss design, introduced in 1914.
Also known as the "Jsconar", the lens branding refers to "Joseph Schneider & Company -nar"
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A 4-element, 4-group design.
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The Digitar lenses are designed for use with digital imaging view camera systems, offering focal lengths ideal for the imaging area of digital backs, which are typically smaller than standard sheet film sizes. Digitar lenses also allow excellent results with film as well as digital imagers.
The WA-Digitar is a wide angle lens designed for use with digital imaging systems.
The M-Digitars are macro lenses offering 1:1 magnification, designed for use with digital imaging systems. They may also be used with good result with film cameras.
One of the original lens designs.
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The C-Claron, or Copy-Claron, is a family of lenses designed for 1:1 reproduction. The f/4.5 lenses are 4 elements in 3 or 4 groups, the f/5.6 are a 6/4 design, and the f/8 is 8/4. All were supplied from the factory in barrel mount.
The following Claron lens has these markings on the beauty ring Cy Ξ Claron 1:1,8/50 1:1,6
The D-Claron (Dokumentations-Claron) is a lens family designed for copying of documents onto microfilm.
The Grafik-Clarons are 6-element, 4-group, symmetrical plasmat-type lenses with a 64° angle of coverage, designed for 1:1 flat-field reproduction, but can be used as macro lenses at magnifications up to 5:1 as well. It is recommended to stop down to at least than f/22 for use at infinity. They are available in barrel mount, as well as mounted in shutters.
Coverage listed at 1:1
A wide-angle process lens with 4 elements in 4 groups, optimized for reproduction ratios between 2:1 and 1:2. The 270 mm lens has an angle of coverage of 72°, the 240 mm has 80°, and the 210 mm has 86°, which give these lenses gigantic image circles, though the image softens considerably near the edges of coverage.
The Repro-Claron is a line of 4-element, 4-group lenses optimized for 1:1 reproduction ratios, but still usable at infinity. The f/9 lenses also have a slot for between-the-lens filtration or Waterhouse stops, the latter of which are available in f/128, f/180, and f/260.
Apo-Artar lenses are an apochromatic symmetrical 4-element design, which is optimized for 1:1 reproduction. These lenses give 46° of coverage up to 480mm, 40° in 890-1065mm, and 38° in 1205mm.
Coverage listed at 1:1.
Apo-Artar HM lenses are an apochromatic symmetrical 6-element design, which is optimized for 1:1 reproduction. The HM in the name indicates that these lenses use high-modulation glass elements.
The Macro-Symmar HM is a variation of the Symmar design, engineered for 1:1 macro work and flat-field copying. The 80 mm is a 6-element, 4-group lens with a 47° angle of coverage, while the other lenses in the line are 8-element, 4-group designs with 55° of coverage. The HM in the name indicates that these lenses use high-modulation glass elements.
The M-Componon is a special-purpose macro (makro) lens, designed for greater than 1:1 reproduction.
A process lens with 12 elements in 8 groups and a fixed aperture, optimized for a 1:1 reproduction ratio. It has the capability of altering the aspect ratio of the image by up to 8% without any image degradation.
These lenses are designed for work with a photographic enlarger. They have barrel mounts and many current models feature glow-in-the-dark aperture scales.
This is the original Schneider line of enlarging lenses, introduced in 1914. Optical designs are 3 elements in 3 groups.
A 3-element, 3-group line of enlarging lenses, optimized for enlargements up to 8×.
This was the original high-end enlarging lens line, the Componar-Satz. This is the currently available low-end enlarging lens line. They are 4-element, 3-group designs, and optimized for enlargements in the 6×-10× range.
A middle-grade (but still very good quality) line of enlarging optics. They are 4-element, 3-group, Tessar-based designs, and optimized for enlargements in the 2×-6× range.
The Componon is a high-quality enlarging lens line. These models have been largely superseded by the Componon-S units, though a few Componon lenses are still manufactured today. Optical designs are 6 elements in 4 groups, and they are optimized for >10× enlargements. [10]
These are high quality enlarger lenses which are updated versions of the Componon line. Most are 6-element, 4-group lenses except for the 50mm F2.8 which was originally released as a 5-element, 4-group design but which changed (from serial number ...?) to a 6-element, 4-group design. They are corrected for flatness of field, contrast, and color rendition.
A 6-element, 4-group line of wide-angle enlarging lenses.
A 6-element, 4-group line of lenses optimized for enlargements above 20×.
These are 6-element, 4-group apochromatic enlarger lenses, using high-modulation glass elements, designed for critical color rendition and precision industrial applications.
The Betavaron is a zoom enlarging lens for 35 mm film. The relative positions of the negative, paper easel, and lens remain fixed, while the magnification setting of the lens is changed to alter the degree of enlargement. The design is 11 elements. The Betavaron 3...10, the base model, is limited to 3.1–10× magnification, with a maximum aperture of f/4.1-f/5.6 (the aperture changes slightly with the magnification). Adding a supplementary −0.9 diopter lens turns the unit into a Betavaron 5,3...17, and changes the magnification range to 5.3–17×, and the maximum aperture to f/5.4-f/5.7.
Schneider produced its first cinema projection lenses in 1915.
A range of projection lenses for 35mm and 70mm motion picture film with an aperture of f/2.
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Available as either anamorphic converters for prime lenses longer than 42.5 mm, or as standalong anamorphic projection lenses, in focal lengths from 42.5 mm to 100 mm.
The Super-35-Cinelux is a line of projection lenses designed for 35 mm film. Lenses of 55 mm focal length and shorter are 7 elements, and 60 and longer are 6, with no cemented surfaces to avoid any possible damage due to heat.
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A projection lens incorporating aspheric elements to correct for spherical aberration. They feature a variable aperture with an aperture range from f/1.7 to f/4. These are available in normal or anamorphic models.
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A 6-element double gauss lens.
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Note that some Xenon formula lenses sold for motion picture use are marked 'Xenon' rather than 'Cine-Xenon'.
Cine-Xenon also refers to projection lenses of the same design.
For 16mm
Cine-Tele-Xenar For 16mm
A variable-focal-length projection lens for 35mm slides.
A 6-element projection lens for 35mm slides with perspective control, to eliminate problems with cross-fading multiple projectors.
Long focal-length projection lenses for 35mm slides.
Variable-focal-length projection lenses for 35mm slides.
A variable-focal-length lens of 13 elements in 9 groups, originally introduced in 1959, after two years of development.
The Instamatic is a series of inexpensive, easy-to-load 126 and 110 cameras made by Kodak beginning in 1963. The Instamatic was immensely successful, introducing a generation to low-cost photography and spawning numerous imitators.
Carl Zeiss AG, branded as ZEISS, is a German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics, founded in Jena, Germany in 1846 by optician Carl Zeiss. Together with Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott he laid the foundation for today's multinational company. The current company emerged from a reunification of Carl Zeiss companies in East and West Germany with a consolidation phase in the 1990s. ZEISS is active in four business segments with approximately equal revenue in almost 50 countries, has 30 production sites and around 25 development sites worldwide.
Nikkor is the brand of lenses produced by Nikon Corporation, including camera lenses for the Nikon F-mount.
Rollei was a German manufacturer of optical instruments founded in 1920 by Paul Franke and Reinhold Heidecke in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, and maker of the Rolleiflex and Rolleicord series of cameras. Later products included specialty and nostalgic type films for the photo hobbyist market.
Rolleiflex is the name of a long-running and diverse line of high-end cameras originally made by the German company Franke & Heidecke, and later Rollei-Werke.
Takumar is the name that Asahi Optical gave to its lenses, notably but not exclusively those for its own SLR cameras. Named after the Japanese-American portrait painter, Takuma Kajiwara, whose brother Kumao Kajiwara founded Asahi Optical. The name adorned its lenses until 1975, when Asahi switched from the M42 screw mount to the bayonet K-mount. K-mount lenses were simply named "SMC Pentax". Some Takumar lenses were also made for the K-mount.
The Rolleiflex SL35 is a range of SLR cameras manufactured and sold by the German camera maker Rollei from 1970 to 1982. This range of cameras uses 35mm film. The camera bodies were initially made in Germany. After Zeiss Ikon discontinued camera production, Rollei acquired the Voigtländer brand and camera designs in 1972, and began producing a second generation of SLR cameras in Singapore starting from 1976. Some of those second-generation cameras were rebranded and marketed as Voigtländer VSL.
The M42 lens mount is a screw thread mounting standard for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras, primarily single-lens reflex models. It is more accurately known as the M42 × 1 mm standard, which means that it is a metric screw thread of 42 mm diameter and 1 mm thread pitch.
The history of the single-lens reflex camera (SLR) begins with the use of a reflex mirror in a camera obscura described in 1676, but it took a long time for the design to succeed for photographic cameras. The first patent was granted in 1861, and the first cameras were produced in 1884, but while elegantly simple in concept, they were very complex in practice. One by one these complexities were overcome as optical and mechanical technology advanced, and in the 1960s the SLR camera became the preferred design for many high-end camera formats.
The double Gauss lens is a compound lens used mostly in camera lenses that reduces optical aberrations over a large focal plane.
The Rolleicord is a medium-format twin lens reflex camera made by Franke & Heidecke (Rollei) between 1933 and 1976. It was a simpler, less expensive version of the high-end Rolleiflex TLR, aimed at amateur photographers who wanted a high-quality camera but could not afford the expensive Rolleiflex. Several models of Rolleicord were made; the later models generally had more advanced features and tend to be valued higher in today's market.
Edixa is a brand of camera manufacturer Wirgin Kamerawerk which was based in Wiesbaden, West Germany. The product line included several 35mm cameras and 16mm Edixa 16 subminiature cameras designed by Heinz Waaske from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Retina was the brand-name of a long-running series of German-built Kodak 35mm cameras, produced from 1934 until 1969. Kodak Retina cameras were manufactured in Stuttgart-Wangen by the Kodak AG Dr. Nagel Werk which Kodak had acquired in December 1931.
The Rollei 35 is a 35mm miniature viewfinder camera built by Rollei. The original Rollei 35, when introduced at photokina in 1966, was the smallest existing 135 film camera. The Rollei 35 series remains one of the smallest 35 mm cameras after the Minox 35 and Minolta TC-1. In 30 years, about 2 million Rollei 35 series cameras were manufactured. The Rollei 35 was manufactured by DHW Fototechnik up to 2015, the successor of Franke & Heidecke as small-batch production. The last version is the Rollei 35 Classic, an updated Rollei 35 SE.
Heinz Waaske was a German camera designer, notably father of the Rollei 35.
Wirgin was a German company which is still known for its brands Wirgin and Edixa, and for its camera types like the Edina, the Edinex or the Gewirette. It was based in the Hessian capital Wiesbaden and made a line of quite inexpensive 35mm SLRs from the 1950s to the 1970s, including the Edixa Reflex and Edixa-Mat Reflex. Wirgin was West Germany's main producer of SLRs with focal plane shutter. It also produced some of the lenses for its cameras, among them several M42 screw mount lenses.
The Kodak Retina Reflex is a discontinued series of four single-lens reflex cameras made by Kodak in Germany between 1957 and 1974, as part of the Kodak Retina line of 35mm film cameras.
The Pentacon Six mount is a breech-lock bayonet lens mount originally used by several medium format single-lens reflex cameras from East Germany.
The invention of the camera in the early 19th century led to an array of lens designs intended for photography. The problems of photographic lens design, creating a lens for a task that would cover a large, flat image plane, were well known even before the invention of photography due to the development of lenses to work with the focal plane of the camera obscura.