Rangefinder Magazine

Columns

New Schneider Lenses Expand Options
For Large Format Photographers

View camera lenses tend to evolve slowly. Improvements come in small increments. This is not surprising, considering the relatively small market for them and the high cost of development and manufacturing. In recent years, however, view camera users have seen a comparative explosion of new and vastly improved lenses. The Super-Angulon 5.6/58mm XL, Super-Symmar 4.5/80mm and 5.6/150mm XLs, and the Apo-Tele-Xenar 5.6/400mm Compact MRC are the newest lenses from Schneider Optics.

Schneider Lenses

When Schneider introduced the 58mm and 90mm Super-Angulon XLs lenses, they caused considerable excitement. Their 110-degree angle of coverage was five degrees greater than the f/5.6 Super-Angulons and 10 degrees greater than the f/8 Super-Angulons. This allowed the 58mm to cover the full 4x5 frame, even permitting a reasonable amount of lens movement. Its image circle diameter of 166mm at f/22 is just slightly smaller than that of the 65mm f/5.6 Super-Angulon’s 170mm, but appreciably larger than the 154mm needed to cover 4x5.

The Super-Angulon 5.6/58 XL consists of eight elements in four groups, the same as other f/5.6 Super-Angulons. But the latest lens design and manufacturing techniques make the increased degree of coverage possible. The individual elements are multi-coated for improved light transmission. Multi-coating also improves contrast by reducing flare from light sources that might be in the field of view. The lens exhibits excellent contrast and sharpness across its entire field of view. With a lens as wide-angle as this, there is nearly always a bright source somewhere in the image-either the sky in exteriors or lighting in interiors, so that’s a significant consideration.

The aperture range is f/5.6–32. The maximum aperture of f/5.6 is sufficient to allow easy focusing in dimly lit interiors, at least in the center of the frame. With camera movements applied, however, checking focus at the edge of the frame is more difficult, as it would be with any extreme wide-angle view-camera lens. Even with no movements applied, it is necessary to move your head around quite a bit to see the edges of the composition when viewing the image on the groundglass.

With a Fresnel screen over the groundglass, it is easier to see the corners, but the Fresnel forms a double image at the edge of the frame, making focusing impossible. That’s the case with any extremely wide-angle lens. It doesn’t effect the image captured on film. Pulling Polaroid proofs is still the only reliable way to see what’s going on at the extreme edges of the frame.

Mounted in a Copal #0 shutter, the lens weighs only 320 grams (about 11 ounces). The front of the lens will accept 67mm filters. In order not to compromise the image quality of the lens or cause vignetting from the filter mount, it’s recommended that the highest-quality ultra-thin glass filters, such as those from B+W, be used.

	The 150mm Super-Symmar creates dramatic perspective on 8x10 film, emphasizing these formations at Vasquez Rocks County Park. There was sufficient coverage that the front standard could be raised 30mm to bring the sky into the photo.

While, at first glance, it might seem that a lens as wide-angle as the Super-Angulon 5.6/58 XL (equivalent to approximately a 20mm lens in 35mm photography) would be best suited for photographing interiors. That’s not necessarily the case. Certain problems crop up when shooting interiors with such a lens. For example, shooting diagonally across an interior space can produce severe angular distortions and overly exaggerate objects nearer to the camera. Also, it’s difficult not to show too much floor or ceiling and to preserve the sense of the actual scale of the space.

Exteriors are another matter. Here the Super-Angulon 5.6/58 XL is in its element. With it, it’s possible to photograph buildings in tight cityscapes that were practically impossible to shoot before. If the image calls for a forced perspective to exaggerate foreground elements, this lens is ideal.

Schneider Optics also recently introduced a 47mm f/5.6 Super-Angulon XL with a 120-degree angle of view and the same image circle diameter as the 58mm for an even wider angle of view.

Since all lenses of wide-angle design exhibit some degree of light falloff from the center to the edges of the frame, a center-weighted neutral density (ND) filter, matched to the particular focal length, is available. If an even exposure throughout the frame is essential and a two-stop exposure increase is acceptable, then ND filters work well. In many cases, however, the natural falloff serves to darken a bright sky or ceiling and actually works to improve the photograph, acting as a natural vignetter to draw the eye to the center of the image, so neutral density filters generally aren’t required.

Another concern besides fall-off is whether the camera system can accommodate such a short focal length. View cameras where the front and rear standards can nearly touch when a wide-angle bellows is used, such as the Sinar, will have no problems. Other cameras may require using a recessed lens board, making it more difficult to work with this lens.

When photographing interiors with large format, a 90mm lens is ideal. It doesn’t exaggerate the elements within the covered space, unless those objects are very close to the camera, and the apparent scale of the space is rendered in a way that seems natural.

Photographers specializing in architectural interior work have traditionally preferred one of the various high quality 90mm lenses available, which allow for significant camera movement and excellent sharpness at medium to infinity focusing distances.

For many photographers, however, shooting interiors accounts for only part of their work. They may also handle large format studio assignments, which might require shorter than normal focal lengths to emphasize a client’s products or dramatically increase perspective. For such photographers, the only option has been to go with a wide-angle lens, despite of the inherent lack of sharpness at close-focusing distances. That was the case until the recent introduction of the Schneider Super-Symmar 4.5/80 XL Aspheric for 4x5 cameras and the 5.6/150 XL Aspheric for 8x10 cameras.

The California poppies in the foreground were just inches from the 58mm Super-Angulon for this image.

The Super-Symmar XL is a lens design with six elements in four groups. It has an angle of coverage at f/22 of 105 degrees, identical to that of the f/5.6 Super-Angulons. The 80mm has an image circle size of 212mm at f/22 while the 150mm has an image circle size of 386mm when focused at infinity. Minimum aperture of the 80mm is f/45 and the 150mm is f/64. The 80mm accepts 67mm filters on the front or 41mm filters on the rear; the 150mm accepts 95mm filters in front or 62mm filters at the rear.

Both lenses are surprisingly compact and lightweight. Weight of the 80mm with a Copal #0 shutter is 271 grams (9.5 ounces). The 150mm lens with a Copal #1 shutter is 740 grams (26 ounces). The lenses are as compact as they are because of specially designed aspherical elements that have been designed into them.

Most camera lenses, regardless of format, consist of elements whose surfaces are constant in radius; that is, they have a constant curvature like a section of a sphere. Aspherical elements, however, have surfaces that vary in curvature, having different radii at different points of the surface. While it has been possible for many years, with the help of computers, to design lenses with aspherical elements, until recently, manufacturing them has proven to be difficult.

Recently, computer-controlled manufacturing techniques have solved the production difficulties. It’s now possible to produce high quality lenses with aspherical elements at a reasonable price for large-format photography.

In comparison to standard Super-Angulon lenses with comparable focal lengths (90mm and 165mm), the aspheric lens elements of the Super-Symmars result in wider maximum apertures, giving brighter and more uniform images on the groundglass.

With a Fresnel screen over the groundglass, when using either of the lenses, the image is so bright that it is possible to check focus at the corners of the frame without a loupe.

For the studio photographer relying on wide-angle lenses, one of the major advantages of the Super-Symmar XLs over the Super-Angulons is the greatly improved image quality at normal studio distances. The aspheric design of the Super-Symmars reduces chromatic aberration in the image field by half. And it has nearly eliminated color fringing at close distances.

A studio still-life comparison test between the 80mm Super-Symmar and a 90mm Super-Angulon showed the 80mm to exhibit markedly superior sharpness and contrast, as well as a more even exposure from center to corner of the transparency. Schneider supplies graduated center filters requiring 1.5 stops exposure increase for the Super-Symmar XL lenses, though they would only be required for the most highly critical shooting requirements.

	This studio portrait made with the 400mm Apo-Tele-Xenar shows the outstanding sharpness of the lens at close distances.

With the compact size and superb image quality of these lenses, they are particularly well suited for panoramic, architectural and studio photography.

The 150mm Super-Symmar XL is an ideal wide-angle lens for the 4x10 format. The 80mm is well suited for 6x7cm photography.

Advances in lens design and optical glass have also brought improvements at the other end of the focal length spectrum: telephoto lenses. While most view-camera lenses require a bellows extension roughly equal to their focal length when focused at infinity, telephoto lenses require considerably less, on the order of approximately 70 percent of the focal length. This potential advantage for location, industrial and portrait photographers was offset by the limited optical performance resulting from chromatic aberration inherent in such lenses.

More recently, with the use of special optical glass, chromatic aberrations have been reduced to the point that red, green and blue wavelengths are brought to a common focus. This apochromatic correction is only one of the advances in the Schneider Apo-Tele-Xenar 5.6/400 Compact MRC. Another is multi-layer anti-reflection coating to minimize internal reflections and improve light transmission. In combination, the improvements yield a lens with superb performance and a high degree of sharpness when focusing from six feet to infinity.

The Apo-Tele-Xenar 5.6/400 Compact MRC consists of five elements with an angle of view of 36 degrees. It provides sufficient coverage for use with a 5x7-inch camera when focused at infinity, even at f/22. The aperture range for the new telephoto is f/5.6–64. Mounted in a Copal #3 shutter, the weight is 916 grams (approximately 2 pounds). It earned its “Compact” designation by its diminutive 4.25-inch length. Filter diameter at the front is 82mm while the rear takes 62mm filters.

When focused at infinity, the lens requires only 11 inches (285mm) of bellows. Shooting a portrait in the studio requires more bellow extension because of the higher magnification, but less than that needed by the 300mm that I normally use. The longer focal length 400mm Apo-Tele-Xenar provided slightly more compression in a portrait, which some subjects will find flattering.
The maximum aperture of f/5.6 makes focusing easy. Even at f/11, depth of field is shallow enough to draw a viewer’s eye to the subject’s eyes (the plane of focus), which are extremely sharp, while focus of the rest of the face falls off somewhat.

Interior of jewelry store taken with 80mm Super-Symmar. There is very little falloff from the center to the edges of the frame. This is evident in the even illumination across the ceiling. No center filter was used. Photo by John Lawder.

Location and industrial photographers will also find this lens to be very useful. With reduced bellows draw, the camera is much less susceptible to camera shake from such things as wind and vibration. Large-format fashion photographers can take advantage of the excellent sharpness at maximum aperture to throw backgrounds out of focus. And, with an image circle that allows for extensive movements on 4x5 film, swings and tilts can be radically adjusted even at maximum aperture, so that only a small area of the subject is rendered in sharp focus.

The MSRP for the Super-Angulon 5.6/58 XL is $1819; the Super-Symmar 4.5/80 XL, $2582; the Super-Symmar 5.6/150 XL, $3999; and the Apo-Tele-Xenar 5.6/400 Compact $3082, when mounted in Copal shutters.

Large-format photographers tend to be conservative when it comes to their craft. They are reluctant to upgrade because, in most cases, newer equipment will only provide marginal improvements over the equipment they have been using. That’s been the case for many years with view camera lenses. But lenses such as the new Schneiders are making it possible for photographers to be confident that upgrading equipment will make a difference. They can significantly improve image quality and, in some cases, allow photos to be taken that could not have been made previously.

Stan Sholik is a contributing writer for NewsWatch Feature Service. He is also a commercial photographer with over 25 years of large format studio and location experience.