What is this Schneider Xenar?

[belgiumreporter]

I'm way out of my confort zone with this one, so i could use some help on determinating what exactly i've got here.

This Schneider Kreuznach Xenar 1:4.5 135mm came to me in a package deal and was mounted on a bellows. With some research i've found out that there's a lot of these Xenars about in all kinds of focal lenghts,mounts and model variations.

Further research has learned me the xenar name was(is?) used for a four element inproved tessar design, but i don't know if this information is correct...

What i would like to know is if this Xenar was made in the first place as a bellows lens or is it an enlarger lens that can be used as such?

It has a lovely 22 blade rounded diafragm is quite sharp even wide open and renders the out of focus areas in a beautifull way. I,ve made a few test shots holding the lens in front of a nikon bellows as i haven't got a 39mm to nikon mount adapter (yet!) wich made it a bit awkward shooting it handheld (a third hand would have been helpfull)

The results look very promising both B&W and color, but further experimenting would be usefull.

So if anybody knows something more on this Xenar, do let me know.



Some shaky first time test results:

[SidW]

I have a similar lens, bought as a bellows lens, with Exakta mount for an Exakta mount bellows. I assume there's no focus ring, that's all done from the bellows. The combination will focus from infinity down to perhaps 1:1 or closer, the equivalent of today's macro lenses today. The longer focal length allows a more comfortable working distance for macro work. Set the magnification for macro by bellows extension, focus by moving the camera to and fro (a good bellows like Novoflex will have both movements built in). For usual distance range to infinity, focus by bellows extension. Mine is 105mm/3.5, produced in 1950s, yours in the 1960s. See here:

www.schneideroptics.com/info/age_of_lenses/

Up to around the 1950s, some manufacturers made 135mm lenses with the lens front unscrewable for use on a bellows (presumably you had to get their bellows so the screw would fit).

That doesn't answer your questions about Xenars, but to start you could browse around the Schneider wesbsite (above), and check Wikipedia:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneider_Kreuznach

[belgiumreporter]

Thanks for the links SidW ( google didn't provide them for me) and the background info.
I know very little about pre 1960 slr's the more i learn about them, the more it amazes me.
Here's how the xenar came to me, apparently a popular setup for slr's back in the day...
The bellows set up must have been a later addition to the Praktina as the body dates back to 1953.

[hansz]

Long time ago I had a Novoflex Pi-Griff with this Xenar (and a 105mm version).
handheld macro was very easy. I sold it to finance a Zeiss piece, and I still regret it:-(
Hans
PS still have a Xenar 3,5/105, M42 bellows, for macro work to the EOS digital system...

[SidW]

I need to retract what I said about Novoflex. We both have a bellows with one rail for extension. Then I have a second rail for focus.


Ihagee Exakta Varex with bellows by SidW, on Flickr

[paulhofseth]

The Xenars came in helical focussing mounts as well as in a curious mount which one squeezed in order to focus. Apparently a quick method.

p.