A Strange German Lens

[NCV]

Whilst wasting time surfing the net looking for a better copy of one of my Nikon shift lenses, A strange looking lens popped up on Ebay as an alternative. The Schneider Kreuznach PC Curtagon 4.0 35mm had an original take on a shift lens movement. Instead of the usual screw, you turn a ring to shift the lens.I resisted buying it for a while before GAS got the better of me, and this lens was just to curious to miss. It is also brand new in a box, and it cost me just €240. They usually go for much more. My local dealer has a sad looking one at €300 in Leica mount. Mine is Nikon F mount. So I was sure if I did not like it I will lose nothing when I sell it on.

My lens is the last version, and dates from the mid eighties and is multi coated. I only found a couple of reviews of this lens, and both talk about the lens having barrel distortion. I took it out today to see what it was like to use, and to see some pictures made with this lens.

I quite like the rendering of this lens, the images seem to have a certain smoothness. I might of been the overcast day though. The chromatic aberrations seem less than my Nikon 35mm PC and the lens at F8-11 seems nice and sharp. I used Capture 1 to straighten things out to my satisfaction, although the barrel distortion is not really noticeable in a real life photo. My lens which has been years on the shelf has a certain stiffness to the shift mechanism, but it seems to be freeing up a bit. Will it dethrone the Nikon 35PC? Well the Nikon has 11mm of shift, the Curtagon has just 7mm, so it is a toss up.

Here are a couple of shots of the lens and a few test shots I did in town.

 

[Gazz55]

They used to do lenses for enlargers

 

[NCV]

They used to do lenses for enlargers

Yes, my old 120 format enlarging lens was made by them. But they are probably more famous for large format 5x4 lenses. A top notch lens maker, who seem to have exited the photo market.

 

[Gazz55]

 

[woof woof]

That looks a good find Nigel. Well done and enjoy

Great pictures too

 

[NCV]

I did some very casual comparisons between the The Schneider Kreuznach PC Curtagon 35mm F4 and the good old Nikon 35mm PC. I tried my best to see any differences, but the both perform and look very similarly. In fact I cannot really tell the difference. The Nikon with its screw shift mechanism wins hands down for usability


Nikon no shift


Nikon Full Lateral shift left


Schneider no shift


Schneider full lateral shift - towards left

 

[welshwizard645]

Yes, my old 120 format enlarging lens was made by them. But they are probably more famous for large format 5x4 lenses. A top notch lens maker, who seem to have exited the photo market.

Not quite, still alive and kicking...

Somehwhere in my loft I do have a SK Xenar 50mm 2.8 lens on a Retina Reflex S (which has been U/S since 1987)....

 

[ADragon]

im sorry for being ignorant but what does the lens do ?

 

[biju]

I think it is great that people are so interested in this lens. It is a reminder that there are still many mysteries to be solved in photography. I hope that someone will eventually be able to identify the lens and learn more about its history.

 

[NCV]

Im sorry for being ignorant but what does the lens do ?

Shift lenses are mainly used for architectural photography. They are used to eliminate the keystoning effect, best seen in shots of buildings, where the photographer has tilted the camera upwards to get all the building in the frame, or to eliminate foreground. With a shift lens you make sure the camera is perfectly level, so as the walls of a building are shown vertically, adjusting the lens usually upwards to eliminate fore ground and get the building into the shot .

You can of course do this in post, but thre are several downsides to this method, if you do a lot of architectural photography.

Here is a link to my Blog which has a bit more detail. and this is about perspective effects

Keystoning, because the camera is tilted upwards



A shot taken with the lens shifted. The verticals are vertical

 

[NCV]

I think it is great that people are so interested in this lens. It is a reminder that there are still many mysteries to be solved in photography. I hope that someone will eventually be able to identify the lens and learn more about its history.

I did find one article about this lens, but you will need to translate with your browser, as it is in Italian and scroll down a bit.

Or this which is more brief

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

An example of their high end professional lens range

Lenses

The Leaf Shutter lenses are designed together with world-renowned medium format manufacturer, PhaseOne.

schneiderkreuznach.com

They make a huge range of extreme quality industrial and scientific lenses.
They were a leading maker of high quality lenses for all branches of photography and are well known by amateur and professional photographers especially those shooting medium and large format.

There is nothing unusual about your lens. Except that pc lenses have always been expensive and sold in relative small numbers. They still make such lenses for digital medium format (phase one).

 

[ADragon]

@NCV Ahhh ok. Thank you for the information. Much appreciated.

 

[NCV]

An example of their high end professional lens range

Lenses

The Leaf Shutter lenses are designed together with world-renowned medium format manufacturer, PhaseOne.

schneiderkreuznach.com

They make a huge range of extreme quality industrial and scientific lenses.
They were a leading maker of high quality lenses for all branches of photography and are well known by amateur and professional photographers especially those shooting medium and large format.

There is nothing unusual about your lens. Except that pc lenses have always been expensive and sold in relative small numbers. They still make such lenses for digital medium format (phase one).

I did not know about the lenses they make for Phase 1, but all their own brand old large format lenses are gone and they seem mostly focused on industrial lenses.

I find this lens unusual because of the mechanism that makes the lens rise and fall. Most lenses have a screw that moves the optics.

 

[NCV]

Yikes, it has huge barrel distortion when I have a vertical wall on the edge of the frame. But using a Schneider 35mm lens profile in Capture 1 seems to work some magic.

Frame 1 No correction. Frame 2 Corrected.

 

[NCV]

There is something I like about this lens, that I just cannot put my finger on. I went out with the D850 and just this lens, to a couple of places in the hills above where I live.


Just after a big thunder storm.


Houses with pigeon lofts and holes for swallows to nest.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

What might be easily forgotten is that unlike modern wide angle lenses it was expected to use these early lenses well stopped down. Even to the point of introducing some diffraction.
It was only with the introduction of their Super Angulon that wide lenses were usable anything like fully open.
Only focussing and viewing were done wide open.

This was so well known at the time, that it is was rare to find it mentioned in the literature.

On 5x4 I rarely used their Angulon closed down less than F 16 for interiors or architectural use.. at one time I specialised in shop and store interiors.

You will find that your lens performs best in terms of overall sharpness, over the whole field, between f11 and 22 even considering any losses due to diffraction.

 

[NCV]

What might be easily forgotten is that unlike modern wide angle lenses it was expected to use these early lenses well stopped down. Even to the point of introducing some diffraction.
It was only with the introduction of their Super Angulon that wide lenses were usable anything like fully open.
Only focussing and viewing were done wide open.

This was so well known at the time, that it is was rare to find it mentioned in the literature.

On 5x4 I rarely used their Angulon closed down less than F 16 for interiors or architectural use.. at one time I specialised in shop and store interiors.

You will find that your lens performs best in terms of overall sharpness, over the whole field, between f11 and 22 even considering any losses due to diffraction.

You are right. I use these lenses stopped down to F11 usually, also because I want the maximum amount of DoF.

 

[zx9]

There is something I like about this lens, that I just cannot put my finger on. I went out with the D850 and just this lens, to a couple of places in the hills above where I live.

Going by those pictures, you do live in a very photogenic part of the world. As a visitor I would be captivated by the ancient villages but hats off to you as a local taking those photographs and not just regarding the buildings as something that is always there.

As for the lens' performance, I agree with you it has a certain quality which I too rather like and I would not be bothered about empirical measurements of sharpness and get fixated on what aperture to use.

Have fun using it.