Schneider Cine – Xenar III’s and Xenon FF Prime Lenses

Cameras

Probably one of the best things about the digital cinema movement is the fact that we all get the benefit of prime lenses.   The days of using lens adapters like the Pro35, the Letus Extreme etc are pretty much dead as we can add a S35 or full frame lens to most digital cinema cameras.  Back in the day there was not a lot of choices and the prices were extremely high even for super 16 glass.  It was not uncommon to drop $50-80K on a set of glass and there was few choices with Zeiss and Cooke being the most used.  Now we have a lot of companies making 35 glass, some ok, some good and others great.  There are now options for prime sets for under $50K and even the option to buy primes and zooms with interchangeable mounts (we had zooms with universal mounts but not primes).  20 years ago glass needed to be fast.  Superspeeds were king with T1.3 apertures. They were made for film cameras and film outside of Kodak Vision stocks did not have remotely the same sensitivity as the digital cinema cameras of today.  Back when I was shooting exclusively film in the mid 90’s Kodak released VISION Color negative film.  The stock rated ISO’s of 200T, 250D 320T, 500T and 800T all for 16mm/S16/35mm & S35.  So lenses had to be fast.  Times have changed.  Now we have cameras like the C100/C300/C500, F5/F55, Alexa, etc with ISO’s baselining at what even the best film stocks were rated at.  So now if we light a scene the same way we did to get an T4/5.6 10 years ago, we are looking at a at least a T8/11 split due to the sensor sensitivity.  So we don’t need lenses with T/1.3 as much these days.  Are they nice, sure, but they are very expensive to design, manufacture, etc.  This opens up the doors for other lenses to come into the mix as options for todays shooter.  You probably are not going to be shooting anymore film from this point on so its time to broaden your horizons and stop hunting down that old school set of SuperSpeed Mark III lenses.  Those lenses were designed for film, not for todays sensors and not optimized for video. Lenses have gotten much better over the past two decades as well.  They are sharper, resolve higher resolutions, have better corners, consistency, contrast and mechanics.

Enter one of the leaders in lensing Schneider Optics.  Schneider has been around forever.  Since 1913 in fact.  They make film lenses and now digital cinema glass.  I had a few of their lenses from the 70’s for my Eclair ACL, NPR, and a Optivaron 6-66MM C-Mount on my Bolex cameras.  Schneider bought world famous lens manufacturer Century Optics back in 2000 which added even more cache to the brand.  Century made one of the best swing shift systems for professional cinematography ever made as well as a lot of problem solvers like periscopes, low angle prisms, etc.

This year Schneider Optics released the third generation of the Cine – Xenar line the Cine – Xenar III’s.  I have had the privilege of using these lenses a lot over the past few weeks and they are a massive step up from generation 2.  Xenar III’s are all aluminum barrels with stainless steel interchangeable mounts (PL & EF).  Right away when you hold one you can feel the build quality is better.  What Schneider has done is made a set of primes that do not change in volume, have gears in the same place (so you do not have to re-rig your focus motors, etc), consistent 270 degrees of rotation on focus with tons of focus marks, consistent front diameters, a highly visible focus index marks, and extremely close focus capability.  These are not full frame lenses but that is a plus not having to deal with crop factor etc on set.

The Xenar III’s do not have a consent aperture but they are all reasonably fast for the cameras of today.  The 50mm, 75mm, and 95mm are all T2.0, the 35mm T2.1, and the 18mm & 25mm are both T2.2  Again, with camera ISO’s starting around 800 this is not as much of a real issue today as it would be five years ago.  The lenses are sharp and consistent and you can pick up a complete set for about $48K which is a fraction of the price of Cooke S4’s, Master Primes, Leica’s etc.  I would put the Xenar III’s on par with Arri Ultra Primes in regards to feature set and build which is remarkable since the Schneider’s are less than half the price and there is not a six month to one year waiting period to get them.  You can also buy Xenar III’s individually which allows for a slow build in set for financial reasons or maybe your a 25, 50, 75mm type of shooter.

Also new this year from Schneider is the much anticipated Xenon FF full frame lenses.  The 35, 50 & 75mm have been announced so far.  I had my hand on these at NAB and found the size, the mechanics and build quality to be significantly better than Zeiss CP.2 lenses of comparable price.  Like the Xenar III’s the FF’s have consistent marks, front diameters, gearing placement etc.  The lens was about 2lbs which is very light weight.  I can already tell after using them that theses will be very popular lenses and the set of three will be around $10,500.  You can also buy them individually.  They will be available in PL, EF, and Nikon F mount.  If you are looking for a set of full frame primes you owe it to yourself to demo these lenses as I am positive you will be sold over the competing products currently on the market.

 

Its refreshing to see a company with some deep roots and history in the film world address the needs of today’s cinematographer with quality, well built products.  The Xenar III’s and Xenon FF’s take on that challenge and stand out in a lens market that frankly is over-saturated with crap.  Both models are also reasonably priced and Schneider probably could have charged more.  I am glad they didn’t because it opens up the door to great glass to a crowd that is used to seeing extremes of low quality cheap junk lenses or high quality unattainable glass.  This is a great middle mark and makes for a great investment for anyone catering from low budget to studio quality productions.  If your in New England and are in the market from primes, feel free to reach out to me for a demo.

Mike Sutton

 https://twitter.com/MNS1974

 

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Jared Abrams is a cinematographer based in Hollywood, California. After many years as a professional camera assistant he switched over to still photography. About two years ago a new Canon camera changed the way the world sees both motion and still photography. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time.