The PC Super-Angulon 28mm f/2.8 by Schneider-Kreuznach (and Leica): a Deep Dive

If you read or participated in my “The 28mm bottle’s empty and there’s nothing left” thread, you saw that after working my way through several other options, I finally found a manual 28mm lens with a large enough image circle to allow for tilt and a bit of shift on my digital view camera setup. The lens I chose is the Schneider-Kreuznach PC Super-Angulon 28mm f/2.8, in its “Leica” skin.

If you like old lenses, or are curious about the PC Super-Angulon 28/2.8, I provide some background and user experience on a GFX 50R in this thread. I focus on things that matter to me. I’ve included lots of pictures to illustrate the points I’m making. Unless otherwise noted, these have all been processed on the assumption that readers might want to the kinds of images the lens can produce; most of these are full resolution JPEG files exported from Lightroom.

Remnants of the Kortright Waterfowl Park. This image is f/11, with a tiny bit of tilt.

I’ll update the thread as I learn new things, and to answer any questions that come up.

Before going any farther, I should emphasize that I’m not “pitching” this lens. In fact, I will say from the outset that if you need a tilt-shift lens for GFX in the 28mm focal length, and you have the money, you should buy the forthcoming Fujifilm GF 30mm f/5.6 tilt-shift lens. I haven’t seen a review yet, but the Fuji tilt-shift lens is guaranteed to be a better option for the vast majority of people who need a tilt-shift lens than an old PC Super-Angulon 28/2.8.

But your needs may be different. They may be more like mine. All my lenses are adapted, and work well as tilt-shift lenses on my digital view camera. They’re mostly small, compact, and totally manual. If you’re the kind of person who likes their tools to fit well to their hands, you’ll know where I’m coming from and why I use this lens instead of the new Fuji.