ISCO/Schneider Projection lenses on Sony A7 (1. Super Cinelux 2/80)

Following up on the "Most Beautiful Rendering - Thread", in which I thoughtlessly promised to compare a few of the Schneider/ISCO lenses that I own, I did a few quick comparison shots without tripod and at a fairly long exposure time (I guess I'm so used to IBIS by now, I didn't realize how difficult this would be on the Sony A7 on which the images were taken, sorry). There may be some camera shake involved. If you are particularly interested in the sharpness of the lenses, I will have to do that at another try with tripod. I hope you will find the sets useful anyways.

One more thing you need to know: I adapt the lenses in a very quick manner, wrapping them in velvet tape (in order to focus the lenses inside a tube with a thread - in some cases a special tube, made for that, in others just an ordinary M42 or M39 helicoid adapter. So some degree of tilt is very much possible. But, since I didn't use the lenses for landscape shooting (and I wouldn't even get the idea to do so unless I had to for some reason. Now that I think about it, some probably wouldn't even do badly).

Let's say the images show, that the lenses are very capable portrait lenses, certainly sharp enough in the middle, often with wonderfully soft bokeh. If you don't like cat's eyes, only few will catch your attention.

Well here it goes:

Schneider Super Cinelux 2/80




Scheider Super Cinelux 2/80




















Next lens (shot with the Super Cinelux 2/80)



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What the lens looks like:





Shots with it:






Next lens (Schneider Cinelux 2/50) shot with 2/60

I seem to have forgotten to shoot up close.

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What the lens looks like (shot with ISCO Ultra Star HD PLUS 2/65):














Shots with the 2/50:


















Next lens (shot with 2/50)





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What the lens looks like:







Samples shot with it:
















Next lens (ISCO Ultra MC 2/55)



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Samples shot with the Ultra Star HD 2/50
















Next lens (shot with IUS250)



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Lens:











SAMPLES:
















Next lens (shot with IUS2/70)



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Lens:





SAMPLES









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Lens:





SAMPLES










Next (Shot with IUSHDP2/70)

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Lens:








Samples:




















Next lens (Shot with IUMC 2/55)



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Lens:




Both images shot with ISCO Ultra Star HD Plus 2/65







SAMPLES:









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I don't know which lens this really is. It was sold to me as "ISCO Mini" I think 2/60, supposedly very sharp (I can't relate, still: interesting).

Lens:





Samples:










Next lens (Shot with ISCO Mini)

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Lovely bunch of lenses and interesting collection.

I would love some of them for portraits, but a touch pricey on Ebay from what I can see!

Might be tough, but which would you say is your favourite?

Thanks! I want one of the longer ones between 75-85mm.

PhotosByHall said:

Lovely bunch of lenses and interesting collection.

I would love some of them for portraits, but a touch pricey on Ebay from what I can see!

Might be tough, but which would you say is your favourite?

Click to expand...

I have to admid, all these have been in my drawer for a few years now, although I've been meaning to use them again for a while. Since they've come up in the most beautiful rendering thread, I had to do it now.

Back then I used the Super Cinelux 2/50 a bit, which was really great and I've shot one of my all time favourite images of my daughter with it (so it has a place in my heart).

I've also used the 2/95 Ultra MC for a wedding (as a guest, not the photographer) and was very pleased. Very unique but lovely images.

The Ultrastar HD Plus lenses seem to be best from a technical standpoint, sharp, contrasty with very soft bokeh.

But after reviewing the images, I can't really see how you could go wrong with any of them.

Here in Europe prices on the bay seem to vary a lot. If you're not aiming at one of the long ones, you may get one for a good price.

blåland said:

Thanks! I want one of the longer ones between 75-85mm.

Click to expand...

I'd want one of the 120mm or 140mm ones, but those are crazy expensive, so I certainly won't.
I have a few russian ones that are around 100mm and above, which will have to do for me.

Thank you so much for all that work - really great seeing so many of those lenses compared. I got a handful of lenses in these series as well, but haven‘t used them enough for any kind of verdict.



looking forward to trying them a bit more though. They look like really great lenses if you can find one for a reasonable price.

Thanks for posting this shootout, they all look to render very nicely and I've been curious about them for a good while. I'll continue to keep an eye out for them!

My local pawn shop that has since closed/moved had several of these lens types in a display case for at least four years (some with an anamorphic attachment included) but they unfortunately referenced Schneider Kreuznach's eCommerce catalog (which no longer seems to be a thing, otherwise I'd link to it) when formulating their prices, so they were wayyyyyyy out of reach.

Thanks for the pictures.

I found a brochure that includes some, though they will vary over the years of production and brand (ISCO/Schneider) while sometimes being the same. It has diagrams for a wealth of lenses.


Some things I noted:

• Lovely that there's a long number of options in a lot of FLs
• All f2, this is a nice aspect of all these lenses
• While the Premiere has an iris f2 to f4, all the rest have no Iris
• Besides no iris, most can't accommodate an iris anyway.There's no space.
• Some mount one in the front, which works well for wider apertures and vignettes more by f8.
• They all seems well constructed, well masked
• They all seem pretty well corrected, 6+ elements in general

There's many samples of the 70/2 here .

I think while not very hard, the fact adapting is a bit more involved makes the choice more expensive and a bit more limited for most. I'd say this contributes a bit to prices not going higher.

As more and more cinemas get replaces by digital projectors with more complex modern lenses, I think at some point, they will become a bit rarer.

fferreres said:

Thanks for the pictures.

I found a brochure that includes some, though they will vary over the years of production and brand (ISCO/Schneider) while sometimes being the same. It has diagrams for a wealth of lenses.

https://silo.tips/downloadFile/schneider-kreuznach-cutting-edge-technology-and-market-leader

Some things I noted:

• Lovely that there's a long number of options in a lot of FLs
• All f2, this is a nice aspect of all these lenses
• While the Premiere has an iris f2 to f4, all the rest have no Iris
• Besides no iris, most can't accommodate an iris anyway.There's no space.
• Some mount one in the front, which works well for wider apertures and vignettes more by f8.
• They all seems well constructed, well masked
• They all seem pretty well corrected, 6+ elements in general

There's many samples of the 70/2 here .

I think while not very hard, the fact adapting is a bit more involved makes the choice more expensive and a bit more limited for most. I'd say this contributes a bit to prices not going higher.

As more and more cinemas get replaces by digital projectors with more complex modern lenses, I think at some point, they will become a bit rarer.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the links. Very interesting.

Quick question, what is the black helicoid thread size? M55, M65? I am anticipating a lot of grief when I try to adapt these lenses.I thought of taking a bellows (like M42) and adapting the front too to the widest common tube size in these.

I see you removed the parts that act a bit like hoods. Did the lenses come with it, and did they bother you? I am thinking of leaving them there.