Apo-Symmar Makro 90mm f/4 (6000)
Schneider-Kreuznach · Rollei 6000 · 1997
Also known as: Schneider Apo-Symmar 90mm f/4 HFT PQS Rollei · Rollei Apo-Symmar Makro 90mm F4 PQS · Schneider-Kreuznach Apo-Symmar Makro 4/90 HFT · Rollei 90mm f/4 Apo Symmar Macro PQS · Rolleiflex 6008 Apo-Symmar 90mm Makro · Apo-Symmar 90mm f/4 Makro HFT PQS · Apo Symmar 1:4 f=90mm HFT · シュナイダー アポジンマー 90mm F4 マクロ ローライ · ローライ アポジンマー 90mm F4 PQS · ローライフレックス 6008 アポシンマー 90mm F4 マクロ
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apo-Symmar Makro 4/90 HFT PQS, order no. 63 348 | Rollei 6000 | 1997 | — | — |
- Construction, closest focus, size and weight (6 elements in 4 groups, 0.4 m, 104 × 110 mm, 860 g, f/4–32, 47°/34°, M95 × 1) are from Rollei's May 2003 lens brochure; the Wikipedia list (from the Hy6 manual and Rolleigraphy) and Rolleigraphy agree, the latter adding floating elements, 1:2 unaided and 1:1 with extension tubes at unchanged quality, and the Bay VIII hood mount. Japanese Wikipedia lists it as アポジンマーPQS90mm F4マクロ, 4群6枚, 0.4 m, φ95.
- Date: no introduction date is published. Greenspun, writing in 1997, referred to 'Rollei's new Schneider macro lenses' as better than his Zeiss 120 and photographed with 'the Schneider 90 macro' in 1999; the lens is in Rollei's 2003 brochure. The year 1997 is therefore the earliest mention, not a documented launch. Still offered for the Hy6 Mod2 in 2014 (diglloyd).
- Price: Greenberg's $3,995 'original retail' is the only figure found; he does not say in what year, so the price is not placed in time. Used, about $2,000 in 2022 (Greenberg); $1,199 asked on GearFocus in 2026 (search result, unverified).
- Blades: not given. Greenberg says the PQS shutter blades are carbon fibre, as Rollei's brochure says of the fast PQ/PQS lenses.
- Rollei's brochure treats the Apo-Symmar 90 and the Zeiss Makro-Planar 4/120 PQS as the system's two macro lenses with helical mounts, and the Apo-Symmar 4.6/150 PQ as its bellows head; Muth ranks their image circles, for use on the X-Act view cameras, 150, 90, 120 in that order.
How to tell them apart
- Apo-Symmar, not Makro-Planar, on the front ring: Schneider's apochromatic macro for the system, with a focusing mount long enough to reach half life-size on its own and a front element set deep in a 104 mm barrel (Rollei brochure; Greenberg: 'looks like a 55mm Micro Nikkor on steroids')
- M95 × 1 filter thread and a Bay VIII hood bayonet; 860 g; 'PQS lens' marking, since no PQ or AF version was made
- Not the Apo-Symmar 4.6/150 PQ, a bellows head without helicoid, and not the Schneider PC-TS Makro-Symmar 90mm f/4.5 HM tilt-shift for 35 mm SLRs
Apo-Symmar Makro 4/90 HFT PQS, order no. 63 348:
- Schneider-Kreuznach Apo-Symmar 1:4 f=90mm HFT with 'PQS lens' by the aperture scale; catalogue number 63 348 (Rollei brochure 2003; Rolleigraphy)
- A long helical focusing mount that reaches 1:2 unaided and a deeply inset front element behind a 95 mm thread; 104 mm across, 110 mm long, 860 g (Rollei brochure; Greenberg)
- Apo-Symmar Makro 4/90 HFT PQS, order no. 63 348: The only version: PQS from the start, so it runs with every mode on the 6008, 6003 and 6001, in manual focus on the Hy6, and not at all on the SLX, 6006 or 6002. Manual focus only; the autofocus macro Rollei announced in 2003 was a different lens, the AF-Makro-Symmar 3.5/100.
Specifications
- Formula
- Apo-Symmar (apochromatically corrected symmetrical type with floating elements), 6 elements in 4 groups
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4–f/32
- Shutter
- Electronically timed leaf shutter in the lens, linear-motor driven, carbon-fibre blades: 30 s–1/1000 s (PQS)
- Min. focus
- 0.4 m
- Dimensions
- 104 × 110 mm
- Weight
- 860 g
- Filter
- 95 mm, M95 × 1 screw thread; Bay VIII (104 mm) outside bayonet for the hood
- Years manufactured
- 1997
- Country
- Germany
- Coating
- Rollei HFT multicoating
- Original price
- US$3,995 retail (Chip Greenberg, 35mmc, 2022, citing the original price; year not stated), selling used at about half that (today $7,810)
What reviewers say
- Chip Greenberg (35mmc), Apo-Symmar 90 on a Rolleiflex 6008 AF, Portra 400 (blog) — "Unbelievable sharpness from close up to infinity", sharp wide open and stopped down, with detailed images, "fantastic color and pleasing bokeh" and 1:2 without tubes — the lens he has read called the best in medium format, a claim he qualifies in the comments as "no other lens is this sharp from wide open to optimum aperture, infinity to 2:1, and has nice bokeh". Downsides: "the lens is BIG", 95 mm filters, and not cheap at about $2,000 used.
History
Schneider’s Apo-Symmar Makro 4/90 is the apochromatic macro lens of the Rollei 6000 system, six elements in four groups with floating elements, built from the start as a PQS lens with the 1/1000 s shutter. Its distinguishing feature is the focusing mount: a helicoid long enough to run from infinity to half life-size without tubes, at 0.4 m, with Rolleigraphy adding that the extension tubes take it to 1:1 at unchanged quality. Rollei’s 2003 brochure sells it for close-up and copy work; the front element sits deep in a 104 mm barrel behind a 95 mm thread, so deep that Greenberg never fits a hood. It is big for a 90 at 110 mm long and 860 g, and it was expensive: Greenberg gives $3,995 as its original retail price.
No launch date is published. Greenspun, who had found his Zeiss Makro-Planar 120 flare-prone and low in contrast even in the studio, wrote in 1997 that he suspected “Rollei’s new Schneider macro lenses” were much better, and by 1999 was photographing with “the Schneider 90 macro”; the lens was still current for the Hy6 Mod2 in 2014, when diglloyd ran an aperture series with it on an 80-megapixel Leaf back. Being PQS it needs a 6008, 6003 or 6001, or a Hy6 in manual focus, and will not run on the SLX, 6006 or 6002. Rollei’s 2003 brochure announced an autofocus AF-Makro-Symmar 3.5/100 PQS “in preparation” that would have overlapped it; the 90 itself was never made in AF form.
Its reputation rests on sharpness. Greenberg, shooting it on a 6008 AF, reports “unbelievable sharpness from close up to infinity”, sharp wide open, with pleasing bokeh and good colour, and passes on a Phase One executive’s remark to Rollei’s US distributor that it is one of the sharpest lenses in medium format; pressed by a reader on why it should be “the best”, he narrows the claim to the combination of sharpness from wide open, from infinity to 2:1, and good bokeh. Muth, who had not used it, ranks its image circle second only to the Apo-Symmar 150 bellows head among the lenses that allow movements on Rollei’s X-Act view cameras. The costs are bulk, 95 mm filters and price: used copies ran about half the original price in 2022, which Greenberg calls a fair value for a German lens of this quality but no bargain.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Apo-Symmar Makro 90mm f/4 (6000)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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