PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (6000)
Schneider-Kreuznach · Rollei 6000 · 1984
Also known as: Schneider PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 Rollei · Rollei 55mm f/4.5 PCS Super-Angulon PQ HFT · Schneider-Kreuznach PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 HFT · Rolleiflex 6008 PCS Super-Angulon 55mm · Rollei 6000 PCS 55mm f/4.5 tilt shift · PCS Super Angulon 55mm F4.5 Rollei · Rollei SLX PCS Super-Angulon 55mm MC · シュナイダー PCS スーパーアンギュロン 55mm F4.5 ローライ · ローライ PCS スーパーアンギュロン 55mm F4.5 · ローライフレックス 6008 シフトレンズ 55mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 MC, unmarked SLX-generation version, order no. 979 270 · Linear-motor leaf shutter, 30 s–1/500 s; shutter-priority AE and manual only | Rollei 6000 | 1984 | — | — |
| PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 HFT PQ, order no. 86 900 | Rollei 6000 | 1988 | — | — |
- Construction, closest focus, size and weight (10 elements in 8 groups, 0.5 m, 104 mm across, 1,650 g, f/4.5–32, image circle 104 mm, 70° field) are from Rollei's May 2003 lens brochure (length 155 mm) and the Wikipedia list from Rollei's 1984 brochure (length 157 mm); Rolleigraphy gives 10/8, 70°, a 104 mm image circle and the two order numbers; Japanese Wikipedia 逆望遠型8群10枚, 0.5 m, シリーズVIII. Rollei's table prints the field as '70/85°', the second figure presumably the angle over the full image circle.
- Movements: Rollei's brochure describes parallel horizontal and vertical shift for perspective control and tilt for the Scheimpflug rule, with floating elements that adjust automatically over the focusing range and electrical transmission of shutter and diaphragm signals through the mount. The amounts of shift and tilt are not given in any source found.
- Date: the unmarked MC lens is in the 1984 SLX/6006 brochure list, so 1984 is the earliest documented year; it may be older. The Camera Forum dates the Bronica ETR version of the same Schneider design to 1976.
- The Bronica connection: Schneider made the PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 for the Bronica ETR as the Zenzanon PCS, in E, MC and PE forms (The Camera Forum); Chuck Jones states that 'the Rollei 6008 version of this lens is the exact same lens, just branded differently'. The Rollei lens differs in carrying its own linear-motor shutter and electronics. His review is of the Bronica lens on a Fujifilm GFX and is cited for the optics only.
- Price: none found. Jones gives $1,500–5,500 used for the Bronica version depending on variant and condition (2026).
How to tell them apart
- The tilt-and-shift lens of the system, unmistakable by its sophisticated mount with shift and tilt controls, its 104 mm front with Bay VIII filter and hood bayonet, and its 1,650 g (Rollei brochure); 'MC' on the early lens, 'HFT PQ' on the later
- Schneider-Kreuznach PCS Super-Angulon 1:4.5 f=55mm; the Rollei ten-contact bayonet distinguishes it from the Bronica ETR Zenzanon PCS of the same optics, which has a Seiko leaf shutter and the ETR bayonet
- Not the PCS-Rolleigon 75mm f/4.5 for the SL66, Rollei's earlier shift lens on a different mount
PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 MC, unmarked SLX-generation version, order no. 979 270:
- Marked MC rather than HFT: Rolleigraphy notes that every lens of the system except one is labelled HFT, and this is the one (its table gives 'PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 mm MC')
- No type word by the aperture scale; order number 979 270 (Rolleigraphy)
PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 HFT PQ, order no. 86 900:
- HFT in place of MC, 'PQ lens' by the aperture scale; catalogue number 86 900 (Rollei brochure 2003; Rolleigraphy)
- PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 MC, unmarked SLX-generation version, order no. 979 270: The early version, listed as an SLX lens in the 1984 'Lenses for 6006/SLX' brochure that Wikipedia reproduces (10/8, 0.5 m, 104 × 157 mm, 1,650 g, 104 mm filter). Shutter-priority and manual exposure only; it fits the later bodies with those modes alone and does not run on a Hy6 with autofocus.
- PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 HFT PQ, order no. 86 900: The PQ version with aperture-priority and program automation on the 6008 and later bodies, still in Rollei's May 2003 brochure. The one in Greenspun's 1997 lens table ('55 perspective control') and the one most often offered used.
Specifications
- Formula
- Super-Angulon (retrofocus wide-angle with floating elements), 10 elements in 8 groups; image circle 104 mm
- Construction
- 10 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4.5–f/32
- Shutter
- Electronically timed leaf shutter in the lens, linear-motor driven: 30 s–1/500 s; shutter and diaphragm signals carried electrically through the shifting mount
- Min. focus
- 0.5 m
- Dimensions
- 104 × 155 mm
- Weight
- 1650 g
- Filter
- Rollei Bay VIII (104 mm)
- Years manufactured
- 1984
- Country
- Germany
- Coating
- Multicoated: 'MC' on the unmarked early version, Rollei HFT on the PQ (Rolleigraphy)
What reviewers say
- Chuck Jones (The Camera Forum), the Bronica ETR version of the same Schneider optics on a Fujifilm GFX100S (blog) — Reviewing the Bronica-mount lens, which he says is optically identical to the Rollei one: an image circle big enough to walk a 44 × 33 mm sensor through four shifted frames and stitch a perspective-corrected composite, dead-straight verticals, and as a plain lens it "renders color and tonality the way only a piece of Schneider Kreuznach glass renders it". Against that, 1,650 g ("it is a TANK"), manual everything and a twenty-to-forty-minute stitch.
History
Schneider’s PCS Super-Angulon 4.5/55 is the perspective-control lens of the Rollei 6000 system, a 55 mm retrofocus wide-angle of ten elements in eight groups whose image circle of 104 mm, far larger than the 79 mm diagonal of 6×6, is what gives its mount room to move. Rollei’s brochure describes parallel shift in both directions to straighten verticals and tilt to lay the plane of focus along a subject by the Scheimpflug rule, with floating elements that keep the correction constant down to 0.5 m and electrical transmission of the shutter and diaphragm signals through the moving mount, so that every automatic function survives. Used without movements it is an ordinary 70° wide-angle. The scale of it is large-format: 104 mm across, 155 mm long, 1,650 g, with a Bay VIII filter and hood mount.
Two versions exist. The early lens, listed as an SLX lens in Rollei’s 1984 brochure and carrying order number 979 270, is marked MC rather than HFT, the single exception Stutterheim notes to the HFT labelling of the whole system, and supports only shutter-priority and manual exposure. The PQ lens, order number 86 900, is HFT-coated and adds the automatic modes of the 6008 and later bodies; it was still in Rollei’s 2003 brochure. The same Schneider optics were sold for the Bronica ETR as the Zenzanon PCS from 1976, in a Seiko shutter and a different mount; Chuck Jones, who uses a Bronica copy on a Fujifilm GFX, states the Rollei lens is the same glass under another badge.
His account stands in for a review of the Rollei lens, of which none has been found. On a 44 × 33 mm sensor the circle allows him to shift the camera through four frames and stitch a composite that no single tilt-shift lens could frame, with verticals straight from foreground to sky; as a plain 55 he values its Schneider colour and tonality. The costs are the weight, a fully manual rig and the time a stitch takes. On a 6000 body the lens keeps its automation, which was its selling point in 1984: a view-camera wide-angle with motor-driven shutter and TTL metering, aimed at product and architectural work. It is rare used in either mount and priced accordingly.
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 PCS Super-Angulon 55mm f/4.5 (6000)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
The listings collector hasn't run for this family yet — check back soon, or search the marketplaces directly meanwhile.