Super-Angulon 40mm f/3.5 (Rollei 6000)
Schneider-Kreuznach · Rollei 6000 · 1993
Also known as: Schneider Super-Angulon 40mm f/3.5 HFT PQ Rollei · Rollei 40mm f3.5 Super-Angulon PQ · Rollei Schneider 40mm F3.5 Super Angulon HFT PQ · Super-Angulon 3.5/40 HFT PQ Rolleiflex 6000 · Rolleiflex 6008 Super-Angulon 40mm · Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 40mm f/3.5 Rollei 6000 · Rollei 40mm Super Angulon · ローライ スーパーアンギュロン 40mm F3.5 PQ · シュナイダー スーパーアンギュロン 40mm F3.5 ローライ 6000 · スーパーアンギュロン PQ 40mm F3.5 HFT
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super-Angulon 3.5/40 HFT PQ (cat. no. 59 439) · Electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/500 s (PQ) | Rollei 6000 | 1993 | — | — |
- Elements and groups (8/8), f/3.5–22, closest focus 0.4 m, 83.2 mm diameter, 72 mm length, 750 g, 88° diagonal and 68° horizontal field and the M77 × 0.75 thread are from the System-6000 lens table in Rollei's 'Lenses and Dedicated Accessories' brochure (05.03), repeated by Rolleigraphy and the Wikipedia lens list. Japanese Wikipedia gives the same 8 groups, 8 elements, 0.4 m and φ77 mm screw-in attachment, and describes the design as a retrofocus type with close-range correction.
- Launch year. No source dates the lens. It is absent from the 1984 Berkey lens sheet, whose only Schneider lenses are the PCS Super-Angulon 55 and the Variogon zoom, and present in the January 1993 Rolleiflex 6008 brochure; the year given is that document's date, not a launch date.
- Rollei's brochures describe the floating-element correction as holding the lens's performance 'right up to a subject distance of 0.4 m' and, in 1993, call it 'an interesting alternative to the classic 40 mm Distagon'. No independent test of the lens was found; a forum comparison with the Distagon 40 exists but is not cited here.
How to tell them apart
- The compact 40 for the Rollei bayonet: 750 g and 72 mm long against 1,040 g and 90 mm for the Zeiss Distagon 40 FLE and 1,450 g for the original Distagon 40 (Rollei lens tables)
- Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 3,5/40 HFT on the front ring with a red HFT; ten gold contacts in the bayonet and no mechanical coupling
- Two rings only — the floating group follows the focusing ring, so there is no third ring to set; M77 × 0.75 filter thread and a clamp-on hood (cat. no. 60 472)
- Not the Super-Angulon 50mm f/4 of the Rolleiflex 4.0FW twin-lens camera, nor the large-format Super-Angulons in Copal shutters: a 40 mm Super-Angulon with ten contacts and 'PQ lens' on the barrel is the Rollei 6000 lens
Super-Angulon 3.5/40 HFT PQ (cat. no. 59 439):
- 'PQ lens' beside the aperture figures and an 'A' position on the aperture ring; Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 3,5/40 HFT on the front ring
- Only two rings, aperture and focus — the floating elements move with the focusing ring, where the Zeiss Distagon 40 FLE has a third ring (Rolleigraphy, Rollei brochures)
- M77 × 0.75 filter thread and a slip-on hood, cat. no. 60 472, clamped onto the outside of the barrel; 83.2 mm across and 72 mm long (Rollei 2003 brochure)
- Super-Angulon 3.5/40 HFT PQ (cat. no. 59 439): The only version recorded: Rolleigraphy lists the lens as PQ alone, catalogue number 59 439, and neither brochure consulted shows an EL, PQS or autofocus 40 mm Schneider. The 1984 Berkey sheet names only the PCS Super-Angulon 55 and the Variogon zoom as Schneider lenses for the 6006/SLX, so the 40 belongs to the PQ era that began in 1988; the January 1993 Rolleiflex 6008 brochure is the earliest dated listing (item no. 59439).
Specifications
- Formula
- Super-Angulon, retrofocus with floating elements moved by the focusing ring; 8 elements in 8 groups
- Construction
- 8 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5–f/22
- Shutter
- Electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/500 s, diaphragm and shutter driven by two linear motors (PQ)
- Min. focus
- 0.4 m
- Dimensions
- 83.2 × 72 mm
- Weight
- 750 g
- Filter
- 77 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
- Years manufactured
- 1993
- Country
- Germany
- Coating
- HFT multicoating
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The Super-Angulon 3,5/40 is Schneider-Kreuznach’s ultra-wide for the Rolleiflex 6000 system, built in the PQ mount introduced with the 6008 professional of 1988: a leaf shutter and diaphragm inside the lens, each driven by a linear motor under the body’s control through ten gold-plated contacts, with ‘PQ lens’ on the barrel and an ‘A’ setting on the aperture ring for the camera’s automatic modes. Rollei’s lens tables give eight elements in eight groups, f/3.5–22, 88° across the diagonal, focusing to 0.4 m, 83.2 mm across, 72 mm long and 750 g, with an M77 × 0.75 filter thread and a slip-on hood clamped to the barrel. Rollei’s brochures called its speed and compactness ‘unprecedented in this type of lens’, and the figures bear that out against the Zeiss lenses of the same focal length: the original Distagon 40 weighed 1,450 g and the Distagon 40 FLE 1,040 g.
Its other distinction is how the floating elements work. The Zeiss Distagon 40 FLE and 50 FLE carry a third ring that the photographer sets to the subject distance; on the Schneider the floating group is moved by the focusing ring itself, so there is nothing to forget, and Rollei’s 1993 brochure put it plainly as ‘an interesting alternative to the classic 40 mm Distagon’. There was only one version. Rolleigraphy lists it as PQ alone, catalogue number 59 439; no EL, PQS or autofocus 40 mm Schneider appears in any Rollei list consulted, and the Berkey sheet of 1984 shows that the only Schneider lenses of the 6006/SLX era were the 55 mm PCS shift lens and the Variogon zoom. The January 1993 Rolleiflex 6008 brochure is the earliest dated document to list it, so the year here is a floor. As a PQ lens it gives every exposure mode on the 6008, 6003 and 6001, runs with limited modes on the SLX, 6006 and 6002, and mounts on the Hy6 as a manual-focus lens; the top speed is 1/500 s throughout.
No published review of the lens was found. Volker Muth, writing on 35mmc in 2021, owns the Zeiss 40 FLE and names the Schneider as its alternative, and his general verdict on the Schneider lenses for the system — ‘a hidden gem’, more neutral in rendering than the Zeiss equivalents — is the nearest thing to an opinion on record. Left open: a launch year, a production figure, serial data, a list price and an independent test.
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 Super-Angulon 40mm f/3.5 (Rollei 6000)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.