Super-Angulon 50mm f/2.8 (Rollei 6000)
Schneider-Kreuznach · Rollei 6000 · 1993
Also known as: Schneider Super-Angulon 50mm f/2.8 HFT PQS Rollei · Rollei 50mm f2.8 Super-Angulon PQS · Rollei AF Super-Angulon 50mm f/2.8 HFT PQS · Rollei AFD Super-Angulon 50mm f/2.8 PQS Hy6 · Schneider AF-Super-Angulon 50mm 2.8 Rollei 6008 AF · Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS Rolleiflex 6000 · Rollei Schneider 50mm F2.8 Super Angulon · Rolleiflex 6008 Super-Angulon 50mm · ローライ スーパーアンギュロン 50mm F2.8 PQS · AFスーパーアンギュロン 50mm F2.8 ローライ · シュナイダー スーパーアンギュロン 50mm F2.8 ローライ 6000
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS, manual focus (cat. no. 63 346) | Rollei 6000 | 1993 | — | — |
| AF Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS (2005, for the 6008 AF) | Rollei 6000 | 2005 | — | — |
| AFD Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS (Hy6 only) | Rollei 6000 | 2007 | — | — |
- Elements and groups (9/8), f/2.8–22, 1/1000 s, 74° diagonal and 56° horizontal field, closest focus 0.6 m, 104 mm diameter, 115 mm length, 1,600 g (manual focus) and 1,500 g (AF) and the M95 × 1 thread are from the System-6000 lens table in Rollei's 'Lenses and Dedicated Accessories' brochure (05.03), repeated by the Wikipedia lens list. Rolleigraphy agrees for the manual-focus lens but gives the AF and AFD lenses 10 elements with no group count; Japanese Wikipedia gives 8 groups, 9 elements for the PQS and AF lenses alike. Rollei's own count is preferred.
- Filters and hood. The AFD lens is sometimes described as taking bayonet VIII (104 mm) filters; Rolleigraphy's table gives M95 × 1 as the filter on all three versions and bayonet VIII (104) as the hood mount of the AF and AFD lenses, and the variant rows follow it.
- A PQ version. Japanese Wikipedia lists a 'スーパーアンギュロンPQ 50mm F2.8' (8 groups, 9 elements, 0.6 m, φ95) beside the PQS lens. Rolleigraphy, Rollei's 1993 and 2003 brochures and the Wikipedia lens list know only the PQS; no PQ example has been described, and the claim stands on Japanese Wikipedia alone.
- Years. The manual-focus PQS lens is undated: the PQS line began in 1990 and the January 1993 Rolleiflex 6008 brochure is the earliest dated listing, so 1993 is a floor. The AF lens is dated by Rollei's press release of 21 June 2005; the AFD lens by the Hy6's 2007 introduction, no release date for the lens itself having been found.
- Price. US$4,499 is the launch price of the autofocus lens in the United States (Rollei press release, June 2005); no price for the manual-focus or AFD lens was found.
How to tell them apart
- The fast 50 of the system, a stop brighter than the Zeiss Distagon 50 f/4 and three times its weight: 104 mm across with an M95 × 1 thread, 115 mm long, 1.5–1.6 kg (Rollei lens table)
- Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 2,8/50 HFT on the front ring; 'PQS lens' beside the aperture figures, with 'AF' or 'AFD' before the name on the autofocus lenses; the AFD lens has no aperture ring
- Two rings on the manual-focus lens — the floating group moves with focus, unlike the three-ring Zeiss Distagon 50 FLE
- Not the Schneider PC-TS Super-Angulon 2.8/50 of 2011 for Canon and Nikon SLRs, a tilt-shift lens with no shutter; and not the Super-Angulon 50mm f/4 of the Rolleiflex 4.0FW TLR
Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS, manual focus (cat. no. 63 346):
- 'PQS lens' beside the aperture figures; Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 2,8/50 HFT on the front ring with a red HFT
- Two rings, aperture and focus; the floating group moves with the focusing ring (Rolleigraphy)
- M95 × 1 filter thread on a 104 mm front; 115 mm long and 1,600 g — 100 g more than the autofocus lens (Rollei 2003 lens table)
AF Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS (2005, for the 6008 AF):
- 'AF' before the name; aperture ring retained, so the lens also works, focused by hand, on the 6008 integral, 6003 and 6001 (Rollei 2003 brochure, Rolleigraphy)
- 1,500 g against 1,600 g for the manual-focus lens; otherwise the same 104 × 115 mm barrel and M95 × 1 thread; hood in bayonet VIII (104 mm)
AFD Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS (Hy6 only):
- 'AFD' before the name and no aperture ring: the aperture is set from the Hy6 body, so the lens cannot be used on any 6000-series camera (Rolleigraphy)
- M95 × 1 filter and a bayonet VIII (104 mm) hood mount, as the AF lens (Rolleigraphy)
- Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS, manual focus (cat. no. 63 346): The manual-focus lens, in the PQS mount with the 1/1000 s shutter from the start: Rolleigraphy lists it as PQS only, and the January 1993 Rolleiflex 6008 brochure presents it among the 'PQS lenses with ultra-fast leaf shutter' designed for the 6008, item no. 63346. Full modes on the 6008, 6003 and 6001 and manual focus on the Hy6; not usable on the SLX, 6006 or 6002, whose electronics cannot supply the current the PQS motors draw.
- AF Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS (2005, for the 6008 AF): Announced by Rollei on 21 June 2005 at US$4,499 as the fourth autofocus lens for the 6008 AF, 'ruggedly built' with 'a high speed f/2.8 lens for a brilliant viewfinder image'. Rollei's 2003 brochure had already listed it as 'in preparation' with the same nine elements in eight groups as the manual-focus lens, which is why it sits here as a variant. Autofocus on the 6008 AF and Hy6; manual focus on the other 6008-generation bodies.
- AFD Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS (Hy6 only): The Hy6 version of 2007, differing from the AF lens in the removal of the aperture ring. Rolleigraphy gives the AF and AFD lenses ten elements against the nine in eight groups of Rollei's own table and the Wikipedia list; no optical change is described by any source. The lens stayed in production under DHW and DW Photo for the Hy6 and Hy6 Mod2, and one hands-on evaluation on a Hy6 Mod2 with a digital back is known (Lloyd Chambers, 2014), its conclusions behind a paywall.
Specifications
- Formula
- Super-Angulon, retrofocus with floating elements moved by the focusing ring; 9 elements in 8 groups
- Construction
- 9 elements / 8 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- Shutter
- Electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/1000 s, diaphragm and shutter driven by two linear motors (PQS)
- Min. focus
- 0.6 m
- Dimensions
- 104 × 115 mm
- Weight
- 1600 g
- Filter
- 95 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
- Years manufactured
- 1993
- Country
- Germany
- Coating
- HFT multicoating
- Original price
- US$4,499 (AF Super-Angulon, June 2005) (today $7,230)
What reviewers say
- Volker Muth (35mmc) (blog) — Writing on the whole 6000 system from his 6008 professional, Muth lists the 50 mm Super-Angulon PQS he owns as 'a fast wide-angle lens', about a 32 mm equivalent, among the 'excellent quality options' to the Zeiss glass, and calls the Schneider lenses as a group 'a hidden gem of the whole system', more neutral in rendering than the Zeiss equivalents.
History
The Super-Angulon 2,8/50 is the fast wide-angle of the Rolleiflex 6000 system, a stop brighter than the Zeiss Distagon 50 f/4 and Schneider’s answer to it: nine elements in eight groups, 74° across the diagonal, focusing to 0.6 m with a floating group that the focusing ring moves by itself, so there is no separate ring to set as on the Zeiss FLE lenses. Rollei’s lens tables give f/2.8–22, a 104 mm front with an M95 × 1 filter thread, 115 mm length and 1,600 g — roughly twice the Distagon 50’s weight — and the brochures recommend it for interiors, where the brighter screen image helps focusing. It was built from the start in the PQS mount, whose lighter shutter blades allow 1/1000 s; the January 1993 Rolleiflex 6008 brochure presents it under ‘Exclusive to Rollei: PQS lenses with ultra-fast leaf shutter’, item number 63346. The second-generation linear motors of the PQS lenses draw more current than the SLX, 6006 and 6002 can supply, so the lens works only on the 6008 professional of 1988 and its successors, and on the Hy6 as a manual-focus lens.
Two autofocus versions followed with the same optics. The AF Super-Angulon, listed as ‘in preparation’ in Rollei’s 2003 brochure and announced on 21 June 2005 at US$4,499 as the fourth AF lens for the 6008 AF, keeps an aperture ring and so still mounts, focused by hand, on the 6008 integral, 6003 and 6001; it weighs 1,500 g. The AFD lens of the Hy6 era, from 2007, loses the aperture ring because the Hy6 sets the aperture from the body, which makes it useless on any 6000-series camera. Rolleigraphy gives the AF and AFD lenses ten elements where Rollei’s own table and the Wikipedia list give nine in eight groups, and Japanese Wikipedia adds a PQ version that no other source knows; both are recorded in the notes rather than resolved. No source dates the manual-focus lens; the PQS line began in 1990 and the 1993 brochure is the earliest listing, so the year here is a floor.
In use, Volker Muth counts his 50 PQS among the excellent alternatives to the Zeiss lenses and finds the Schneider glass of the system more neutral in rendering than the Zeiss, ‘a hidden gem of the whole system’; Lloyd Chambers put the AF lens through two evaluations on a Hy6 Mod2 with an 80-megapixel back in 2014, but his conclusions are subscriber-only and are not summarised here. Left open: the manual-focus lens’s launch year and price, the AFD lens’s release date, production and serial data, and an independent test on film.
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 50mm f/2.8 (Rollei 6000)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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