Tele-Xenar 150mm f/4 (6000)

Schneider-Kreuznach · Rollei 6000 · 2005

Also known as: Schneider Tele-Xenar 150mm f/4 HFT PQ · Rollei Tele-Xenar 150mm f4 PQS · Rollei AF Tele-Xenar 150mm f/4 PQS · Schneider-Kreuznach Tele-Xenar 4/150 HFT Rollei 6000 · Rolleiflex 6008 Tele-Xenar 150mm · Tele-Xenar HFT 150mm F4 PQ · AFD Tele-Xenar 150mm f4 Hy6 · ローライテレクスナー 150mm F4 PQ · シュナイダーテレクセナー 150mm F4 ローライ 6008 · ローライ AF テレクスナー 150mm F4

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQ, manual focus · 5 elements in 3 groups, floating elements (rolleigraphy.eu)	Rollei 6000	2005	—	Not published; rolleigraphy.eu notes 'low number' against both manual versions
Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, manual focus · 5 elements in 3 groups, floating elements (rolleigraphy.eu) · Rollei direct-drive electronic leaf shutter, 30 s–1/1000 s and B (PQS)	Rollei 6000	—	—	Not published; 'low number' (rolleigraphy.eu)
AF Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, autofocus with aperture ring · 5 elements in 5 groups (rolleigraphy.eu; Wikipedia) · Rollei direct-drive electronic leaf shutter, 30 s–1/1000 s and B (PQS)	Rollei 6000	2005	—	Not published by any source consulted
AFD Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, Hy6 only, no aperture ring · 5 elements in 5 groups (rolleigraphy.eu) · Rollei direct-drive electronic leaf shutter, 30 s–1/1000 s and B (PQS)	Rollei 6000 (AFD — Hy6 only)	—	—	Not published by any source consulted

Two constructions under one name. Rolleigraphy.eu gives the manual PQ and PQS lens 5 elements in 3 groups with floating elements, and Japanese Wikipedia gives its unmarked Schneider 'テレクスナー 150mm F4' the same 3群5枚; rolleigraphy.eu and Wikipedia both give the AF and AFD lens 5 elements in 5 groups, and Wikipedia's dimensions for it (95 × 114 mm, 890 g) are those of a larger lens. The two counts therefore describe two designs, a manual Tele-Xenar and an autofocus recomputation, and they are kept on one page as the manual and autofocus forms of Schneider's 150 for this mount, with the counts given per version. No source gives the manual lens's weight or dimensions.
Dates. No Rollei document found lists any Tele-Xenar 150: the January 1993 and May 2003 brochures carry the Zeiss Sonnar 150 and the Apo-Symmar 150 bellows head only. The earliest dated mention of the manual lens is the February 2005 dprforum thread, in which it is already 'VERY hard to find'; the autofocus lens was 'due around October 2005' by a poster in the same thread. The family year is therefore 'documented by 2005' and the manual lens is certainly older. Japanese Wikipedia lists the manual lens among Schneider's unmarked lenses, beside the Xenotar 80 mm f/2.8 and Curtagon 60 mm f/3.5, which would make it earlier than the PQ generation of 1988; rolleigraphy.eu lists only PQ and PQS versions.
Against the Sonnar. The same 2005 thread holds the only comparisons found: one owner who tested both found the Schneider 'only marginally better' at the edges at wide apertures and not in the centre; another called them 'every bit as good', the Schneider resolving slightly better at f/4 and the Sonnar at f/5.6; a third shot a circus at 800 ASA hand-held at 1/125 s and slower, 'resting on a railing', and called the results 'incredible'. One poster had heard the Schneider was sharper 'because of its floating elements'.
Blades and prices are not given by any source consulted; used 150s of either make were around $1,000 in 2005 (dprforum).

How to tell them apart (expand)

Schneider-Kreuznach engraving with Tele-Xenar HFT 4/150; the other 150 mm f/4 lenses of the system read Sonnar HFT (Zeiss design, Rollei-built) or Rolleigon HFT (Tokina-built economy lens) (rolleigraphy.eu)
Manual versions marked PQ or PQS with a Bayonet VI mount; the AF version has a focusing-motor coupling and is 95 mm across; the AFD has no aperture ring (rolleigraphy.eu; Wikipedia)
Fit: PQ on every body (SLX, 6006 and 6002 in shutter-priority and manual; Hy6 manual focus); PQS and AF PQS only on the 6008, 6003, 6001 and Hy6, the AF autofocusing on the 6008 AF and Hy6; AFD on the Hy6 alone (Wikipedia compatibility table)

Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQ, manual focus:

Engraved Schneider-Kreuznach Tele-Xenar HFT 4/150 and 'PQ lens' to the right of the aperture numbers; Bayonet VI filter mount (rolleigraphy.eu)
A manual-focus helicoid and an aperture ring with an A position; no autofocus coupling in the bayonet (rolleigraphy.eu)

Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, manual focus:

'PQS lens' to the right of the aperture numbers; otherwise the PQ lens (rolleigraphy.eu)

AF Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, autofocus with aperture ring:

AF in the name, a focusing-motor coupling in the bayonet and a distance window, but still an aperture ring, so it also focuses by hand on the 6008, 6003 and 6001 (Wikipedia; rolleigraphy.eu)
Larger than the manual lens: 95 mm across, 114 mm long, 890 g, Bayonet VI (Wikipedia)

AFD Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, Hy6 only, no aperture ring:

AFD in the name and no aperture ring: the aperture is set from the Hy6 body, and the lens does not work on any earlier camera (Wikipedia; rolleigraphy.eu)

Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQ, manual focus: Rolleigraphy.eu's description: 'short tele-photo lens for general use, both studio and outdoor exposures, extraordinary correction with floating elements, very desirable 150 mm lens, low number'. It is absent from Rollei's January 1993 and May 2003 brochures, whose 150 mm lenses are the Zeiss Sonnar and the Apo-Symmar bellows head, so when and for how long it was sold is not known; by February 2005 a dprforum poster who owned one called it 'VERY hard to find'. The date in the table is that of the earliest document, not of the lens.
Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, manual focus: The 1/1000 s version of the manual lens, with the same five elements in three groups. Rolleigraphy.eu lists it with the same particulars as the PQ and the same remark on its scarcity. As a PQS lens it runs only on the 6008, 6003, 6001 and, in manual focus, the Hy6.
AF Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, autofocus with aperture ring: A new computation for the 6008 AF: five elements in five groups where the manual lens had five in three, 95 mm across, 114 mm long and 890 g, the weight of the Zeiss Sonnar. It autofocuses on the 6008 AF and the Hy6 and focuses manually on the other 6008-series bodies and the 6006 and 6002. A dprforum poster wrote in February 2005 that 'a new autofocus Schneider 150/4 is due around October 2005'; no Rollei document dating it was found, and it is absent from the May 2003 brochure, whose autofocus lenses are the 80, 180 and 60–140 mm with the 50 and 100 mm 'in preparation'.
AFD Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 HFT PQS, Hy6 only, no aperture ring: The Hy6 version of the autofocus lens, with the aperture control moved to the body. By the Hy6 Mod2 launch of March 2013 the 150 mm of the line was the Rollei-branded AFD-Tele-Apogon 150mm F4 HFT PQS at ¥798,000, which rolleigraphy.eu lists as a five-element, three-group 'improved Zeiss design', that is, a Sonnar type rather than this lens.

Specifications

Formula: Tele-Xenar: the manual-focus PQ and PQS lens has 5 elements in 3 groups with floating elements (rolleigraphy.eu; Japanese Wikipedia 3群5枚), the AF and AFD lens 5 elements in 5 groups (rolleigraphy.eu; Wikipedia) — see table note 1
Construction: 5 elements
Aperture range: f/4–f/32
Shutter: Rollei direct-drive electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/500 s and B (PQ); 30 s–1/1000 s (PQS, AF PQS, AFD PQS); timed and powered by the body through ten gold-plated contacts
Min. focus: 1.4 m
Filter: Rollei Bayonet VI
Years manufactured: 2005
Country: Germany
Coating: HFT multicoating

What reviewers say

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History

The Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 is Schneider-Kreuznach’s alternative to the Zeiss Sonnar at the system’s standard telephoto length, and the scarcer of the two by a wide margin. In its manual-focus form, sold as a PQ and as a PQS lens, it has five elements in three groups with floating elements, focuses to 1.4 m and takes Bayonet VI filters; rolleigraphy.eu calls it a ‘very desirable 150 mm lens’ of ‘extraordinary correction’ and notes against both versions that few were made. No Rollei brochure found lists it: the January 1993 and May 2003 lens tables carry the Sonnar and the Apo-Symmar bellows head as the only 150s. Japanese Wikipedia lists a Tele-Xenar 150 mm f/4 of the same five elements in three groups among Schneider’s unmarked lenses, beside the Xenotar 80 mm f/2.8 and the Curtagon 60 mm f/3.5, which would put its origin before the PQ generation of 1988; rolleigraphy.eu knows only PQ and PQS versions. The earliest dated mention found is a dprforum thread of February 2005, by which time an owner called it ‘VERY hard to find’.

The autofocus lens that followed is a different design under the same name: five elements in five groups, 95 mm across, 114 mm long and 890 g, in AF PQS form with an aperture ring, so that it autofocuses on the 6008 AF and the Hy6 and focuses by hand on the other 6008-series bodies, and in AFD PQS form without the ring for the Hy6 alone. A poster in the 2005 thread expected it ‘around October 2005’; it is absent from the May 2003 brochure, whose autofocus lenses are the 80, 180 and 60–140 mm. It did not last to the end: the Hy6 Mod2 line-up of March 2013 has a Rollei-branded AFD-Tele-Apogon 150 mm f/4 PQS at ¥798,000, which rolleigraphy.eu describes as an ‘improved Zeiss design’ of five elements in three groups, a Sonnar type rather than a Tele-Xenar.

What owners say about the manual lens comes from the same thread. One who tested it against the Sonnar found the Schneider ‘only marginally better’ at the edges at wide apertures and no better in the centre; another judged them ‘every bit as good’, the Schneider resolving slightly better at f/4 and the Sonnar at f/5.6; a third shot a circus with it at 800 ASA, hand-held at 1/125 s and slower against a railing, and called the results ‘incredible’ and the focal length ‘not too much tele’. The reputation for sharpness is tied by one poster to the floating elements. Prices in 2005 were about $1,000 for a used 150 of either make; nothing more recent was found. A buyer should establish which lens is on offer, since the manual and autofocus forms share a name and a focal length and little else, and should test the shutter and diaphragm on a body, as with every lens of the system.

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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.

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