Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Tele-Xenar 180mm f/2.8 (6000, PQ manual focus)

Schneider-Kreuznach · Rollei 6000 · 1993

Also known as: Schneider Tele-Xenar 180mm f/2.8 HFT PQ · Rollei Tele-Xenar 180mm f2.8 PQ · Rollei 180mm f/2.8 Tele-Xenar HFT · Tele-Xenar 2.8/180 HFT PQ Rollei 6000 · Schneider-Kreuznach Tele-Xenar 1:2.8 f=180mm Rolleiflex · Rolleiflex 6008 180mm Tele-Xenar · Rollei 6000 180mm 2.8 · ローライ テレクスナー 180mm F2.8 HFT PQ · シュナイダー テレクセナー 180mm F2.8 ローライ 6008 · ローライ 180mm F2.8 PQ

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Tele-Xenar 180 mm f/2.8 HFT PQ (item no. 87 606) Rollei 6000 1993 — Not published by any source consulted
  1. Every number in the table is Rollei's, from the January 1993 and May 2003 lens tables, which agree: f/2.8–22, 1/500 s, 6 elements in 6 groups, closest focus 1.8 m, 100 mm across, 150 mm long, 1,525 g, M95 × 1 filters, 104 mm hood bayonet; the 1993 table gives the diagonal angle as 25°, the 2003 table as 26°. Wikipedia, rolleigraphy.eu and Japanese Wikipedia (6群6枚, 1.8 m, φ95, citing the 1998 camera yearbook) repeat them.
  2. Filters and hood. Wikipedia's '95' and rolleigraphy.eu's 'Bayonet VIII (104)' are not in conflict: the lens has an M95 × 1 thread for filters and, outside it, a 104 mm bayonet for the hood, and both brochures note that filters stay on under the hood. The Planar 110 mm f/2 has the same arrangement.
  3. Date. Documented in the January 1993 brochure; Greenspun's page, created in 1997 with portions from 1990, treats the Schneider fast lenses as established. The PQ generation began in 1988. The year given is 'documented by 1993'.
  4. Price. No list price has been found. Greenspun put B&H's prices for the three fast Schneider lenses, the 80 mm f/2, this lens and the 300 mm f/4, at '$4,500 to $6,500' in the mid-1990s without separating them. In February 2005 a dprforum poster put a used 180 'closer to $1,800' on eBay against about $1,000 for a 150; the same poster's statement that the 180 is 'PQS only' is wrong, Rollei having listed it as PQ throughout.
  5. Blades are not given by any source consulted; the diaphragm is driven by a linear motor in 1/3-stop steps.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The manual-focus 180: a 150 mm long barrel, 1,525 g, engraved Tele-Xenar without the AF prefix; the AF-Tele-Xenar of 2002 is 135 mm long, 1,480 g, seven elements and carries a focus-motor coupling (Rollei 2003 table; Wikipedia)
  • Shares the M95 × 1 filter thread and 104 mm hood bayonet with the Planar 110 mm f/2 and the M95 thread with the Apo-Tele-Xenar 300 mm f/4; no Bayonet VI (Rollei 2003 table)
  • Not the Tele-Xenar 180 mm lenses Schneider made for the Exakta 66, Pentacon Six or other mounts, which have no Rollei shutter or contacts; this one has 'PQ lens' on the barrel and a leaf shutter inside (rolleigraphy.eu)
  • Fits every body from the SLX to the Hy6; the SLX, 6006 and 6002 use it in shutter-priority and manual exposure only, the Hy6 in manual focus (Wikipedia compatibility table)

Tele-Xenar 180 mm f/2.8 HFT PQ (item no. 87 606):

  • Engraved Schneider-Kreuznach Tele-Xenar 1:2.8 f=180mm with 'Lens made in Germany', and 'PQ lens' to the right of the aperture numbers (rolleigraphy.eu photograph)
  • A 100 mm barrel 150 mm long at 1,525 g, with an M95 × 1 filter thread inside a 104 mm bayonet for the metal hood 98 839; Bayonet VI filters do not fit (Rollei 2003 table; rolleigraphy.eu)
  • Manual focus: a plain helicoid to 1.8 m and no autofocus coupling; the AF version is 135 mm long and reads AF-Tele-Xenar (Rollei 2003 table; Wikipedia)

Specifications

Formula
Tele-Xenar, 6 elements in 6 groups (Rollei brochures 1993 and 2003; rolleigraphy.eu; Wikipedia; Japanese Wikipedia 6群6枚)
Construction
6 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Shutter
Rollei direct-drive electronic leaf shutter in the lens, 30 s–1/500 s and B, timed and powered by the body through ten gold-plated contacts; carbon-fibre laminate blades
Min. focus
1.8 m
Dimensions
100 × 150 mm
Weight
1525 g
Filter
95 mm, M95 × 1 screw-in filters; 104 mm Bayonet VIII on the front for the hood (Cat. No. 98 839)
Years manufactured
1993
Country
Germany
Coating
HFT multicoating

What reviewers say

History

The Tele-Xenar 180 mm f/2.8 is the fast telephoto of the Rollei 6000 system, a Schneider-Kreuznach design of six elements in six groups built, as its barrel says, in Germany, with the system’s electronic leaf shutter and diaphragm inside. An f/2.8 aperture at 180 mm on 6 × 6 is, in the words of Rollei’s 1993 brochure, ‘fast even by 35 mm SLR standards’ and ‘outstanding in a rollfilm camera lens’, and holding a leaf shutter to 1/500 s across an opening of that size was the engineering point of the lens: Rollei made the blades of a carbon-fibre reinforced laminate with 60% of the mass of steel and drove them with neodymium-magnet linear motors, a shutter shared with the Xenotar 80 mm f/2 and later the Planar 110 mm f/2. The lens is 100 mm across, 150 mm long and 1,525 g, focuses to 1.8 m, takes M95 × 1 filters inside a 104 mm bayonet for its metal hood, and stops down to f/22. Rollei sold it for portraiture, sports and fashion, where the aperture buys shallow depth of field, available light or a faster shutter; rolleigraphy.eu says plainly that it ‘was aimed at fashion photography rather than landscapes’. The matched Longar 1.4× converter, computed for this lens, the 80 mm f/2 and the 300 mm f/4, turns it into a 250 mm f/4 at the same closest focus.

There is one manual-focus version, marked PQ, item no. 87 606, with a 1/500 s top speed; Rollei never offered a PQS 180, and the claim in a 2005 forum that the lens was ‘PQS only’ is mistaken. It is in the January 1993 brochure and still in the May 2003 one, by which time the autofocus AF-Tele-Xenar 180 mm f/2.8 of 2002, a new seven-element design 135 mm long, stood beside it. As a PQ lens it fits every body from the SLX to the Hy6, with the SLX, 6006 and 6002 limited to shutter-priority and manual exposure and the Hy6 to manual focus.

It was expensive and it still is. Greenspun, writing in 1997, called the three fast Schneider lenses ‘the most interesting’ in the line and priced them at ‘$4,500 to $6,500 at B&H’; in 2005 a used one was ‘closer to $1,800’ against about $1,000 for a 150. Nobody has published a test of it. What the record holds is the use: Greenspun shows photographs from it without a verdict, and the 2005 dprforum thread agrees that it is ‘a lot heavier than the 150’, needs working space, and can be hand-held at 1/125 s ‘but you need to take care’, one poster preferring it for background blur and available light and another allowing that ‘f/2.8 would be nice, but the size may not be worth it’. A buyer should test the shutter at 1/500 and the diaphragm through its range on a body, since both run only on the body’s current, and should expect to carry the hood: the 104 mm bayonet is the only way to shade a 95 mm front this fast.

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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.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Tele-Xenar 180mm f/2.8 (6000, PQ manual focus)? 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.

Related: AF Tele-Xenar 180mm f/2.8 (6000/Hy6) · Xenotar 80mm f/2 (6000) · Apo-Tele-Xenar 300mm f/4 (6000) · Planar 110mm f/2 (6000) · Sonnar 150mm f/4 (6000) · Tele-Xenar 150mm f/4 (6000)

Sources (7)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.