Tele-Xenar 135mm f/4 HFT / Tele-Apogon (Rolleiflex 4.0FT)
Schneider-Kreuznach · Rolleiflex TLR · 2007
Also known as: Rolleiflex 4.0FT Tele-Xenar · Rolleiflex 4.0 FT Tele-Xenar 135mm f/4 HFT · Rolleiflex 4,0 FT Tele Xenar 135mm F4 · Rolleiflex 4.0FT Tele-Apogon · Rollei 4.0FT 135mm f4 HFT · Rolleiflex FT Tele Tele-Xenar · ローライフレックス 4.0FT テレクスナー · ローライフレックス 4.0FT テレクスナー 135mm F4 HFT · ローライフレックス 4.0FT テレ・アポゴン
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tele-Xenar 135/4 HFT on the Rolleiflex 4.0FT (2007–2014), later engraved Tele-Apogon | Rolleiflex TLR | 2007–2014 | — | — |
- Years: 2007 as the first year follows English Wikipedia's account of the FT as the Tele-Xenar reissue; Japanese Wikipedia dates the 4.0FT 2011 and Digital Camera Watch reports its Japanese release by Komamura on 1 July 2011 as a new model, so the 2007 date may be the announcement or the German launch rather than the first delivery. The family end of 2014 follows the end of DHW production as the body page gives it.
- Specifications from Digital Camera Watch's launch report (DHW Fototechnik, distributed in Japan by Komamura): 135 mm, f/4, 33° angle of view, minimum focus 1.5 m, Copal shutter 1s–1/500 and B with flash synchronisation at every speed, centre-weighted meter with five LEDs, ISO 25–6400, 147 × 109 × 136.5 mm, 1,390 g, ¥764,400. The weight, dimensions and price are the whole camera's; the lens was never sold on its own, so `original_price` is left empty and the figure recorded here.
- Name: Tele-Xenar 135mm f/4 HFT (DC Watch; ja.wikipedia) and Tele-Apogon 135mm f/4 (B&H, for a late DHW-era set), one lens under two names with no evidence of an optical change. Element and group count, blade count and filter bayonet were not found in any source read for this page; the Bay VI sometimes stated for the FT is unconfirmed, so `filter_note` is left empty.
- Against the Tele-Rolleiflex's Sonnar: the 1.5 m close focus (DC Watch) against about 2.7 m on the 1959 camera (35mmc), multicoating against single coating, and a Copal against the Synchro-Compur; a forum user quoted by search notes the modern lens should not suffer the Sonnar's cement separation. No review of the Tele-Xenar on film was found within the search done for this page.
How to tell them apart
- A fixed taking lens on the Rolleiflex 4.0FT only: Tele-Xenar 4/135 HFT or Tele-Apogon 4/135 HFT on the front ring, multicoated, under a Heidosmat 135mm f/4 viewing lens, on a GX/FX-type body with a built-in LED meter and brown crocodile-pattern covering
- Not the Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135mm f/4 of the 1959–75 Tele-Rolleiflex, single-coated with a Synchro-Compur and a 2.7 m close focus; nor Schneider's removable Tele-Xenars for the Rollei 6000 SLRs, Alpa or the Rolleiflex SL35
Tele-Xenar 135/4 HFT on the Rolleiflex 4.0FT (2007–2014), later engraved Tele-Apogon:
- Front ring reads Schneider-Kreuznach Tele-Xenar 4/135 HFT (or, on late cameras, Tele-Apogon 4/135 HFT) on a 4.0FT body — the 2.8GX/FX body with a deep front standard, brown crocodile-pattern leather and a Heidosmat 135mm f/4 viewing lens
- Tele-Xenar 135/4 HFT on the Rolleiflex 4.0FT (2007–2014), later engraved Tele-Apogon: The only lens of the 4.0FT, Rollei's telephoto twin-lens reflex on the 2.8GX/FX body and the successor to the 1959 Tele-Rolleiflex. Digital Camera Watch's report of the Japanese launch (Komamura, 1 July 2011, ¥764,400 for the camera) calls the テレクスナー135mm F4 HFT newly developed by Schneider-Kreuznach, with a 33° angle of view, 1.5 m minimum focus and a Copal shutter; B&H's listing of a late DHW set names it the Tele-Apogon 135mm f/4. Nothing read suggests the glass changed with the name.
Specifications
- Formula
- Tele-Xenar telephoto, 33° angle of view (DC Watch); the element and group count is not given by any source read for this page
- Aperture range
- f/4
- Shutter
- Copal, 1s–1/500, B; flash synchronisation at all speeds
- Min. focus
- 1.5 m
- Years manufactured
- 2007–2014
- Country
- Germany
- Coating
- Rollei 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 Tele-Xenar 135mm f/4 HFT is the taking lens of the Rolleiflex 4.0FT, the telephoto twin-lens reflex Rollei built on the body of the 2.8GX/2.8FX as the successor to the Tele-Rolleiflex of 1959. Schneider-Kreuznach made it, with Rollei’s HFT multicoating and a matching Heidosmat 135mm f/4 viewing lens above; it covers 33° on the 6×6 frame, the equivalent of a short telephoto on 35mm film, and focuses to 1.5 m, nearly a metre closer than the old Zeiss Sonnar could manage without a Rolleinar. The shutter is a Copal, 1 s to 1/500 with B and flash at every speed, and the body carries the GX/FX’s centre-weighted meter, read on five LEDs in the finder, for ISO 25 to 6400. The whole camera weighs 1,390 g.
Its dates are not quite settled. English Wikipedia places the FT from 2007, in the last years of Franke & Heidecke GmbH before the 2009 insolvency; Japanese Wikipedia dates it 2011, and Digital Camera Watch reported its Japanese release by Komamura on 1 July 2011 as a new model from the successor company DHW Fototechnik, with a lens “newly developed” by Schneider, at ¥764,400 for the camera in brown crocodile-pattern leather. The two can both be true if 2007 was the announcement or the German launch and 2011 the Japanese one. Like the 4.0FW’s Super-Angulon, which became the W-Apogon, and the 2.8FX-N’s S-Apogon, the lens lost its Schneider name on late cameras and is engraved Tele-Apogon 135mm f/4 on the DHW-era set that B&H listed; nothing read for this page suggests the glass changed with the name. Its element and group count, blade count and filter bayonet were not found and are left open.
Few were made and fewer written about: no review of the lens on film was found within the search done for this page. What can be said against the Tele-Rolleiflex’s Sonnar is structural — multicoating, a shorter close focus, a modern shutter, and a cemented construction that a forum user expects to be free of the balsam separation that afflicts the Zeiss lens. It was sold only as part of the camera, at a price that made the 4.0FT one of the dearest 120 cameras of its day, and that is how it trades now. The Sonnar page covers the 1959 lens it replaced; Schneider’s removable Tele-Xenars for the Rollei 6000 single-lens reflexes and for Alpa share the name only.
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 135mm f/4 HFT / Tele-Apogon (Rolleiflex 4.0FT)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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