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

Xenar 75mm f/3.5 (Rollei)

Schneider-Kreuznach · Rolleiflex TLR · 1945 · Tessar type, 4 elements in 3 groups

Also known as: Rolleicord Xenar 75mm f/3.5 · Rolleicord Xenar 75mm F3.5 · Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 1:3.5/75 Rollei · Rollei Xenar 3,5/75 · Rolleiflex Xenar 75mm f/3.5 · Rolleiflex MX Xenar · Rolleiflex MX-EVS Xenar · Rolleicord Vb Xenar · Rolleicord Va Xenar 3.5 · Rolleicord V Xenar · Rolleimagic Xenar · ローライコード クセナー 75mm F3.5 · ローライフレックス クセナー 75mm · ローライマジック クセナー

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Xenar 75mm f/3.5 on the Rolleiflex Automat (K4B2 to Automat B / MX-EVS, 1945–56) and Rolleiflex T · Compur Rapid, 1–1/500, B, T (X-sync from 1949; M&X on the Automat B) Rolleiflex TLR 1945–1976 — —
Xenar 75mm f/4.5 on post-war Rolleicord II bodies (Dec 1947–Jun 1949) Rolleiflex TLR 1947–1949 — —
Xenar 75mm f/3.5 on the Rolleicord (II post-war, III, IV, V, Va, Vb; 1949–77) · Compur Rapid X (III); Synchro-Compur MX (IV, V); Synchro-Compur MXV (Va, Vb); 1–1/500, B Rolleiflex TLR 1949–1977 — —
Xenar 75mm f/3.5 in Prontormat-S (Rolleimagic I and II, 1960–68) · Prontormat-S, 1/30–1/300, B (Magic I); 1/30–1/500, B (Magic II) Rolleiflex TLR 1960–1968 — —
  1. Which bodies carried the Xenar, their dates by month and shutters are from the model tables on English Wikipedia's Rolleiflex and Rolleicord pages. Element count: English Wikipedia ('a 4-element Schneider Kreuznach Xenar'), antiquecameras.net ('traditional four-element Tessar-type construction') and Dusty Grain's Rolleicord Va specification ('4 elements, single coated') agree.
  2. Closest focus of 0.9 m is from 50mmF2's Rolleicord V review and is the camera's focusing limit; weight (875 g) is the Rolleicord Va's and belongs to the body. No source gives the blade count.
  3. The f/4.5 Xenar of 1947–49 is on this page as a variant: the same four-element Schneider design stopped down, fitted to Rolleicord II bodies when Zeiss Triotars were short. English Wikipedia's rows for it carry no model name.
  4. The Rolleiflex T with a Xenar: reported in the trade, but English Wikipedia's Rolleiflex table names only the Tessar for the T1–T3, and no fetched source confirms a Xenar T. The T is listed among the bodies on that report.
  5. The Rolleimagic's shutter is the Prontormat-S of Gauthier; English Wikipedia writes 'Prontomat S'.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Schneider-Kreuznach engraving with the aperture written 1:3,5/75; the alternative on the same Rolleiflex Automats is the Carl Zeiss Jena, Zeiss-Opton or Carl Zeiss Tessar of identical specification, so only the engraving tells them apart
  • The only taking lens of the Rolleicord III, IV, V, Va and Vb and the Rolleimagic; on a Rolleicord I or II the lens is a Zeiss Triotar unless it is one of the post-war Xenar batches
  • Bay I filters and hoods, on both lenses from the Rolleicord Va (Dusty Grain)
  • Not the Alpa-Xenar 75mm f/3.5 Schneider made for the Alpa reflex, nor the Xenars on Linhof, Exakta or M42 mounts: a Rollei Xenar has no mount and no focusing helicoid of its own, the camera's front panel carries it

Xenar 75mm f/3.5 on the Rolleiflex Automat (K4B2 to Automat B / MX-EVS, 1945–56) and Rolleiflex T:

  • Engraved Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 1:3,5/75 under a Heidoscop-Anastigmat f/2.8 viewing lens; Compur Rapid without flash socket before October 1949, X-sync on the K4/50 and Automat A, M and X on the Automat B (en.wikipedia model table)

Xenar 75mm f/4.5 on post-war Rolleicord II bodies (Dec 1947–Jun 1949):

  • Engraved Xenar 1:4,5/75, with a Schneider Xenar f/3.5 as the viewing lens, the only Rolleicord pairing with Schneider glass in both positions (en.wikipedia Rolleicord table)

Xenar 75mm f/3.5 on the Rolleicord (II post-war, III, IV, V, Va, Vb; 1949–77):

  • Engraved Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 1:3,5/75 under a Heidosmat f/3.2 (Schneider or Zeiss) viewing lens; Compur Rapid X on the III, Synchro-Compur MX on the IV and V, MXV on the Va and Vb (en.wikipedia Rolleicord table)
  • Bay I bayonet on both lenses (Dusty Grain, Rolleicord Va)

Xenar 75mm f/3.5 in Prontormat-S (Rolleimagic I and II, 1960–68):

  • The Xenar in a Prontormat-S programmed shutter under a Heidosmat f/3.5 viewing lens, with a selenium cell for the automatic exposure; 1/30–1/300 on the Magic I, 1/30–1/500 with manual settings on the Magic II (en.wikipedia Rolleicord table)

Specifications

Formula
Tessar type, 4 elements in 3 groups
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5
Shutter
Compur Rapid, 1–1/500, B, T (Rolleiflex Automat, Rolleicord II–III); Synchro-Compur MX / MXV, 1–1/500, B (Rolleicord IV–Vb); Prontormat-S, 1/30–1/300 or 1/500, B (Rolleimagic)
Min. focus
0.9 m
Filter
Bay I
Years manufactured
1945–1977
Country
Germany
Coating
Single coated (Dusty Grain's specification list for the Rolleicord Va)

What reviewers say

History

Schneider-Kreuznach’s Xenar 75mm f/3.5 is the other four-element lens of the Rollei twin-lens reflexes: a Tessar-type design of the same specification as the Carl Zeiss Tessar, which it joined as an alternative taking lens on the Rolleiflex Automat from the K4B2 of October 1945, when Zeiss’s production was divided between Jena in the east and the new works at Oberkochen. English Wikipedia’s Rolleiflex table names the Jena Tessar, the Zeiss-Opton Tessar and the Schneider Xenar together for every Automat from then until the Automat B (MX-EVS) ended in September 1956; antiquecameras.net calls the two lenses, Tessar and Xenar, long-standing “standards of excellence for Rolleis”.

On the Rolleicord the Xenar became the only lens. The first Schneider glass on the cheaper camera was an f/4.5 Xenar fitted to Rolleicord II bodies from December 1947 to June 1949, with an f/3.5 Xenar as the viewing lens, followed from July 1949 by the f/3.5 taking lens; from the Rolleicord III of November 1950 the Xenar f/3.5 was standard, and it stayed through the IV, V, Va and Vb until the Vb ended in January 1977. The Rolleicord, as English Wikipedia notes, never got a faster lens than f/3.5. The Rolleimagic of 1960–68 put the same Xenar in a Prontormat-S programmed shutter behind a selenium cell. The shutters around the lens mark the generations: Compur Rapid (with an X socket from 1949) on the Rolleiflex Automats and the Rolleicord II and III, Synchro-Compur MX on the Rolleicord IV and V, MXV on the Va and Vb. Filters and hoods are Rollei’s Bay I bayonet, and from the Va the viewing lens takes them as well.

Reviewers of the later Rolleicords describe the same lens. 50mmF2, on a Rolleicord V, finds it “a razor sharp monster” across the frame from f/8, “plenty sharp” in the centre wide open with smudged corners and a little less contrast, medium in contrast, neutral in colour, well behaved against the sun and smooth, uneventful in its out-of-focus rendering, a lens that “lacks character and may seem boring”, which the reviewer treats as a strength for portraits in which the subject rather than the lens should be noticed. Jorge Ferrufino at Dusty Grain, on a Va, calls its performance excellent once stopped down a little and still very good at full aperture, and recommends the Va and Vb because the camera’s stray-light handling was much improved from the Va. On the Rolleiflex forum argument of Xenar against Tessar there is no verdict to report; the two are the same type of lens from two makers, and the engraving is the only sure way to tell a Xenar Automat from a Tessar one.

Rollei’s Xenar is not interchangeable with anything and has no mount of its own: it is held in the camera’s front panel, which focuses both lenses together. It should not be confused with Schneider’s Alpa-Xenar 75mm f/3.5 for the Alpa reflex or with the Xenars sold in Linhof, Exakta or M42 mounts, nor with the five-element Xenotar that, as antiquecameras.net puts it, replaced the four-element Xenar on every Rolleiflex from 1956 while the Rolleicord kept the Xenar to the end.

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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 Xenar 75mm f/3.5 (Rollei)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, DKK: a median of DKK 3,200 across 5 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-02 (middle half DKK 3,000–DKK 3,400). First day tracked.

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Related: Planar 75mm f/3.5 (Rolleiflex) · Tessar 75mm f/3.5 (Rolleiflex) · Triotar 75mm (Rolleicord) · Xenotar 75mm f/3.5 (Rolleiflex) · Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 (Rolleiflex) · Schneider Alpa-Xenar 75mm f/3.5

Sources (5)

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.