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

Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 (Rolleiflex)

Schneider-Kreuznach · Rolleiflex TLR · 1952

Also known as: Rolleiflex 2.8F Xenotar · Rolleiflex 2.8E Xenotar · Rolleiflex 2.8C Xenotar · Rolleiflex 2.8D Xenotar · Rolleiflex Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 · Rolleiflex Xenotar 80mm F2.8 · Rollei Xenotar 2.8/80 · Schneider Xenotar 80mm 2.8 Rolleiflex · ローライフレックス 2.8F クセノター · ローライフレックス 2.8E クセノター 80mm F2.8 · ローライフレックス クセノタール 80mm F2.8 · ローライフレックス 2.8C クセノター

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Xenotar 80/2.8 on the Rolleiflex 2.8C (1952–1955), ten-blade diaphragm Rolleiflex TLR 1952–1955 camera bodies 1260350 onward (ja.wikipedia's 2.8C block, upper bound garbled in the source) —
Xenotar 80/2.8 on the Rolleiflex 2.8D, 2.8E and 2.8F (1955–1981) Rolleiflex TLR 1955–1981 camera bodies 1600000–1620999 (2.8D), 1621000–1665999 (2.8E), per ja.wikipedia —
  1. Five elements, air-spaced: antiquecameras.net, which describes the 2.8C's Xenotar as 'a five-element lens of the air-spaced type'. The four-group count usual for the Xenotar is not given by any source read for this page, so `groups` is left empty. No source reached reports a six-element 80 mm Xenotar; the five-to-six-element change documented for the 75 mm f/3.5 Xenotar did not happen here.
  2. Years: the 2.8C was introduced in December 1952 (antiquecameras.net; Camera Legend dates the model 1952–1955), the 2.8F ran to 1981 with either lens (antiquecameras.net). Production: 2.8C over 30,000 with more Xenotars than Planars, 2.8D just over 20,000, 2.8E about 53,000 to 1965 (antiquecameras.net, citing Prochnow); no figure for the 2.8F.
  3. Diaphragm: ten blades on the 2.8C (Camera Legend; Japanese Wikipedia lists the ten-blade aperture among the 2.8C's features). The five-blade diaphragm of the later cameras is repeated by dealers but not stated by a page read here; `blades` is therefore left empty at family level.
  4. Shutter: Compur-Rapid MXV on the 2.8C and 2.8D and Synchro-Compur MXV on the 2.8E and 2.8F, 1s–1/500 and B — the shutter rows of the body pages; no lens-side source was read for them.
  5. Price and reputation: antiquecameras.net says the Xenotar was priced about 5% below the Planar, and summarises Modern Photography tests of 1953–1963 as finding the two lenses similar, a 1963 summary giving the 2.8 Xenotar the better centre and the Planar the better edges, on a small sample.
  6. Filter: Bay III, which Japanese Wikipedia assigns to all 80 mm f/2.8 taking lenses (Biometar, Planar, Xenotar). No minimum focus, weight or coating figure was found in a source read for this page.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A fixed taking lens: it exists only on the front of a Rolleiflex 2.8C, 2.8D, 2.8E or 2.8F, below a Heidosmat viewing lens, with Schneider-Kreuznach Xenotar 1:2,8/80 on the front ring and the Bay III bayonet around it
  • The sister lens is Zeiss's Planar 80mm f/2.8, offered on the same four bodies from 1954; the ring says which. On the 2.8A the lens is a Tessar, on the 2.8B a Biometar
  • Not the Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 made for the Rollei SLX/6000 SLRs, which is a removable bayonet lens with its own barrel, nor the Xenar 75mm f/3.5 of the Rolleicord and 3.5 Automat

Xenotar 80/2.8 on the Rolleiflex 2.8C (1952–1955), ten-blade diaphragm:

  • Front ring reads Schneider-Kreuznach Xenotar 1:2,8/80 with the lens serial; the camera is a 2.8C, with the Compur-Rapid MXV shutter and the ten-blade diaphragm that Japanese Wikipedia and Camera Legend both credit to this model

Xenotar 80/2.8 on the Rolleiflex 2.8D, 2.8E and 2.8F (1955–1981):

  • Same front-ring engraving on a 2.8D, 2.8E (E, E2, E3) or 2.8F body; the 2.8E and 2.8F carry the Synchro-Compur MXV, the 2.8F the coupled selenium meter and, from 1966, the 12/24 film switch

Specifications

Formula
Xenotar: a five-element, air-spaced double-Gauss derivative (antiquecameras.net); the usual four-group Xenotar layout is not stated by a source read for this page
Construction
5 elements
Aperture range
f/2.8
Shutter
Compur-Rapid MXV on the 2.8C and 2.8D, Synchro-Compur MXV on the 2.8E and 2.8F; 1s–1/500, B
Filter
Bay III
Years manufactured
1952–1981
Country
West Germany

What reviewers say

History

The Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 is the Schneider-Kreuznach taking lens of the Rolleiflex 2.8C, 2.8D, 2.8E and 2.8F, the 6×6 twin-lens reflexes Franke & Heidecke built in Braunschweig from December 1952 to 1981. It replaced the East German Biometar of the short-lived 2.8B, and for its first two years it was the only lens on the 2.8C; Carl Zeiss’s Planar 80mm f/2.8 joined it as an alternative in 1954, and from then until the end of the 2.8F the buyer chose between the two makers’ names on the front ring. Antiquecameras.net describes the Xenotar as a five-element, air-spaced lens, a double-Gauss derivative like the Planar, and notes that it sold for about 5% less; on the 2.8C the Xenotar version outsold the Planar, out of more than 30,000 cameras.

The lens itself did not change in optical design across the four bodies, and no source reached reports a six-element version of the kind that the 75mm f/3.5 Xenotar received around 1962. What did change was around it: the 2.8C had a ten-blade diaphragm, which Camera Legend says made it the last Rolleiflex so fitted, and the 2.8D and later cameras are generally described with five blades, though that later count comes from dealer descriptions rather than from a page read for this entry. The shutter went from the Compur-Rapid MXV of the 2.8C and 2.8D to the Synchro-Compur MXV of the 2.8E and 2.8F, 1 s to 1/500 with B and flash synchronisation at every speed, and the 2.8F added a coupled selenium meter and, from 1966, a 12/24-exposure switch for 220 film. Filters and hoods are Bay III, the bayonet shared with every 80mm f/2.8 Rolleiflex.

Whether the Xenotar or the Planar is the better lens has been argued since the 1950s. Antiquecameras.net summarises Modern Photography’s tests between 1953 and 1963 as finding them similar, with a 1963 summary giving the 2.8 Xenotar the sharper centre and the Planar the sharper edges, on a sample too small to settle anything. Sam of Camera Legend, reviewing his 2.8C in 2017, found his Xenotar gave more “pop” than a Planar he had shot beside it, with higher perceived contrast and micro-detail, and attributes that to the condition of the individual lenses rather than the designs; he describes the bokeh as smooth with vintage, coma-shaped highlights at the edges, and calls the 2.8C his favourite twin-lens reflex. He bought his copy in 2008 for a little over $400 and reported 2.8Cs trading between $400 and $900 depending on condition, before the cost of a service.

The Xenotar belongs to the camera it is on, so its value and its condition are the body’s. Separation in the cemented groups, haze between the elements and a sluggish Compur are the things to look for, and the taking and viewing lenses were matched at the factory. The Planar page covers the Zeiss alternative and the HFT-coated Planar of the 2.8GX and 2.8FX, which never had a Schneider counterpart; the Xenotar name continued on the removable 80mm f/2.8 of the Rollei SLX and 6000 single-lens reflexes, a different lens in a different mount.

Expand Collapse

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 Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 (Rolleiflex)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-11-02. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Xenotar 80mm f/2.8 (6000) · Biometar 80mm f/2.8 (Rolleiflex 2.8B) · Planar 80mm f/2.8 (Rolleiflex) · Tessar 80mm f/2.8 (Rolleiflex 2.8A) · Xenar 75mm f/3.5 (Rollei) · Xenotar 75mm f/3.5 (Rolleiflex)

Sources (4)

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.