Famous Lenses

Milestones in lens history: Schneider on TV, in the cinema and in space

Schneider-Kreuznach has played its part in the history of photography ever since the company was founded in 1913. Examples include pioneering lens systems such as the ultra-fast Xenon, the Super-Angulon XL with 120° aperture angle and the Super-Symmar XL aspheric, which was the first aspheric large-format lens. The precision-optics company has also set milestones in fields not directly related to photography, such as in TV and film productions, industrial applications and research missions into space.

Conjuring Hollywood up on screen: Schneider cine lens systems

In the early years of the last century company founder Josef A. Schneider was awarded a first patent for a cine lens. Today, Schneider-Kreuznach is the global market leader in this segment with a market share of around 50%. High-performance special lens systems from Bad Kreuznach are used in multiplex theatres and other cinemas requiring top image quality and light intensity. One example is the current Schneider Cinelux Première range, which offers 40% more light than conventional cinema lens systems: the perfect tool for large-scale digital projection.

And the winner is … Technology Oscar for Schneider-Kreuznach

The Technical Achievement Award, which the company has already received six times from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, is proof of the reputation cinema lens systems made in Bad Kreuznach enjoy among experts. Cinematographic projection lenses by Schneider received the much-coveted Technology Oscar in 1976, 1978, 1989, 2000, 2001 and 2005.

Benchmark for moving images: from cine film to home cinema

Variogon lens systems made variable focal lengths available to cine film fans as early as in the mid 1950s. Up until the late 1980s, top movie cameras were unthinkable without the famous Variogon and its special fast, precise, continuously variable zoom function.

Always one step ahead: leaders in zoom lenses for TV

Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon lens systems have also played a key role in TV productions. In 1969, Schneider-Kreuznach launched the first TV zoom lens. During the following year, the engineers from Bad Kreuznach set important milestones time and again, for example with the TV-Variogon 1.7/6–70 mm and the integrated high-quality aspheric lens. Today the camcorder and home cinema market benefits from this unique expertise. Digital recording of moving images and their projection at home require powerful lens systems with specific characteristics. This is where Schneider-Kreuznach comes in, with its experience going back several decades.

Built to resist: Schneider-Kreuznach lens systems in crash tests

When cars collide with obstacles during safety and materials research trials, it isn’t just the vehicles that are subjected to extreme loads, but also the high-speed cameras inside. On the one hand they have to withstand up to 100 times the gravitational acceleration, on the other hand they have to be largely insensitive to ambient temperature, humidity and flying particles. The robust standard lens systems in the compact C-Mount range master these challenges effortlessly. Thanks to a speed of 1:1.4 they also offer ideal prerequisites for continuous shooting, with up to 1,000 images per second.

Lens systems in orbit: space photography powered by Schneider-Kreuznach

Schneider lens systems are used worldwide and beyond! The US space agency NASA has relied on the robustness and performance of products from Bad Kreuznach on its missions for many decades, for example in lunar cartography or for taking photographs of the earth on Lunar Orbiter missions (between 1959 and 1976), and also on current Space Shuttle missions. The fact that standard C-mount lenses normally used in 3D measuring applications, robotics or motor sport applications are used on these missions is an indication of the high standard of quality Schneider has. No modifications are usually required for Schneider’s extraterrestrial tasks …