Est. 1913 · Bad Kreuznach, Germany · 3 lenses
Schneider was founded on January 18, 1913 in Bad Kreuznach by Joseph Schneider as Optische Anstalt Jos. Schneider & Co. The company began producing photographic lenses for plate cameras in 1919 — the symmetrical Symmar standard lens and the Tessar-derivative Xenar were among its earliest catalog entries. Through the interwar period Schneider built a reputation for view-camera optics: the Symmar (1920) and its modern descendants the Symmar-S, Apo-Symmar, and Apo-Symmar L; the Angulon (1930) and Super-Angulon (1956) wide-angles; the Tele-Xenar telephotos; and the Componon and Componar enlarging lenses that dominated darkroom workflows for decades.
For 35 mm photography Schneider partnered with Kodak from the 1930s onward, producing Retina-Xenon, Retina-Xenar, and Retina-Curtagon lenses for the Kodak Retina folding and Reflex S SLR cameras. Independent SLR-mount lenses for Edixa, Exakta, M42, and (later) Leica R were sold under the Curtagon (retrofocus wide), Xenon (fast standard), Tele-Xenar, and Variogon (zoom) names. The Xenotar — a five-element high-speed normal lens — appeared on Rollei TLR cameras and a number of medium-format bodies. The PC-Super-Angulon 28 mm and 35 mm shift lenses for Leica R and Canon EF set early benchmarks for perspective-control optics on small-format cameras.
Today Schneider Kreuznach designs and manufactures large-format Apo-Sironar and Apo-Symmar view-camera lenses, the Cine-Xenar III and Xenon FF cinema prime series, and a broad range of industrial, machine-vision, aerial-reconnaissance, and broadcast optics. Schneider acquired the German-American Isco-Optic group in 2002, gaining the Iscorama anamorphic-attachment line, and in 2011 acquired Linhof, the Munich-based large-format camera maker — complementing its view-camera optics with a body line.
Notable designs: Super-Angulon 90mm f/8, Symmar-S 150mm f/5.6, Apo-Symmar L 240mm f/5.6, Cine-Xenar III 35mm T2.1, PC-Super-Angulon 28mm f/2.8, Componon-S 50mm f/2.8