The Schneider 400mm f/5.6 APO Tele Xenar MRC Compact lens in black copal #3 shutter is the last version made of a legendary piece of glass.
It works perfectly with infinity focus on a Master Technika by extending the upper focusing track to the 2nd click stop position.
It is the longest focal length you can feasibly use on a Technika without extended lens boards setup.
I use this 400mm lens on my Linhof Master Technika field camera to photograph Missouri’s wild horses using Kodak Ektachrome 100 slide film. I needed the fast F5.6 aperture with the 100 speed slide film in order to get reasonable shutter speeds. I previously used my Nikon Nikkor-T ED 360mm F8 lens which is a great lens, I just needed that extra stop from F5.6 to F8 for my scenario. Also, the Nikon lens has a flange focal distance of 261mm vs. 238mm for the Schneider lens.
Because of the APO Tele-Xenar’s telephoto design, this lens only requires 238mm of bellows draw on my Linhof that has a little over 400mm available. This is important to me for field use because the lesser bellows draw keeps the camera more balanced and it doesn’t feel over-extended.
The Schneider Apo Tele-Xenar 5.6/400 mm is ideal for field camera use and because of its compact design is easily mounted on on all large format cameras. The field photographer gets a much needed long focal length compact lens that is lighter in weight and requires a shorter bellows extension than conventional lenses.
Schneider’s coating designers have developed a revolutionary new coating called MRC. This new coating is harder and more durable, less subject to fogging, and easier to clean. The APO-TELE XENAR 400mm is the first lens to use this new coating technology.
The APO-TELE-XENAR 5.6/400 COMPACT MRC has an image circle of 250mm at infinity and covers the 5″ x 7″ format ( 13cm x 18cm ) with ample movement.
Quick Tech Specs
Shutter: Copal 3
Front Filter: 82mm
Flange Focal Distance: 238mm