Anyone know anything about a Schneider Xenar 180mm F4.5 enlarging lens?

<p>I thought all Xenars were large-format taking lenses. This one has a 39mm thread on the rear. I've checked the Schneider website and the serial number would put its production date in 1954. There's no listing of any Xenar enlarging lenses, but their online documentation is probably incomplete. I'm wondering if this lens was OEM in an enlarger package, maybe a 5x7 Durst or similar setup. Does anyone have any experience with Xenar enlarging lenses? And no, I don't have a 5x7 camera or enlarger. I'm planning to adapt it for taking pictures, perhaps in medium format.</p>

<p>Do you have the lens in hand? I ask because a 39 mm mount is small for a 180/4.5 Xenar, Schneider quotes 49 mm. If someone is offering the lens for sale, 39 mm could be a typo or a dumb assumption.</p>

<p>If you have the lens in hand and the measurement you report is accurate, ask Schneider what it is.</p>

<p>Schneider has used their trade names very consistently. A Xenar is a taking lens, the Xenar-type enlarging lens is badged Comparon. Similarly a Symmar is a taking lens, the Symmar-type enlarging lens is badged Componon.</p>

<p>Sellers who don't understand that taking lenses were sold in barrel as well as in shutter have offered taking lenses in barrel, e.g., the 135/5.6 Symmar (convertible) that I once bought via eBay for $32 delivered, as enlarging lenses. Buyers who don't understand this tend not to bid. That's how I got my little Symmar. I've seen Xenars shorter than 180 mm -- I don't really pay much attention to Xenars -- in barrel offered on eBay as enlarging lenses. Can't be true.</p>