Sudden GAS attack

Gear acquisition syndrome hit me across the face today. I suddenly

find myself the proud owner of a lovely, and very big, used Cambo 8x10

and a Schneider convertible 355/6.8 - 620/16. Picking it up on Saturday.

I've been researching the lens, and am confident it's fine because of

the name, but haven't found any specific reference to it anywhere.

The serial # indicates (from the Schneider site) that it was made in

1971 or so.

I've read that a yellow filter will make the long, 'converted' lens

better, but they're not that great otherwise.

Any words of wisdom? Experience with this lens?

Thanks.

Not a top Google hit, but a little poking at the Schneider site yielded

<a href="http://www.schneideroptics.com/info/vintage_lens_data/large_format_lenses/

symmar-s/data/1,6,8-360mm.html">this information</a>.

<p>

Ya gotta love the web.

I forgot to mention that it's a Symmar...here's a pic.<div></div>

It looks like you have a very late Symmar. They were top quality professional lenses of their era. Schneider's German site has some PDFs of brochures: http://www.schneiderkreuznach.de/archiv/archiv.htm

 

And here's a thread with links to additional threads: "convertible symmar" at http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009cCz

The suggestion to use a yellow (or medium orange) filter with the longer cell is a good one. You don't have to screw the filter in, you can hand-hold it. I did that with a Wollensak triple convertible and it made a noticeable difference I thought.