Schneider Kreuznach Tele-Arton Lens

Schneider Tele-Arton f/5.5 240mm lens

Schneider Tele-Arton f/5.5 240mm lens

Toronto. At one of our mid 1990s fairs held at the Queensway Lion’s Club, I picked up a small f/5.5 240mm telephoto lens in a Leica screw mount. It was sold to me by Jim McKeen. Jim was retired from his hardware store in Hamilton and had attended our fairs for a few years to sell off his camera gear. He was a birder and used this lens for that purpose. It had a 39mm Leica thread mount and a mis-spelt engraving “Arlon” instead of “Arton” – someone in the factory forgot to cross their “t”.

It was a bit unusual since the lens was intended for medium to large format cameras, not 35mm cameras such as the Leica. It was newer (c1950s with factory coated elements), lighter, had a slightly longer focal length and was about a stop slower than the 200mm f/4.5 Telyt I had.

When digital came along, I tried the Tele-Arton out using the Leica bellows, rings and housing  with my Sony Nex-5. It was a good sharp little lens for the Sony giving the equivalent of 360mm focal length. N.B. this post is a repeat of another more detailed post back in March of 2011.

Left - Kodak Timer with Tele-Arton, Centre - Hydro Pole with Tele-Arton, Right Engraving error

Left – Kodak Timer with Tele-Arton, Centre – Hydro Pole with Tele-Arton, Right Engraving error

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