Neovaron

[paul]

Just wondering.. where do "neovaron" lenses come from, they are on both camera's and projectors. I always considered thewm as Schneider optics. Where does it come from?. Just curious.


Thanks,

Paul

[nik-super8]

Hello Paul,

there was a paragraph about the Neovaron lenses in an article in the german specialist periodical "Schmalfilm" (i.e. "Narrow-film" in English) in the issue 1-2/2002.
Bauer manufactured the Neovaron lenses for their cameras by itself.
Bauer belonged to the german BOSCH group.
They were not manufactured by Schneider, Bad Kreuznach.
The article treats the lenses for Super 8 cameras only.
It says, there were 3 different versions with different focal lengths and luminous intensities (1.2, ...., ?) for the last generation of their cameras.
The article praises the Bauer Neovaron lenses as the best universal lenses ever available on the world market comparable with the Angénieux 8-64 mm lens.
The Macro-Neovaron lenses are able to shoot close-ups at every focal length and are not limited to the macro or wide-angle position.
Zooms in very extreme close-ups are possible without any additional lenses, too.
The Neovaron lenses have a very outstanding optical quality.

This is a summary of the main points mentioned in the article.
It does not reflect my personal opinion because I do not have any experience with Bauer cameras and their qualities and I am no judge of it.
I own only Nizos (S 56, Integral 5, Spezial 148) and a Beaulieu 6008 S.

This is my contribution to the topic, I hope it is interesting for you.

Niklas

[paul]

Hey Niklas,

Thank you very much for your comment! I enjoied reading it!

[Guest]

I personaly own 3 Bauer cameras and I must say that the quality of the Neovaron lenses is really amazing. The one that's on the S 709XL is outstanding and is almost as good as the Angenieux that's on the S 715XL (Believe me... I tested both in the exact same conditions) and you can hardly notice any grain on K40 using these !

I love my Bauer's !

[mIke]

Most prominent macro neovarons at Bauer cameras including filter threads:


1,2/6-51 FS 62(?): C900XLM, C109, S-xx9
1,8/7-70 FS 55 : 10e*
1,2/7-45 FS 55 : S-xx7, C700XLM, C107
1,8/7,5-60 FS 49: 8e, C108, S108, C8, C81


A bit a pity that the Bauer A series had not been equipped with the fast 6-51 lens or the powerful Angineux of the S715.
If one looked through the viewfinder of the Royal 10e I once used there was a severe lack of sharpness towards the horizontal edge/corners of the image, in contrast the neovaron 6-51 of an S model I tested was superb in this respect: very sharp also in the corners of the image.
Also Bauer decided to use a Schneider-Kreuznach 7-70 for their most expensive silent model, the A512. Was a quality problem of the Neovaron 7-70 lens the reason?

[mIke]

* A 1,8/7-70 lens is also at the Royal Zoom 10.

Correction: Zoom range of the Schneider-Kreuznach mentioned above is 6-70mm.

[paul]

Also Bauer decided to use a Schneider-Kreuznach 7-70 for their most expensive silent model, the A512. Was a quality problem of the Neovaron 7-70 lens the reason?

I always liked to think that Bauer used Schneider on their most expensive silent camera and Angenieux on their most expensive sound camera as a marketing trick. They are both established names, more than Neovaron. But what's in a name when it comes to super 8 lenses. Wonder who fabricated the angenieux and the schneiders.. just a thought.

[mIke]

Just wondering.. where do "neovaron" lenses come from...

May be worth to mention that some neovarons were also sold under the name "Porstzoom" at Porst MS cameras.