Rodenstock Rogonar-SC 50/2.8

Reviews

1. 

   16:9 – August 22, 2022

   The 50mm f2.8 and the 75mm f4 Rogonar-SC were special edition five-element Rogonars in metal barrels with plastic housings, launched in approximately 1979 and reviewed in the August 1982 edition of Popular Photography (US edition p78). They appear in the June 1983 Berkey catalogue, but no SC-Series lenses have so far been found with serials high enough to indicate they were produced in, or later than, 1984. They came with slot-in filters – packaged by Rodenstock as the Creative Effects System or Creative Print, along with the CA-30 Colour Analyser and a handsome wooden box. Apertures could be selected with or without click-stops. Early versions featured different barrel typography (see third product image) but were otherwise identical.

   A few surprising features mark out this oddball lens: a gaping cavity (about 8mm) in the middle of the body into which filters can be inserted, and a unusually long focal-flange distance of 52mm. The image circle is larger than average, too, for a 50mm.

   In this case, the fifth element doesn’t confer magical properties on the standard Rogonar-S: it’s similarly soft at apertures up to f5.6, but hits its stride quite nicely at f8, scoring 8.9 / 8.6 at close range. This is squarely a Silver-level lens, but note greater-than-average performance loss at longer working distance. Overall, it fits neatly in line with its element count between the six-element Rodagon 50/2.8 and the four-element Rogonar-S.