Schneider Super-Symmar XL 110mm f/5.6

Schneider's designers in Bad Kreuznach had a specific problem in the late 1990s. Large format shooters wanted wider lenses, but wide traditionally meant a small image circle and no room for the camera movements that are the whole reason to own a view camera. The Super-Symmar XL line was the answer, and the 110mm f/5.6, introduced in 1997, became one of the most popular wides in the range. Aspheric surfaces, still unusual in a large format lens then, helped Schneider achieve an unusually large image circle, 288mm, in a lens that threads into a humble Copal 0 shutter.

That 288mm circle is what people buy this lens for. On 4x5, where the diagonal runs about 153mm, you can rise, fall, shift, and tilt until the bellows bind and still never reach the edge of coverage. It drowns 5x7 too, with movement to spare. The focal length sits in a sweet spot: moderately wide on 4x5, roughly the angle of view of a 30mm lens on a small-format camera, normal enough to use all day without the stretched corners a true wide hands you.

This is a modern multicoated lens and it renders like one. Sharp edge to edge once you stop down to f/16 or f/22, which is where you will actually shoot it. Contrast runs high and color stays clean. Flare is a non-issue, something the old single-coated Super-Angulons could never claim. There is no bokeh conversation to have here; you are at f/22 on a tripod for landscape, not wide open hunting subject separation. The aspheric design keeps the far corners flat, which matters once you have cranked a lot of rise into a skyline or a stand of trees.

The honest weaknesses are practical, not optical. The 67mm filter thread is at least a common size, but a center filter, a polarizer and a couple of grads still add up quickly. Push heavy movements toward the edge of that giant circle and you will see some light falloff; the wider XLs want a center filter, and the 110 sits right on the line where some shooters fit one and others never bother. It is not cheap either, and it still commands strong used prices.

Landscape shooters cross-shop it against the Nikkor SW series and Rodenstock's Grandagon wides, but the 110 XL has long been a favorite single-wide choice for 4x5. If you carry one wide lens into the field, this is the one a lot of people reach for. One field note: rack the bellows out to focus close and a 110mm lens loses real light, more than you expect. Let Zone Light Meter compute the bellows extension factor from your focus distance so the sheet gets the exposure your spot reading actually promised.