Rollei S-Apogon.... what is it?

f16sunshine

f16sunshine

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Recently I traded for a Rollei AFM 35 P+S Camera.
It's a nice little thing and I'm very much looking forward to testing it out.
The lens is a Rollei S Apogon 38mm f2.6.

I'm slightly puzzled with this. Rolled uses this same name for other lenses with a Double Gauss scheme (The Rolleiflex FX for example has an S-Apogon f2.8 80mm).
My undertstanding is my little P+S is a Tessar.

Does anyone know for fact the S Apogon designatin is anything other than a new trade name?
Does Rollei just name anything with glass in a barrel S-Apogon or is there something else to it?
Am I mistaken and my new P+S has a DG rather than Tessar in it?
Anyone?
 
Fuji Klasse which is sister camera of AFM has 4el/3gr lens, but I can't say if it is same lens and how big differences are (coatings or construction as well).
 
It is just a trade name. Not really a new one either. Rollei built their own lenses, for long enough that the formally Zeiss and Schneider named lens designs had grown into something independent and unique not covered by patents any more - but name rights don't expire like patents. The current makers (DHW) did not inherit and could not re-purchase the name rights F&H once had licensed from Zeiss and Schneider. So they had to make do with a name from the Rollei back catalogue not owned by anybody else - which did not give them that many choices, probably nothing beyond Heidosmat for Triplet types (the TLR finder lenses) and Apogon for anything else (originally used on projector lenses), these being the niches where they did not license from Zeiss or Schneider.
 
So it's just a marketting name used for a avriety of optical schemes.
The Diagram in PF's link looks like a Tessar to me.
 
The same lens is used in the Klasse S as well. Fantastic lens. The Klasse S has a max. aperture of f2.8 rather than f2.6 due to a redesigned shutter/aperture mechanism which allows higher shutter speeds and a rounded aperture shape. If you look at the aperture shape on the original Klasse/Rollei AFM 35, you'll see it's pretty funky and a long way from being circular, but works just fine nonetheless.
 
Hi,

It might be a modified Protar variation or a variation on H D Taylor's triplet...

Regards, David

PS, Yes, I do know a little about it and feel Taylor should get the credit for coming up with a revolutionary design, that others modified, advertised and sold by the million. As I see it, lens design is a form of evolution until computers got involved.
 
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