Born in Uzhhorod, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, currently a part of the Ukraine, he worked mostly in Germany in the 1920s.
With Fritz Arno Wagner, he filmed F. W. Murnau's The Haunted Castle (1921).
A further high point in Schäffer's career was the employment as one of several cameramen in Walter Ruttmann's experimental documentary film Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927).
After the Nazi Party rose to power in 1933, Schäffer returned to Budapest.
Establishing himself in Los Angeles, he received no requests for his occupation.