Angenieux Lens

NDKodak · May 29, 2013

Has anyone used French made Angenieux camera lens?
If so how was your experience with them?
I always assumed they were just standard sub par third party lenses, but from what I have read they may be quite good.

Dan Fromm · May 29, 2013

NDKodak said:
I always assumed they were just standard sub par third party lenses, but from what I have read they may be quite good.

Their cine lenses are mostly outstanding. Their zooms for 35 mm still cameras -- is that what you're asking about? -- were seen as outstanding when new, still command high prices.

NDKodak · May 29, 2013

I have had several of them(all prime lenses) drop into my lap as part of a Alpa collection recently and was just wondering what peoples experiences were with them. Should I set aside the Nikon lens for the summer and use Angenieux instead? LOL.

ic-racer · May 29, 2013

You own the lenses and you are asking us how they perform? Ok, here goes; I have never owned or used a Angenieux for 35mm but I guess they will have moderate to good flare control, with excellent center sharpness at f5.6. The wide angle lenses will be moderate to good at the corners with moderate distortion and moderate light falloff. The lens barrels will be aluminum and the focus will be somewhat stiff. Can we guess which focal lengths you have also?

NDKodak · May 29, 2013

I ask because I have not used them yet. The reason being I have trouble seeing thru older cameras and it is hard for me to focus, so I tend to stick AF and may or may not get around to using the lenses.

chip j · May 30, 2013

I read some reviews yrs ago that said the (zooms, I think) were a litle soft. My Angenieux 48mm enlarging lens is a little soft but it's brillance is fabulous!

dnjl · May 30, 2013

I don't know about good, but the FD-mount Angenieux lenses often go for twice the price of their Canon L equivalents on eBay. There must be more than hype to it.

AgX · May 30, 2013

Angenieux once was a leading company concerning lens design.

MDR · May 30, 2013

Angenieux Cine Zooms are the best in the world, their still lenses are good but not as good as their retail price would suggest. I wouldn't call them sub-par though they still are better than most third party lenses and some OEM lenses. The fact that Alpa chose those lenses should tell you that they are far from bad. Use them they often have their own character. Dominik

onepuff · May 30, 2013

Angenieux are still a leading company making lenses for the motion picture industry as well as specialist industrial and military lenses. Alpa never made their own lenses but used lenses from some of the best manufacturers of the day including Angenieux and Kern (who were also well respected in the cine field). I have seen some pictures taken with a couple of Angenieux lenses of the 1970s on an Alpa and from memory and in my opinion they were every bit as good as could be achieved with the best Leitz, Zeiss, Nikon or Olympus lenses of the time. Again, from memory they were erring more towards the Leitz softer contrast rather than the harder contrast of the Japanese lenses. I can't remember which lenses these were precisely by I was impressed at the time (1980s) so I would recommend you try the lenses out.

summerbee · May 30, 2013

imho those ones suggesting to try them out are giving the best advice.
I support that in general terms they should follow the "German school" in design and I could add that the French tradition in glass was at least on a par with other EU countries of the time (UK, Germany, Italy and Czech comes to mind...). Consider that photo and movie industry were born and first grown in France...

AgX · May 30, 2013

NDKodak · May 30, 2013

Thanks for all the comments and input.

Dan Fromm · May 30, 2013

AgX said:
Yes.

Nope, TTH seems to have been first, with lenses for the Technicolor camera, a very special application. These lenses occasionally surface on, e.g., eBay.

Angenieux came up with the snappy name retrofocus, offered 'em for general use, was probably the first to take the idea to relatively mass production.

AgX · May 30, 2013

Angenieux filed their patent in 1950. I have not yet found and earlier one by Cooke.

Dan Fromm · May 31, 2013

AgX said:
Angenieux filed their patent in 1950. I have not yet found and earlier one by Cooke.

So?

The VM says

Inverted Tele f2.0 35mm for Technicolor 3-strip cameras, this was developed by H.W.Lee in 1931 using a 6-
glass OPIC type behind a uncemented negative front pair to give increased back focus to clear the beam
splitter of the camera. (Tay023). Merte draws a version with the front glasses un-cemented (Brit Pat. 355,452)
The glass used was G1= 1.6510/33.7;G2=1.6135/59.4; G3=1.5730/57.3; G4= 1.6135/59.4; G5= 1.6120/38.0;
G6= 1.5790/40.4; G7= 1.6235/56.3; G8= 1.5730/57.3. This design was unique then and was not in
competition till after WW2. Possibly the size of the front glasses involved was off- putting, as was the small
demand for lenses for 24x36 SLR's.[P.C. Smethurst says it was Warmisham who designed it but this may be
an understandable memory lapse in an old man who was never able to check his draft. He also says it was a
50mm lens, with a front component a foot square and some 15in in front of the lens.

and

"Technicolor lenses" This process used only TTH lenses in a 1936 advert.(B.J.A. p55)

TTH patents of the '30s are hard to find. Many were patented by designers generally understood to have worked for TTH, e.g., Warmisham, for the firm Kapella. I've never understood the relationship between TTH and Kapella.

GarageBoy · Jun 4, 2013

The Exakta mounted lenses are a bargin, IMHO
The wides are nothing special, but the teles have a distinctive look
Be careful with flare, though

Angenieux Lens

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