mooge
Well-known
It's Not A Review: Angenieux 25mm 0,95 M1 + Sony Nex 6
19 July 2017
Eugene Lee
1. Intro
I got an Angenieux type M1 25mm 0,95 lens with a bunch of optical lab equipment. It's a lens unusual enough that I thought it might warrant a bit of a review - so here are some of my recent photos with some commentary.
2. History
According to Wikipedia the 25mm 0,95 was designed in 1953 for the Bell and Howell Filmo 70 movie camera, and was also used by NASA to photograph the moon for the Ranger 7 mission.
3. Dimensions and stuff
Lens mount: C mount: 1"-32 TPI, 0,690" FFD
Weight: ???
Max diameter: 41.6mm (~1 5/8")
Length: 45mm (~1 3/4")
Filter size: ??
Minimum focus distance: ~45cm / 18"
No. aperture blades: 6
4. Price
Other reviews of this lens make note of its price; apparently these lenses were worth over $1000 like five years ago or something. Now the going rate seems to be in the $500-$700 range on ebay. Is that worth that? I dunno. If I lost mine I probably wouldn't bother buying a replacement, not at the current price anyways.
5. In use with the Nex 6
I got a cheapo ebay adapter to get the lens to mount to my Nex 6. I figured it would be better than anything I could bodge together myself with the clapped out machines I have access to. It ended up taking 3 months to arrive, with a burr in the C mount threads that wouldn't let the lens seat; and when it did, the flange focal distance was off. Go figure.
The lens apparently covers full frame in micro 4/3 but it's pretty circular on the APS-C Nex. Crop 'er square and throw that crap on instagram. boom.
The focusing ring is stiff (from age?) and somewhat recessed from the lens flange, which makes it a bit awkward to use. I used the magnifier on the Nex (focus peaking tends to be optimistic in my experience) and it's not super slow to focus though I don't get the focus right all of the time.
The lens and camera are quite compact and light; much easier on the shoulder than my Leica M2 and Nokton 35. The 25mm focal length with the crop factor is decent for everyday stuff, and you can shoot in the dark. It's like having a Noctilux maybe, but without the heft and bulk and also it's completely different.
6. Sample Photographs
Let's be honest - 0.95 is cool. Like whoa, dude. Like let's take pictures of everything out of focus. Like bro, that's sick everything is out of focus dog. But how about shooting in the dark? That's what I'm more interested in. This combo allows me to take photographs that my usual camera setup (M2 or R2 + 35/1,4 + K400) couldn't. So some of these are taken at night, like really at night.
All of these are jpegs straight out of the Nex 6- because I'm lazy and they look good enough to me and I don't really care. All handheld.
All of these are of race car stuff because that's what I do. Sorry.
6-1: f/0,95 1/60s ISO2000
The sparks are from the titanium bits we put on the bottom of the diffuser to protect it a bit from getting abraded. Yes the diffuser is too low, but we knew that already and pretty much did nothing about it.
6-2: f/0,95 1/200s ISO200
6-3: f/0,95
6-4: f/2,8 or closed down a coupla stops.
6-5: f/0,95
6-6: f/0,95 1/13s ISO 3200
Not a very interesting photograph maybe but here to illustrate how dark it is, and I can still take useable photographs. This would be 1 second at f/1,4 and ISO 400, if I were to use my regular camera.
6-7: f/0,95 1/15s ISO 3200
6-8: f/0,95 1/25s ISO 3200
We spent a night and a large chunk of two days chasing a starting issue which turned out to be an incorrectly crimped ignition lead...
6-9: f/0,95 1/60 ISO 160
Notice how the image is sharp in the centre but that sharpness falls off rapidly.
6-10: f/4 or 5,6?
Windsor's gas car. what do you know, this lens works in day time as well.
6-11: f/5,6 ish
Some concrete thing at the site of the Orenda engines testing facility in Nobel, Ontario. The turbojet engines for the Avro CF-100 and components for the engine for the Avro Arrow were tested here (citation needed?). I was hoping to see the remains of the test cells here but according to the internet they were torn down in 2012 or so. There's not much to see here now...
6-12: f/0,95 1/60s ISO 2000
6-13: f/0,95 1/160s ISO 100
7. Conclusions
-Do I like using this lens? ehh. ergos and focusing are fiddly.
-Do I like the results from this lens? Yeah.
-Does this lens help me take photographs that would have been difficult with my previous equipment? Well, uh, I guess the answer is 'sort of' because I've never bothered using my 35/1,4 on the Nex.
-Will I use this lens to take pictures of cats to put on my instagram? WELL YEAH OF COURSE I LOVE CATS
19 July 2017
Eugene Lee
1. Intro
I got an Angenieux type M1 25mm 0,95 lens with a bunch of optical lab equipment. It's a lens unusual enough that I thought it might warrant a bit of a review - so here are some of my recent photos with some commentary.
2. History
According to Wikipedia the 25mm 0,95 was designed in 1953 for the Bell and Howell Filmo 70 movie camera, and was also used by NASA to photograph the moon for the Ranger 7 mission.
3. Dimensions and stuff
Lens mount: C mount: 1"-32 TPI, 0,690" FFD
Weight: ???
Max diameter: 41.6mm (~1 5/8")
Length: 45mm (~1 3/4")
Filter size: ??
Minimum focus distance: ~45cm / 18"
No. aperture blades: 6
4. Price
Other reviews of this lens make note of its price; apparently these lenses were worth over $1000 like five years ago or something. Now the going rate seems to be in the $500-$700 range on ebay. Is that worth that? I dunno. If I lost mine I probably wouldn't bother buying a replacement, not at the current price anyways.
5. In use with the Nex 6
I got a cheapo ebay adapter to get the lens to mount to my Nex 6. I figured it would be better than anything I could bodge together myself with the clapped out machines I have access to. It ended up taking 3 months to arrive, with a burr in the C mount threads that wouldn't let the lens seat; and when it did, the flange focal distance was off. Go figure.
The lens apparently covers full frame in micro 4/3 but it's pretty circular on the APS-C Nex. Crop 'er square and throw that crap on instagram. boom.
The focusing ring is stiff (from age?) and somewhat recessed from the lens flange, which makes it a bit awkward to use. I used the magnifier on the Nex (focus peaking tends to be optimistic in my experience) and it's not super slow to focus though I don't get the focus right all of the time.
The lens and camera are quite compact and light; much easier on the shoulder than my Leica M2 and Nokton 35. The 25mm focal length with the crop factor is decent for everyday stuff, and you can shoot in the dark. It's like having a Noctilux maybe, but without the heft and bulk and also it's completely different.
6. Sample Photographs
Let's be honest - 0.95 is cool. Like whoa, dude. Like let's take pictures of everything out of focus. Like bro, that's sick everything is out of focus dog. But how about shooting in the dark? That's what I'm more interested in. This combo allows me to take photographs that my usual camera setup (M2 or R2 + 35/1,4 + K400) couldn't. So some of these are taken at night, like really at night.
All of these are jpegs straight out of the Nex 6- because I'm lazy and they look good enough to me and I don't really care. All handheld.
All of these are of race car stuff because that's what I do. Sorry.
6-1: f/0,95 1/60s ISO2000
The sparks are from the titanium bits we put on the bottom of the diffuser to protect it a bit from getting abraded. Yes the diffuser is too low, but we knew that already and pretty much did nothing about it.
6-2: f/0,95 1/200s ISO200
6-3: f/0,95
6-4: f/2,8 or closed down a coupla stops.
6-5: f/0,95
6-6: f/0,95 1/13s ISO 3200
Not a very interesting photograph maybe but here to illustrate how dark it is, and I can still take useable photographs. This would be 1 second at f/1,4 and ISO 400, if I were to use my regular camera.
6-7: f/0,95 1/15s ISO 3200
6-8: f/0,95 1/25s ISO 3200
We spent a night and a large chunk of two days chasing a starting issue which turned out to be an incorrectly crimped ignition lead...
6-9: f/0,95 1/60 ISO 160
Notice how the image is sharp in the centre but that sharpness falls off rapidly.
6-10: f/4 or 5,6?
Windsor's gas car. what do you know, this lens works in day time as well.
6-11: f/5,6 ish
Some concrete thing at the site of the Orenda engines testing facility in Nobel, Ontario. The turbojet engines for the Avro CF-100 and components for the engine for the Avro Arrow were tested here (citation needed?). I was hoping to see the remains of the test cells here but according to the internet they were torn down in 2012 or so. There's not much to see here now...
6-12: f/0,95 1/60s ISO 2000
6-13: f/0,95 1/160s ISO 100
7. Conclusions
-Do I like using this lens? ehh. ergos and focusing are fiddly.
-Do I like the results from this lens? Yeah.
-Does this lens help me take photographs that would have been difficult with my previous equipment? Well, uh, I guess the answer is 'sort of' because I've never bothered using my 35/1,4 on the Nex.
-Will I use this lens to take pictures of cats to put on my instagram? WELL YEAH OF COURSE I LOVE CATS
Patrick_Donnelly
Newbie
Wow! Appreciate the time that took.
Price falling? Peak has been reached for C mount lenses, but still in short supply
Price falling? Peak has been reached for C mount lenses, but still in short supply
goamules
Well-known
I remember when I sold my Angieneux 25/0.95 for $1,000 about 4 years ago, someone PM'd me and said "wow, I can't believe you sold that....they're just going up, and will be a lot more expensive in the future." I told him I sold it because I didn't believe that, and had quite a bit in it.
C-mounts on micro 4/3s can give you very interesting photos, that are hard to duplicate with any other lens. When they were $20 lenses, it was great. When they were $500, not so much, so I got out. But I kept a few really unusual ones. The Ang .95 is fairly much so, but they are common, and you can always get another.
They can take fairly normal, and very sharp shots, if you avoid confused backgrounds.
C-mounts on micro 4/3s can give you very interesting photos, that are hard to duplicate with any other lens. When they were $20 lenses, it was great. When they were $500, not so much, so I got out. But I kept a few really unusual ones. The Ang .95 is fairly much so, but they are common, and you can always get another.
They can take fairly normal, and very sharp shots, if you avoid confused backgrounds.