Angenieux.....anyone?

Dave Wilkinson

Dave Wilkinson

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I have an oportunity to obtain (by mail) an Angenieux lens to add to my Canon 7 kit. These lenses seem to comand high prices,-I suppose because of rarity, never having handled or seen one, I wonder what image and build quallity is like compared to,-say, my Nikkors and Canons, of similar vintage ?......or would I be in for an expensive disappointment !. I don't recall seeing these optics mentioned here before, - or seeing any pictures posted.

Cheers, Dave. :)
 
They were very well regarded lenses in their day, though whether that was justified I'm not really sure. IIRC they stopped making lenses for 35mm cameras in the mid-80s.
 
The build quality of the few Angénieux lenses I have handled has been as good as the best. I hadn't even realized they made anything in screw fit. What's the focal length and aperture? That might jog my memory...

Cheers,

R.
 
Thanks,, Roger, - the one that I have in mind is 9cm f2.5, and supposedly very rare?......perhaps an 'adaptation' ??

Regards, Dave
 
Roger Hicks said:
Dear Dave,

Rings no more than the faintest of bells. Sorry: I know nothing about it.

Cheers,

Roger
Click to expand...



mmmm.......perhaps our friends on the 'night shift' will offer advice, - before I decimate the pension funds further, on Monday!.....and incur the wrath of the 'estate manager'!! :eek:
 
Very highly regarded, also expensive. The pre-set 28 mm lens I had for my Exacta in the early 1970s was an excellent performer.
 
I have never used any of the LTM lenses though I have seen a few, rather plain looking but said to be respectable lenses. I have on the other hand played with a 28-70 2.6 in Canon EF mount, which was interesting but not worth the price premium over the 24-70 which in my mind is a better lens.

Build quality? Pretty good from what I could see.
 
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I never used one for 35mm but it was the option I chose for my Bealieu mopic outfit. Compared to the Schneider offering, which was no slouch, it was stunning and markedly sharper.
 
Due to comparative rarity and high cost I was not able to get Angeniex lenses, except one 35/2.5 in M42 mount, early version. I can say I am very happy about its performance, which has a somewhat old-fashioned imaging quality, very European. Apparently for 35mm still cameras, those for reflex cameras are comparatively less uncommon, but market values tend to be high generally.
 
I've always been a bit tempted by the 45-90mm Angenieux for the Leica R system. Never quite got around to buying one (I've had 2 or 3 opportunities). It was said to be a top-quality lens in its time. I believe there are better lenses out there by now; but I still think of getting the Angenieux once in a while. It even came in a custom-fitted wood case!
 
My only Angenieux lens is the 70-210/3.5 macro for the Canon FD. It is a superb lens. Its bokeh is super smooth.
 
A few decades back I had a chrome 90mm f/2.5 in Exakta mount that I really liked. I used it with an adapter on a Miranda. They made both a 90/2.5 and 90/1.8 LTM. They also supplied their wide angles in rangefinder coupled LTM, but being retrofocus designs they were big and bulky compared to other makes of rangerfinder lenses.

In the early 70's I got hold of just the lens head of a black 100mm f/2 Angenieux motion picture lens, fit it into a focusing mount of unknown heritage, and then to a Pentacon-Six bayonet. It was all held together with epoxy. The optics were really designed for the 18x24mm motion picture frame, not 6x6cm. It was nicely crisp in the center, rapidly fading out to a dreamy softness with gorgeous bokeh towards the edges. With a Pentax adapter it was a nice portrait lens on 35mm. Being a motion picture lens it only had a manual diaphragm. It was stolen about 10 years later.

The Angenieux 12-120 zoom was a staple on 16mm TV news cameras for a lot of years, and their 25-250 is used on 35mm M.P. cameras. They also made a 12-240 for 16mm. They make pro movie lenses with speeds of f/0.95 in several focal lengths but never tried to compete with Canon for a Leica mount version of the 50.

They invented the retrofocus lens, and for awhile "Retrofocus" was an Angenieux trademark, but they didn't enforce it and the word fell into common useage.

The auto-diaphragm SLR lenses have a little wheel - it looks like a camera's shutter speed dial - on the top of the barrel for setting the f-stop. Don't forget the French pronounciation: onj'-uh-new is close enough.
 
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I have an Angenieux 35-140 and a 35/2.5, both in Nikon mount. They are great old lenses with special flavor.

A few A35-140 + D90 shots here:

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3170634118_73ee6660d4_o.jpg
 
35-70 = crap

35-70 = crap

i once had tested a 35-70 against zeiss(C/Y) 35/1.4 in the eighties. the angenieux was just crap, like day and night even at 5.6. it was listed some years ago in a german auction(house) for "only" 4000 euro. much higher than new.
the apo 180 is worth buying. didnt test.
 
I had a 28mm in Exakta mount in the early 1970s. Exceptional build quality and no complaints about the images it made.
 
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