Manual Focus Lenses Forum

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

Curious of cheaper French cine projector lenses, after having tested a swiiirly Benoist Berthiot 1.5/50 for Christmas, I am proceding with its cousin. Please meet SOM Berthiot 1.7/50 used for narrow film projectors. I have doubts if the lens was designed for 8mm or 16mm film, as it does not fully cover Sony APS-C sensor.

Anyway, it's central sharpness and lateral swirl make it a pretty close relative to Benoist Berthiot optical wise. Although the swirl seems gentlier. All images are edited to give them more saturated colours and contrast, as the lens is highly sensitive to flare in the daylight and out-of-the-camera shots come pretty much bleached but easily fixed.

Here you may find a short introduction into the history of both optical makers, Benoist Berthiot and SOM Berthiot.

Close up with SOM Berthiot 1.7/50

#1 Shot through the glass

#2 At a very close distance thanks to a cheap helicoid

#3 BW converted

Portrait distance

#4

#5

#6

Long distance

#7

#8

In-focus vs bokeh tests

#9

#10

#11

A 100% unprocessed crop from the central part of #9

#12

visualopsins · Expire: 2027-07-11

#8 only for me, the remainder make me too dizzy! Smile

Sciolist · Expire: 2021-04-16

Was it you who shot the scarf tied to the lamp post, Alex?

I was looking at #1 and thinking you have a habit of producing images where it looks like you can reach out and grab it.

Lovely set Like 1

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alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

Thank you, fellows!

Sciolist, you have good memory. The scarf was taken with the mighty Resolux.