Angenieux 1.5/50 (projection Petzval, not Type S21)

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1614

This is not "the" Angenieux 1.5/50, the famous Type S21 which fetches thousands of dollars today. Being a 16mm projection lens, it has a "simplier" Petzval scheme and vignets on APS-C (Sony Nex). It still has an impressive rendering.

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All these shots were subject to exposure/contrast tweaks.

Just to compare, I've got two other unmarked 16mm projection lenses which have a similar design, visibly the same optical scheme and focus distance near 50mm. Here they are, all three ones, with foam put on, in order to use them in a Chinese helicoid. The Angenieux is on the left.

It is curious to which point similarly designed lenses may render differently. No mystery, for sure, just an impression.

Here comes the first unmarked projection lens.

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And here is the second unmarked one.

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All three are very interesting "character" lenses, just the Angenieux is way sharper and has a visibly more "professional" rendering, meanwhile the other two is a better fit for dreamy portraits and retro-style photography.

P.S. I've just realized that the other two projection lenses are faster, thus dreamier.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1614

To complete the test, here are some long distance shots from Angenieux which show among others the degree of swirl and distortion. Similar exposure/contrast tweaks.

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