Angenieux 35MM F2.5 Retrofocus Type R1 on NEX 5N

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7584 Location: Hong Kong

Here are some photos of my first Angenieux lens. They are processed in LR5.2 with necessary adjustment. Unlike my other threads in this section, I will not comment on the performance of this lens now. I would like to hear how you think about it after you check the samples below.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6 click to enlarge

#7 click to enlarge

bernhardas · Expire: 2017-05-23

Edited

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Quite nice for such an old, 1st gen retro lens design lens!

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7584 Location: Hong Kong

@bernhardas
Yes. The flare is pretty obvious in #1 and it affects the contrast on top left corner in #3. The coating of this lens is weak so it is very easy to catch flare. The flare adds more dimension to the scene by giving a large contrast between the top left and the bottom right.

In #7, the only adjustment I did are boost the Charity to 16 and select medium contrast in point curve. This lens has high resolution with medium contrast from F5.6 onward. I found it handles those high contrast scene very well. It has it own color rendering with I cannot found on my other lenses.

@kds315*
I agrees it is very nice for such old lens. This lens receives much better reputation in Asia than rest of the world. It may looks a bad lens at first glance but it will shown its magic if you can understand it character. To be honest, I found it is not easy to focus this lens even look at the magnified view with focus peaking. Shocked

Anymore opinions?

Rick1779 · Expire: 2014-06-06

it seems that suffer from direct light/flares (like many others old lenses with single coating or no coating at all), but if you're aware of that the results are great (like the last shot). I like the 3d pop too (people walking in the garden)

vlousada · Joined: 11 Dec 2010 Posts: 345 Location: Portugal

Colors are great!
Where some other lens may fail, this one seems to reproduce REDs very well

memetph · Joined: 01 Dec 2013 Posts: 940 Location: Poland

Flare is quiet obvious . These situations do not look very demanding though. Is it FF or APS-C ?

TrueLoveOne · Expire: 2013-12-24

Great examples, lovely lens!! Very Happy

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7584 Location: Hong Kong

@Rick1779
I will talk about more about the lens flare below. This lens do have great 3D pop.

@vlousada
The REDs are vivid and the white are very "pure" IMHO.

@memetph
My NEX 5N are an APS-C camera. The lens is sharp from corner to corner from F5.6. The conrner will less on a FF camera.

@TrueLoveOne
Certianly!

Here are some of my thoughts on this lens:

Flare is inevitable on this old wide-angle with weak coating and large protruding front elements. A long hood is mandatory for this lens to block any possible stray lights.

Angénieux use some very soft glasses on this lens. Most copies I encountered have LOTS of cleaning mark/scratch on the front and rear elements. The damage will lower the contrast. If the flare is present, the contrast may further reduce to very low.

The DOF of this lens seems narrower than my other 35s. It is not easy to focusing on my NEX 5N even in magnified view with focus peaking. I found the sharpness of this lens is very good from F5.6 onwards. Even at full open, the resolution is not bad but contrast is low.

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

I have the 2.8/35 and found it to be a challenge focusing, Focus peaking on the K-01 certainly helps.It has the same issues as yours with the front coating heavy with "cleaning marks"...your images do look sharper than what I have managed to produce.

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7584 Location: Hong Kong

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

Hi Calvin,
I apologise I have always tend to read my lens as a 2.8/35 Embarassed

,thanks I will try out your suggestions.

memetph · Joined: 01 Dec 2013 Posts: 940 Location: Poland

Sorry , it was in the title : NEX.
My recent experience is that there is more flare with a FF which is logical.
I used to have ( 40 years ago) three Angenieux 3,5 28 ; 1,5 50 and 2,5 135 . Really nice pieces of optic.

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7584 Location: Hong Kong

I found there is very slight haze on the lens and I send it to CLA. The lens perform even better after the CLA. Here are two photos taken by Sony A7 without a hood(click to enlarge).

#1

#2

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

padam · Joined: 09 Oct 2012 Posts: 175 Location: Hungary

very nice 3D-look, reminds me of the Distagon 35/1.4 ZM Shocked

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7584 Location: Hong Kong

Thank all. I think this lens worth some effort to understand it in order to get the best out of it. It will not perform good on most situation but it has good potential on certain kind of scene.