Angénieux has officially announced its 37-102mm T2.9 Full Frame Optimo Ultra Compact Zoom. This is a little strange as they actually announced the new Optimo Compact Zooms at the Festival de Cannes 2021 back in July.
The 37-102mm T2.9 is the first lens of two lenses in the Angénieux full-frame Optimo Ultra Compact Zoom series, and it will be followed by the 21-56mm T2.9.
Key features
- Completely new optical design to enable Full Frame Coverage
- Superb image quality from T2,9 (in FF/VV) open aperture
- Well controlled optical performances at each focal length and focus distance by having a good balance between contrast and resolution
- Appealing cinematic look
- Perfect homogeneity of color, contrast, and resolution
- Low distortion
- No ramping, minimal breathing
- Close focus of 2ft / 0.6m
- Internal focus, internal zoom, constant lens volume
- Completely newly designed mechanics vs. Optimo 15-40 & 28-76
- Compact (235mm) and very lightweight (2.6kg / 6lbs)
- Precise and rugged traveling of the zoom and focus groups using Angenieux classic rod mechanical guiding system
- Precise and ergonomic focus ring with scale rotation of 310°, user-optimized marking design
- User changeable focus marking rings (focusing scales available in feet or metric)
- Adapted to extreme shooting environments (passive thermalization from -20°C to +45°C)
- Available in PL mount.
- Front protective glass (as an accessory)
- Can be used with ARRI FF4 & FF5 Follow-Focus, please use ARRI FF Gear 0.8 Module, 43 Tooth, 45mm K2.0020752
- IRO ready
- Cooke Metadata: External connector for metadata transfer to an external drive or a display unit
According to Angénieux, the new Full Frame series of Optimo high-end compact zoom lenses is the result of decades of proven expertise in high precision optics and mechanics dedicated to cinema. The 37-102 & the 21-56 are the direct descendants of the iconic and Academy awarded Optimo 15-40 and 28-76 lenses, which have been industry favorites for more than 15 years.
The 37-102mm T2.9 tips the scales at 2.6kg / 6lbs. It has a close focus ability of 60cm / 2 ft. The front filter diameter is 114mm and the lens is 23.5cm / 9.25 in log.
The Optimo Ultra Compact lenses are a nice compliment to the Angénieux high-end Full Frame collection which already included the Optimo Ultra 12X and the Optimo Prime Series.
The new compact lenses will coexist with the popular Type-EZ lenses. Angenieux has had the EZ zoom series for quite a few years. The EZ zooms allow the user to change the rear optical assembly to allow the lenses to be used for either full frame or Super 35 coverage. While this is a great concept, cinematographers have been requesting true full frame and larger coverage compact zooms from Angenieux.
Direct competition for Angenieux comes squarely from ARRI and Fujinon. ARRI has its Signature Zooms and Fujinon has its Premista series.
The competing lenses for the Angenieux 21-56mm T2.9 would be the Fujinon Premista 19-45mm T2.9, ARRI 24-75mm T2.8 Signature Zoom, Leitz Cine Zoom 25-75mm, and the ZEISS 28-80mm T2.9 Compact Zoom CZ.2.
The competing lenses for the Angenieux 37-102mm T2.9 would be the Fujinon Premista 28-100mm T2.9, ARRI 45-135mm T2.8 Signature Zoom, Leitz Cine Zoom 55-125mm, and the Musashi-Optical Takumi 2 29-120mm T2.9.
Angenieux has arguably been the industry standard for zooms in our industry for many decades and it is good to see them finally announce some more full frame capable zooms.
Don’t expect these new Angenieux zooms to be ‘affordable’, as most high-end options in this space will set you back at least $40,000 USD.
