At IBC in Amsterdam, Angenieux were showing their new EZ Series zooms that not only have interchangeable lens mounts, but also interchangeable rear optics. The two zooms allow the rear lens group to be exchanged between S35mm (up to 30mm image diagonal), and VistaVision format (up to 46mm image diagonal).
The Angenieux Type EZ-1 is a standard zoom lens with a zoom factor of 3x. When configured for S35mm cameras, the focal range and aperture are set to 30-90mm F1.9 / T2. By exchanging the rear lens group, the lens becomes a 45-135mm F2.8 / T3 covering an image circle up to 46mm diagonal. The lens weighs (2.15kg / 4.7 pounds) and uses internal focusing & zooming, so that the lens size remains constant throughout the zoom and focusing range. It also has a minimum focussing distance of 0.6m / 2 feet.
I was able to shoot some material with the lens and found it to have a look that was very similar to the more expensive Optimo Style lenses. The focus breathing was very minimal and the lens had the typical high-quality build that you would expect from Angenieux.
The zooms will retail for around $10,000 US for the Super 35mm version, or $13,500 US for the lens with both Super 35 and full frame/ Vista Vision rear lens groups. The 30-90mm will start shipping in February or March next year, while the 15-40mm won’t be available until around July 2017.
