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Angenieux Optimo DP 25-250 lens test

Mike McEntire

Mike McEntire

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I just had the pleasure of test-driving the new Angenieux Optimo DP 25-250 lens. I was really impressed by this zoom and thought I would share some of my findings. This is an overall impression not a chart type of test. First a little background. I have been shooting on Angenieux 10-1 zooms for most of my career. I started out with the Super 8 film version on my Beaulieu ZMII. When I stepped up to 16mm film I shot on the 12-120 and 12-240 a ton. When I got my Red One I purchased a 25-250 HP which I have been using to this day. For me the 10-1 zoom range is perfect for the fast moving action sports and commercial work I normally do. With my Epic M hopefully soon to become a Dragon I have been looking long and hard at my next zoom purchase that will cover at least 6KHD. I heard about the new Optimo DP 25-250 and luckily was able to take a prototype out to a few shoots. On my Epic it covers all forms of 5K with ease and according to my friend Nathan Garafolos who has a CF Dragon it covers 6KHD as well! Another great feature is the lens data being carried to the metadata of every shot. This includes focus distance, iris and focal length. The craftsmanship of the lens is amazing. The focus, iris and zoom have just the right amount of resistance and are buttery smooth. The lens is around 16 pounds so it needs proper support and a good fluid head. It has a drop in filter slot in the back of the lens for 40.5 threaded round filters. It holds one filter and is really great for times you do not need a full matte box. I was even able to use a slim polarizer in the slot. Image quality is amazing! This lens is very sharp. It blows my HP out of the water in every regard especially on edge sharpness. It maintains sharpness even wide open, which the older 10-1’s have difficulty with. It has very minimal breathing, which did not negatively affect any of my focus pulls. The bokeh is really nice. The backgrounds fall out of focus without drawing attention, which is what I prefer. Both my Microforce zoom control and RT Motion FIZ pulled the lens with ease even in super cold temps. I shot a variety of subjects and came to the obvious conclusion that this lens is perfect for my style of work. The 25-250 range covers just about anything and allows me to work at a fast and creative pace with no image penalty for being on a zoom. I will have some wider lenses and a few super fast primes in my bag to use if I need to go wider or if I am dealing with extremely low light. The lens is T3.5 so it will work for 90 percent of my needs.
In conclusion this lens does everything I need it to do and it maintained incredible image quality in every condition I put it into. I highly recommend that you stop by the Angenieux booth at NAB to see what I am talking about.

Here is a link to the Angenieux site and the lens.

http://www.angenieux.com/zoom-lenses/cinema-portfolio/optimo-dp-25-250.htm

Here are a few images I shot so you can see why I am excited to have this lens in my arsenal. The compression used to put these shots on the web knocks down the quality a fair bit but you get the idea.

https://vimeo.com/90615044
 
Epic paragraph dude! (wink). Thanks for the efforts and write up. Beautiful images as well
 
Considering this one... Curious if there is any iris ramping and how the breathing is at different focal lengths. Also distortion at the wide end.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
Yes the HR has met its match certainly. Did not see any iris ramping and the breathing was there but very marginal and not distracting. Did not do any charts but I did not notice any distortion at the wide end.
Its worth the price of admission for sure.
 
I had a long look at it at NAB and was told that it will match the 24-290 in resolution.
Yes it covers 6k.

I hope it is the first of a range of zoom lenses that are designed for high sensitivity digital cameras, where a T2 stop is not imperative.

A competitive price of around $40k

The other standout PL mount lenses for me at NAB were

Canon 17-120 which was being used on a f65 to create a HD blowup from 1/4 frame with frankly an unbelievable lack of lens aberrations,

Arri 9.5-18 (which I would like to compare with a full frame nikon fisheye)



Mike Brennan
 
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I just pulled the trigger and bought one. Will put it through it's paces and report in a new thread. We'll be offering it up as a rental item as well.
 
I bought one recently. It's really great.

Here is the coverage that I tested:

6k vignette to 40mm
6k ws vignette to 27mm
6k HD no vignette
5.5k no vignette

It's a very usable lens.

5.5k has become my new default shooting resolution. It is very useful with a lot of lenses.
 
I find mine useful at 6K HD HD no vignette across all focal lengths. Love this lens. Breathing is also significantly reduced from what I can tell, not noticeable except on extremely fast/long pulls.

Also compliments the other two 4k Optimos we got perfectly. The 16-40 and 30-76. When combined with the 2X extender and the wide angle adapter, these 3 lenses cover everything from 12 - 500mm! The slightly slower 3.5 on the 25-250mm doesn't bother me too much. When using a LLO dragon and/or doing proper blackshading, I'm fine bumping up my ISO for 99% of situations.

All 3 lenses in the series match perfectly.

If I was shooting a feature tomorrow, even running two cameras, these 3 lenses are all I would need for most all shots. I can even balance the 16-40mm on a gimbal without too much difficulty.

Really can't be happier with this combo. I scratch my head at people who use the heavier, more expensive, slightly less sharp 24-290.

Here's a photo we took of our babies in action.

And because I can't help but shamelessly plug, our company rents all 3 lenses together for $800/day, or $2400/week.

Angenieux-3x_zpsqvjzirz4.jpg
 
Hi Travis,
what is the difference between NEW Optimo 16-40 and OLD 16-42??

regards
jiri
 
Jiri Vrozina said:
Hi Travis,
what is the difference between NEW Optimo 16-40 and OLD 16-42??

regards
jiri
Click to expand...


not a huge amount... angeniuex reps told me that the optics were slightly tweaked and the housing was refined / polished. the optics now meet angeniuex's internal specs for being 4K Certified, so my guess is it's slightly sharper, slightly better image circle coverage. IMO breathing is slightly reduced as well. Real world I think the images are quite similar.
 
yes it is... I believe it is usable with film cameras unlike the older models that had a purposely extended flange. don't quote me on that though.

Jiri Vrozina said:
Thanks Mate.
Is the Back End shorter?
Click to expand...
 
What is the big advantage of the new Optimo DP 25-250HR over the previous version 25-250HR? The older lens is 2" shorter, weighs 5 lbs. less, costs half as much (or less) these days and is still a 10X zoom at T3.5. I don't get why people are excited about the new one…what am I missing?
 
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