Angenieux 9.5-57 service

Thomas Dyrholm · June 4, 2022

Hi!

Some time ago I bought an Angenieux 9.5-57mm F1.6-2.2 for my Arri 16S 16mm camera. I was searching for a small and fast zoom lens and this lens seemed to be a perfect match for my needs. Moreover, I got the impression that it is a pretty sharp lens compared to other older Angenieux zooms from that era and that I had a pretty good reputation back then. Especially the later version called "HEIC" with better coatings. I'm pretty sure that the one I bought is one of those as it has a late serial number and rainbow colored reflections in the front element. Anyway. Did a small unscientific test and was somewhat disappointed with it's performance. Obviously I didn't expect it to be tack sharp wide open but it is really soft on all apertures below 4. Also it seems to be softer in the left side compared to the right side. I just have this feeling that something is wrong with it and that it might need to be serviced. Haven't ever had a lens serviced so I'm not sure how much the optical performance can be improved or if it's mainly mechanical functions thats possible to improve? Am I having unrealistically high expectations to this, old lens or do you think it would be possible to improve it's optical perfomance by getting it serviced?

The lens has no scratches or fungus, but a tiny little bit of internal dust. Shot the test on a FS7 in 2K center crop mode.

Thomas Dyrholm · June 4, 2022

Thomas Dyrholm · June 4, 2022

Thomas Dyrholm · June 4, 2022

Thomas Dyrholm · June 4, 2022

Eric Eader · June 5, 2022

Thomas,

In a way, you have answered your own question: yes, ideally it should be serviced. It is old. It appears to me to lack contrast, and is soft at the bottom (especially right corner as shown), but maybe the target is not pure black and white. Since you are in Denmark I don't know to whom you should turn for that tune-up; but if you can afford it, make an appointment and take it to London (along with your camera), for a quick check, (proper flange depth) and expect to leave the lens for CLA. Others here will hopefully know the perfect facility and chime in.

Eric

Dom Jaeger · June 5, 2022

The 9.5-57 is generally regarded as the best of the early Angenieux zooms in large part because Angenieux reduced the zoom range to make it easier to optimise. But it’s still an old zoom, first released in 1971, so don’t expect it to perform like a prime, especially at wide apertures. And even if it’s a later serial number, from the 80s, that’s still a long time for wear to potentially occur.

While I generally always recommend having older cine gear serviced, sometimes it’s not going to solve a problem, particularly if wear is involved and parts are not available. And if the equipment in question is not worth much to begin with, it makes it even less worthwhile. Setting the back-focus (which is a relatively quick procedure) will ensure that the lens is parfocal, so that you can focus by eye at the long end and it should stay in focus as you zoom out. But it won’t help make the image sharper if you have set the zoom to 50mm and focussed by eye.

It looks like there is some decentration in your lens, which is what causes one corner to be softer than another. On modern Angenieux zooms there are a number of adjustments available to centre optical groups, but these older zooms didn’t really have much adjustment like that available. I suspect there is some wear in the zoom mechanics, causing elements to slightly cock or drift off-centre. A clean and relube may help, but probably not much. And unfortunately you won’t easily find spare parts for lenses this old. You may find that zooming from one direction produces a sharper image than from the other, a sure indication of wear. Sometimes new followers can be manufactured, but this takes time, expertise and money.

The lack of contrast could be coating damage, or internal fog, or just how an older Angenieux zoom looks. I find most of them to look a bit low con, although the HEC coating was definitely an improvement. Again, it’s unlikely a service can help unless it is something that can be cleaned off, like fog either side of the iris or fungus, but you should be able to notice this with a strong light shining through. Again, for more money you can have elements re-coated, or doublets re-glued, but the cost is many hundreds of euros per element.

A full overhaul (cleaning all optics, relubing the zoom and focus, etc) will easily cost half the price of another zoom, or more if you are patient and wait for a more reasonably priced one than the buy it now offers on eBay. So you may be better off selling this one and buying another. I don’t think a standard 16 zoom like this should be more than $600 IMHO, even the HEC ones. If you buy one from a reputable seller like Visual Products, who will have serviced and checked it and offer a warranty period, then $1000 is reasonable.

You could email Visual Products and ask them their thoughts on overhauling your zoom, I think they will give you an honest opinion. Not sure who does this sort of work in Europe.

Thomas Dyrholm · June 6, 2022

Thanks for your input Dom and Eric! Those frame grabs are really low quality so it's probably difficult to tell the difference (why is there a file size limit of only 300kb pr attached file in here???) but It seems like you get what I mean. I cant't remember the exact price I paid but I think it was around $500 so that was probably a fair price.

Eric, what is the name of the place in London you are referring to? And will they be able to service both the lens and the camera? The camera is by the way in pristine condition and works really well but would be nice to have it checked.

And Dom, since you are saying that a lens like this shouldn't cost more than $600 and that a full overhaul would probably be half the prize of another lens, are we talking around $300 dollars for full overhaul? That's actually a lot less than what I thought. I will try and conctact Visual Products and hear what they think.

And to everybody else: if you know of other places, preferably in EU, that will do the overhaul for a reasonable price please let me know.

Dom Jaeger · June 8, 2022

On 6/6/2022 at 4:55 PM, Thomas Dyrholm said:

Dom, since you are saying that a lens like this shouldn't cost more than $600 and that a full overhaul would probably be half the prize of another lens, are we talking around $300 dollars for full overhaul? That's actually a lot less than what I thought. I will try and conctact Visual Products and hear what they think.

No, an overhaul would be at least twice that, and I'm going off my own pretty cheap rates. I was basing my comment on buy it now Ebay prices for this lens, which can be over $1000. An overhaul could easily be more than the cost of a new lens if you pay what they're actually worth.

Eric Eader · June 8, 2022

Thomas,

It pains me to say: I don't know. I mentioned London because it is a major production hub and, without looking at a map, I thought it would be closest to you. Angenieux and Arri were a popular combination back in the day especially in Great Britain. There may be other places capable of servicing both lens and camera in France or Germany.

Those posters who live closer to you, hopefully, will point out their choices for having them serviced.

Apologies for not helping more.

Eric