Angénieux Optimo Primes: Capturing the Essence of the Classic Angénieux Glass

With filmmakers striving to level up their work on set, equipment companies are also keen to keep their arsenal of production tools up-to-date. In doing so, these gear specialists look no further than high-quality pieces that realise both the creative upgrade and efficiency requirements of today’s film production and content creation teams.

Among these tools are the Angénieux Optimo Prime Series. With a compact and lightweight design, as well as a customisable Integrated Optical Palette, the lens set empowers cinematographers to achieve elevated, cinematic results across varying needs.

Jay Huang, cinematography team leader of production/rental house To Go Film Company, tells us why these lenses are proving to be a must-have production tool.

Top-notch Lens and Image Quality

“The Optimo Primes uphold the extremely high level of craftsmanship and signature look known to Angénieux zoom lenses,” said Jay.

Apart from the well-balanced colours, cinematographers love the rich level of details they can achieve using the Optimo Prime lenses. The latest series delivers the signature Angénieux look featuring cinematic images that are neither too strong nor too soft.

“These lenses offer fine details in the focus, and pleasing, gentle focus fall-off. The image quality has always been consistent across the zoom range. As the focus fall-off is deliberately dampened, the lenses deliver a sense of sweetness, providing image consistency when paired with other Angénieux zooms,” he explained.

Indeed, the Optimo Primes are built to integrate seamlessly with the Angénieux Optimo Zooms. Featuring an identical colourimetry across the range from 21mm to 200mm—which also matches that of the Optimo Zooms’.

“From feature films to music videos and commercial advertisements, these full-frame lenses have received very high user experience evaluations,” added Jay.

Capturing Possibilities with a Compact Design

With a unique Integrated Optical Palette (IOP) technology, users can also easily customise their frames by playing around with the internal and rear optical filter, as well as the iris blade unit for a unique bokeh effect.

For a full-frame lens packed with these high-performance optical features, the Optimo Primes are also incredibly lightweight. Cinematographers love its portability and its seamless compatibility with multiple cine equipment.

“The lenses work great with handy stabilisers like the DJI RONIN RS2—complying with bearing capacity, as well as offering a good counterweight and a relatively light overall loading. It is the must-have high-end lens available in the market that can reduce the physical burden of the cinematographer during filming,” he said.

Built for the Present and the Future

For Jay and his team, choosing a lens entails considering different factors, including the brand and how the lenses can effectively meet their customers and cinematographers’ expectations and filming habits, shooting environment, mobility and compatibility with different equipment and special effects, etc.

With full-format productions steadily rising in popularity, the team expects to see more cinematographers scouring the market for the likes of Optimo Primes.

“Full-frame lenses have been trending this year, and we see them further developing and becoming the mainstream production format,” concluded Jay.

Jay and his team look forward to exploring the IOP elements built around the Optimo Primes, as well as trying out the lenses with the new Angénieux Ultra Compact Zoom and different cameras to keep creating more filming possibilities for their customers.

About To Go Film Company

Located in Taipei City, To Go Film Company is heading towards its 5th anniversary. The company is mainly composed of three departments including production/post-production/cinematography and has become an integrated equipment solution provider that offers diversified production and equipment choices to customers. Described the team as “brave” and “not limited to any particular type of production”, To Go Film look forward to providing customers with more diversified choices so that customers can create endless possibilities.

Photo courtesy To Go Film Company

Special thanks to Cine Vision Trading Company Ltd