Longer Focal Length Plus a T2.8 Aperture Makes a Workhorse B-Camera Lens

Angenieux scored a key endorsement for its new T2.8 Optimo 45-120mm S35mm zoom lens, with DP Rodney Charters saying he’s embraced it for aggressive handheld coverage with the B camera on his current show, Showtime’s Shameless.
“We’re very confined with lots of people on set, lots of kids and lots of movement,” Charters said in a prepared statement. “Because of this, we found we were often putting on longer primes to get a better close-up on the B camera. The [Angenieux 28-76 zoom] just wasn’t long enough.”

Charters wrangled a prototype of the longer, 4.3-pound zoom from Angeniuex shortly after its introduction at NAB this year. “It hasn’t been off the B camera since we got it,” he said. “It’s fantastic because it’s wide enough to be a B-camera coverage lens. Much more exciting, though, is the fact that it pushes through to 120 for a 2.8 lens. It’s very sharp and proving to be a perfect device for our show.”

Showing how creative technique follows on the heels of the technology available, Charters further described the way that new, short zoom lenses from Angenieux with 15-40mm and 28-76mm focal lengths allowed him to apply his experience from 16mm documentaries to 24, a show that often demanded longer lenses.

He uses the same 15-40mm lens on Shameless, along with a 45-120mm counterpart for longer shots. “I think you could get away with those two lenses and a 2x extender and it would be perfectly OK for a show,” he ventures. “For the style of shooting where everything is handheld, like the 24s and Entourages and our kind of show, this [45-120mm] is the lens. There really is no other.”

For more information: www.angenieux.com.