Looking for a cinema zoom that can handle pretty much anything you throw at it? There’s a very good chance you’ve encountered Angénieux. The French company has been making professional cinema lenses for decades. And the Angénieux EZ series is one of the reasons the brand became particularly interesting to smaller productions.

Productions ranging from independent films to some of the biggest in the industry have used Angénieux lenses. With the EZ series, you get genuine Angénieux engineering and cinema functionality without immediately entering the price category of the company’s top-end zooms. For a smaller production, that puts a real Angénieux zoom within reach.

And we carry both the EZ-1 and the EZ-2. Below, I’ll cover what each lens does, what makes the series stand out, and how I’d choose between them.

Angénieux EZ-1: The Standard Zoom

The EZ-1 is essentially your standard workhorse zoom. In its Super 35 configuration, it covers 30-90mm at T2. With the full-frame/VistaVision rear optical group, it becomes 45-135mm at T3.

New to T-stops? They tell you how much light actually makes it through the glass to the sensor. A lower number means more light. So in the Super 35 configuration, the EZ-1 is the brighter of its two configurations.

The EZ-1’s range makes it extremely useful for interviews, narrative work, documentary, commercials and general production. A zoom like this lets you go from a looser frame to a tighter one without moving the camera. On an interview, for example, you can change the framing between questions without stopping to reposition the tripod.

It’s not a tiny lens. But at roughly 2.1kg (4.6 lbs), it’s still surprisingly manageable for a professional cinema zoom.

EZ-2: The Wide Zoom

The Angénieux EZ-2 is the one you reach for when you need to go wider. In Super 35, it covers 15-40mm at T2. In full-frame/VistaVision, it covers 22-60mm at T3.

And that is a really useful range. On Super 35, 15mm is genuinely wide, which means you can show a whole space even when there’s no room to back the camera up. Put that on a documentary rig, a gimbal or a handheld camera and suddenly you have a lot of options.

That matters when you’re moving with the action. On a gimbal or a handheld rig, a wide zoom lets you stay close to your subject and still show the space around them. And because it’s a zoom, you can adjust the framing without swapping lenses.

The full-frame 22-60mm configuration is arguably even more versatile for modern full-frame cinema cameras. So if your production is shooting on one of those cameras, the EZ-2 has a configuration built for it.

The Cool Part: They’re Interchangeable

One of the biggest advantages of the Angénieux EZ series is the interchangeable rear optical block. That means you can configure the lenses for Super 35 or full-frame/VistaVision coverage. The EZ-1 and EZ-2 each have dedicated S35 and FF/VV configurations.

What Super 35 and Full-Frame Coverage Mean

Coverage comes down to sensor size. Super 35 is the smaller format, while full frame and VistaVision are larger. Either way, a lens has to project an image big enough to cover the sensor behind it.

Swapping the rear optical block enlarges that image so it covers the bigger sensor. That’s why the numbers change between configurations. The focal range gets longer, and the lens goes from T2 to T3.

One Lens Design Across Camera Platforms

Interchangeable rear optics are incredibly useful in a rental environment because one lens design can work across different camera platforms. A production shooting Super 35 and a production shooting full frame can both work with the same lenses, each set up for its own format.

And with compatible mounts, you can configure the EZ series for systems including PL, Canon EF, Sony E and Canon RF, depending on the configuration. The mount is the connection between the lens and the camera body, and different camera systems use different mounts. Those mount options are a big part of that flexibility.

Why Zooms Like This Are So Useful

This is where I think the Angénieux EZ lenses really shine. A lot of productions don’t have the luxury of stopping every few minutes to swap lenses. Documentaries certainly don’t, and reality productions definitely don’t.

Think about what a lens swap involves. The shot stops, the camera crew takes one lens off and mounts another, and everything has to be ready again before you roll. On a documentary or reality shoot, the moment you were filming may be over by then.

Now say you’re filming something like an event, commercial or corporate production. Being able to go from wide to tight without changing the lens can be incredibly valuable. You get the wide shot and the tight shot from the same spot, without breaking to change glass.

Internal Focusing and Zooming

The EZ series also uses internal focusing and zooming, so the physical length of the lens remains constant while you zoom and focus. That’s great for matte boxes, camera builds and especially certain gimbal or remote-head applications.

A matte box sits right in front of the lens, so a lens that grows and shrinks as you work can throw off that setup. On a gimbal or a remote head, you balance the rig around the camera and lens. A lens that changes length shifts that balance. When the length stays put, your build stays the way you set it up.

They’re Not Just “Budget” Lenses

This is probably my favorite thing about the Angénieux EZ series. They’re often talked about as a more affordable alternative to high-end Angénieux zooms, and that’s true. But I wouldn’t describe them as cheap lenses.

They’re professional cinema lenses, and there’s a difference. More affordable describes the price. Professional describes the build and how the lens behaves on set.

You get proper cinema mechanics, internal focusing, consistent gearing and a fast aperture throughout the zoom range. Gearing refers to the teeth on the focus, zoom and iris rings, which let a follow focus or a lens motor drive them precisely. The S35 versions of both the EZ-1 and EZ-2 are T2, while their full-frame versions are T3.

Constant Aperture and Minimal Ramping

And the EZ-1 and EZ-2 have no ramping because the aperture remains constant throughout their respective zoom ranges. Ramping is when a zoom lens lets in less light as you zoom toward the long end of its range. When the aperture holds steady, your exposure holds steady too, so you’re not chasing it every time you change focal length.

Angénieux EZ-1 vs. EZ-2

If you’re trying to decide between them, it’s pretty simple:

• EZ-1: 30-90mm T2 on S35 / 45-135mm T3 on FF
• EZ-2: 15-40mm T2 on S35 / 22-60mm T3 on FF

If I could only have one, I’d probably take the EZ-1 for general-purpose work. Its range covers the everyday jobs I mentioned earlier, from interviews to commercials. But what if you’re shooting documentary, interiors, vehicles, gimbals or anything where you might suddenly need a really wide shot? Then the EZ-2 is fantastic.

Interiors and vehicles show why. In a tight room or inside a car, you usually can’t back the camera up to fit more into the frame. The wide end of the EZ-2 handles that for you. Honestly, having both is even better, since together they take you from genuinely wide to tight.

Why We Carry Them

The Angénieux EZ-1 and EZ-2 are exactly the type of lenses that make sense in a rental inventory. They’re professional enough for serious productions but versatile enough that you don’t need a $100,000 lens package to justify bringing them along.

In other words, they don’t only belong on the biggest jobs. They’re useful on everything from smaller independent productions to larger commercial and narrative jobs. That’s a pretty good combination.

My Verdict

The Angénieux EZ series isn’t trying to be the most exotic lens in the world. And that’s exactly why I like it. They’re workhorse cinema zooms that give you excellent optical performance, professional mechanics, interchangeable format options and extremely useful focal ranges.

If you need to move quickly and can’t afford to miss the shot while someone swaps lenses, a good cinema zoom is worth its weight in gold. And these are some very good cinema zooms.

Let’s Make Something

We use the lenses and cameras we rent on real productions, so we can help you choose what your shoot actually needs, and just as importantly, what it doesn’t. Our camera and lens rentals are available individually or packaged around your shoot, and we can add experienced DPs, camera operators and ACs when you need people as well as glass. For a team that takes the project from planning through post, our video production services cover that too.

From developing the look before you shoot to the final frame, our production services are built around your project, and our work spans documentaries, commercials and branded content. Agape Media Group is a small, owner-led production company based in South Florida, so you work directly with the people responsible for your project. Tell us what you’re shooting, request a quote or call 954-249-0702, and we’ll help you put the right lens package together.