Kinoptik Tegea lens series featuring specialized coatings for high-contrast imagery and warm color rendition.
Technical Details
The Tegea series comprised four focal lengths: 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm, all with a maximum aperture of T2.8. The optical design was based on an 8-element system with two special cylindrical front lenses for anamorphic compression. The lenses weighed between 1.8kg (40mm) and 2.4kg (100mm) and used a proprietary Kinoptik bayonet mount. The minimum focus distance was 1.2 meters for all focal lengths. Characteristic features were the pronounced horizontal lens flares and slight distortion in close-ups, which lent a specific aesthetic to the image look.
History & Development
Kinoptik developed the Tegea series in 1954 as a French response to the American Bausch & Lomb Super CinemaScope lenses. Pierre Angénieux, then still working at Kinoptik, led the optical development. The first Tegea lenses were used in Jean Renoir's "French Cancan" in 1955. By 1963, Kinoptik had produced approximately 800 Tegea sets before the series was discontinued in favor of the improved Kinoptik Apochromat line. Today, surviving Tegea lenses are considered sought-after vintage lenses for cinematographers seeking the characteristic 1950s CinemaScope look.
Practical Use in Film
French New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard used Tegea lenses for films like "Breathless" (1960) to achieve widescreen aesthetics despite low budgets. The 75mm focal length established itself as the standard for dialogue scenes, while the 40mm was used for wide shots. A typical workflow required special anamorphic viewfinders and precise focusing, as the shallow depth of field at T2.8 allowed little tolerance. Disadvantages included the high weight and complex focus pulling during camera movements.
Comparison & Alternatives
In contrast to the sharper American Bausch & Lomb lenses, Tegea lenses exhibited softer image rendering and stronger chromatic aberrations. Modern alternatives like Hawk V-Plus or Cooke Anamorphic/i offer significantly better optical correction but do not achieve the specific vintage character of the Tegea series. For productions aiming for an authentic 1950s CinemaScope look, restored Tegea lenses remain the first choice, while contemporary anamorphic lenses are preferred for technically demanding projects.