Enna München Tele-Ennalyt 240mm f4.5 - A rare German lens? - Lens review

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As my regular followers will know, I take my time to review a lens, using it in different situations and environments and getting familiar with it, and that usually means one or two months, up to one or two years, at times.

Yet, for this lens it only took me a few days and not because I'm getting better at it.

I had never heard about this brand before and there is not much information about it on the internet, but in summary Enna was a small German manufacturer active from 1920 to 1992, making lenses both under their own name and for other brands like Porst.
Apparently they also made a couple of interesting things like the world's fastest 35mm in 1958 and the first German designed tele zoom in 1961.

Enna München Tele-Ennalyt 240mm f4.5

The body is made of metal and weighs 300 grams. It is 13cm long when focused to infinity and 15,4cm when fully extended.
When focusing the whole barrel turns 360 degrees, meaning that the 52mm front element turns as well. Minimum focusing distance is somewhere between 2.8 and 3 meters.
The iris has ten blades, the aperture has a soft click and it goes from f4.5 to f22.
The mount is M42

Overall, for being a 240mm, this lens is pretty small, lightweight and it balances well even on smaller mirrorless bodies, so you can carry it and use it for longer without getting tired.

But, basically, that's the only strength of this lens.

Sharpness is just not there. Images are really soft wide open, even in the center, but it gets better around f8. Same goes for halation and blooming.

enna munchen sharpness test
Sharpness at f4.5 and at f8

Although backgrounds can be easily annihilated and rendered into a mush of soft colors, boke balls have onion rings and a lot of chromatic aberration, turning to cat's eyes towards the edges but maintaining a round shape in the center thanks to the ten blades in the iris.

enna munchen bokeh
Boke and CA

Talking about chromatic aberrations, it is... odd. I found it to be almost always present, but somewhat organic, which makes it a bit more bearable.

Flaring is an issue and it can easily lead to completely washed out images.

So what's my final verdict on this lens?
Well, it's an artistic choice.
It is not good by any means, but it also had a distinctive look and can lend itself to some creative use.
In my opinion it's a specialized tool, with a limited range of use, so I cannot recommend buying it unless you are specifically after that look.

 As always, let me know your experience with this lens, if you have any question feel free to ask in the comments below and don’t forget to check the full video for all the samples.




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