GEAR
CINE LENS SPECIAL
THE COOKE LOOK
While Zeiss prides itself on clean and natural images, British-based brand Cooke promotes the unique Cooke Look, which is a softer and more vintage feel. It’s beloved by cinematographers, who use them on blockbuster films and big-money TV franchises. Think Breaking Bad , Game of Thrones , The Umbrella Academy and Chernobyl , plus anything as far back as Laurel and Hardy . Cooke, a pioneer of zooms and fast- aperture glass for cinema, has a massive range of optics famed for the filmic look they bring to super-sharp digital cameras. The quality and handmade precision they offer doesn’t come cheap, so realistically they’re a rental option. Away from the anamorphic and zoom lines, the most popular set of Cooke primes is the Panchro /i Classic full-frame series. Lenses cost around £11,640/$14,000, and all Cookes are designed for PL mount. As a reaction to the call for glass to fit mirrorless cameras, Cooke’s latest range is the SP3 prime lens series for full-frame mirrorless cameras, bringing a cinematic look to the videography market. Optically, these are based upon the Speed Panchro series, but instead of simply being smaller versions of the same thing, the lens body
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS The Cooke Look comes to mirrorless and is world-renowned for its unique quality
mount, making them practical for use on gimbals and drones. All the lenses have matching 0.8M gear rings for the focus and iris control, and the shortest-focal-length four are almost the same size although not identical. The 100mm version is longer but consistent control ring placement makes it fast to change lenses when using follow focus systems. The lenses feature a dual focus scale in metric and imperial markings, with a 58mm front filter thread and 64mm front diameter for the smaller four, while the 100mm version has a 77mm thread. Each has a nine-bladed iris for smooth bokeh that’s a lot more rounded than the more jagged look of the Speed Panchros. You can also buy the SP3 lenses individually, costing £3900/$4500, so they are slightly cheaper than the Zeiss Nanos. Different mounts cost £414/$480 each. The minimum focus distance is good, too, reducing in line with focal length. The 100mm version focuses to 663mm/26.1in, while the 75mm is 689mm/27.1in, 50mm is 394mm/15.5in, 32mm is 223mm/8.8in and the 25mm is 139mm/5.5in. SP3 primes offer lots of definition and resolution, yet feature fall-off towards the
is totally different and more in line with super-compact AF primes. The SP3 range includes 25mm, 32mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm focal lengths and comes in Sony E-mount, while your choice of a second set of mounts – available in Canon RF, Leica L and M – comes with each kit. A set of all five lenses is £18,480/$21,375 in a heavy-duty carry case with shims to get a super-precise fit. The case has space to fit the second set of mounts, so they are ideal for Canon RF mount cameras as well as Red’s Komodo and V-Raptor, or Panasonic’s S series and the latest full-frame Blackmagics. All have an aperture range from T2.4-16 and are small and lightweight compared to other Cookes, yet have a solid construction that’s built to last. The SP3s are Cooke’s lightest lenses, weighing in at between 500g/1.1lb and 690g/1.52lb including lens
“Cooke’s latest range is the SP3 prime series for full-frame mirrorless cameras, bringing a cinematic look to the videography market”
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