08 NEWS INTERVIEW
LARGING THE COOKE LOOK Cooke Optics and MD Les Zellan saw the large-format cinematography world coming long before we saw the new cameras
Def: How and why did you develop the Cooke S7i range of lenses for large-format cameras? LZ: We saw the large-format camera world coming and decided to produce some lenses just for that market even before the cameras were there. We jumped in with the S7s which are specifically designed for this new and emerging market. The reception to them has been huge to the point that we can’t keep up with demand. But to be honest that’s the same across the entire Cooke range I’m happy to
not an engineer, physicist or optical designer so I’ll go over to the UK and sit down with the team there and say ‘OK, let’s do a set of large- format lenses’. That’s pretty much our process. You have to ask yourself, why are people using all this old glass like the Super Baltars and our old Speed Panchros? Why are people shooting so much anamorphic now? We’ve also just released a modern version of the Speed Panchros called the Panchro Classics. The reason we do all that is for the most part digital is
say. We’ve still got back orders on S4s which we introduced 20 years ago. Def: How do you start designing a new range of lenses? Do you walk into the factory and say, ‘I want a large-format lens range which have to be fast and has to cover this size image circle’? How does it start? LZ: You have pretty much nailed it there! The reality is that me and the sales guys are continuously talking to people that use the products. I’m
ABOVE The ‘Cooke Look’ is the number one requirement for lenses coming out of the Cooke factory.
DEFINITION MARCH 2018
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