Cooke to launch anamorphic lenses for large format cameras

Cooke is adding to its anamorphic lens line-up with a new range designed specially for large format productions.

The Anamorphic/i Full Frame Plus range will launch at IBC2018, with a 50mm focal length lens available to view on the Cooke stand.

This addition to Cooke’s Anamorphic/i range has been designed to meet the growing appetite for large format production, while applying the popular anamorphic characteristics including flare and oval bokeh.

The range, featuring a T2.3 stop, will offer 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm, 135mm and 180mm lenses; the 50mm will be the first in production, with the rest following over the next 12 months.

The image circle will cover a full 24x36 still size sensor, with a 1.8 squeeze..

Cooke Optics chairman Les Zellan said: “As soon as we saw the enthusiastic reception for the S7/i Full Frame Plus lenses, we knew the next logical step was to give full frame an anamorphic option.”

Cooke said he believed the 1.8 squeeze of the range gives the best results for full frame anamorphic. “At 2x you would lose too many pixels, and at 1.6x (the correct ratio to use every pixel) you will not get enough of the anamorphic character. Our solution at 1.8x gives the image a greater anamorphic feel at the aspect ratio of 2.40:1 whilst capturing 90% of the pixels, therefore keeping this format well within industry resolution standards. However, because these are Full Frame Plus lenses designed to cover the full still frame of 24x36, you can elect to use 100% of the pixels which will result in an aspect ratio of 2.70:1.”

At IBC 2018 Cooke will also present the Panchro/i Classic 65mm Macro and 21mm lenses for the first time, as well as various lenses from the S7/i, miniS4/i, Anamorphic/i and Anamorphic/i SF families.