Does anyone know if there are any of the old cooke lenses available for 16mm arri cameras to rent or are they just for 35mm ?
Cheers
Matthew Woolf
London dop
VFG rent both the Cooke S4 and the older Series 3 Lenses, and of course the older 5:1 and 10:1 zooms. If you give them a bit of notice im sure they could dig up an older set. Both the S4's and the Series 3's will fit on the Arri SR3.
Steve, 2nd AC Ireland.
>Both the S4's and the Series 3's will fit on the Arri SR3.
I spoke to a Dp recently and he had just shot a S-16 spot using S4's on an SR3.
Sounds good to me too, but I'm curious-would anyone have reservations about it?
(I recall the recent topic of 35/16 lens resolution) Personal preference, etc.
John Babl Still chasing that 9.5 Optar Miami
Try it, you'll love it.
Cheers,
Rogier Volger Amsterdam
>...Cooke Zoom VaroKinetal10.4-52/T2.8, Super16, is still the best Cinelens . . .
Agreed. For financial reasons, I ended up purchasing a used standard Cooke 10.4-52, and had it upgraded to Super16 with the Optex conversion kit (it becomes approximately an 11mm to 60mm) and even with the kit this is still a very, very excellent piece of glass for 16/S16 work.
IMHO, of course.
Jim Furrer
Director of Photography
Dark Street Films / VGG Systems, Inc. Lakewood, CO USA
>Would someone say that the Cookes that can be used on the S16mm are 35mm >lenses or are they just 16mm lenses
If you're dealing with older Cookes (Kinetals are designed for 16mm) I believe all of them from 12.5mm up will cover S16. The 9mm probably does not.
Jeff "signatory" Kreines
Furthermore I have been told that they are 35mm lenses.
What concerns me is that if they are 35mm lenses - will I have to compensate for that in my framing as I am shooting on s16mm?
Cheers
Matthew Woolf
>Furthermore I have been told that they are 35mm lenses. What concerns me is that >if they are 35mm lenses - will I have to compensate for that in my framing as I am >shooting on s16mm?
Not at all -- it's just that you will need to find a suitable wide angle lens, as the widest is likely going to be an 18mm.
For S16 shooting, you might consider the very common and easy to find Zeiss Superspeeds.
Jeff "signed, just for David" Kreines
The Cooke 9-50 and 10.4-52 CVKs (Cine VaroKinetal) are 16mm lenses. The 9-50 is for standard 16 and the 10.4-52 is for Super-16. Some people have used the 9-50 with a high quality 2x extender for 35mm table top work.
Les Zellan
I know that this is a real basic question but framing on 35m lenses with 16mm should be just the same as on 35mm or not ?
Cheers
Matthew Woolf
A lens is a lens, as long as it covers the format you are shooting.
What you see in the finder is what you are getting. A 50mm designed for 16mm and a 50mm lens designed for IMAX have the same field-of-view WHEN used on the same format camera. For some reason, people have great difficulty with this concept.
The only caveat might be using a zoom on a camera that hasn't had it's lens mount recentered for S16 -- then your zooms will drift off-center slightly.
But, again, a 25mm lens = a 25mm lens when used on the same camera (quality questions excepted).
Jeff "read the archives" Kreines
I own some cookes (SII and SIII series).
I have been testing them in both 16 and 35mm film cameras.
My humble opinion is that a lens that has been designed to render a quality image in a defined format (cine or photo) will always performed better if used under the manufacturer's calculated format.
Recently while at ARRI (Munich) I've asked if an Ultra Prime lens could be used in Super 16. The answer was a typically bavarian one: it was not designed bearing Super 16 in mind (if one could fit the UP to the SR anyhow).
If I'm not wrong the circle of confusion of a 35mm cine lens averages 0.025mm and that of a 16mm lens 0.017mm (sorry can't remember the figures in inches). Simply stated the smaller the format the smaller the circle of confusion needed for that lens to render acceptable images for a given projected (or printed sice) in relation to its viewing distance. For those interested in the trivia, I believe the "Zeiss formula" for calculatig CoC is:
d/1793.
Best regards
Ramiro Civita (ADF) Buenos Aires Argentina
PS: I'm sure Les Zellan from ZGC could answer this one much better than I did, to enlighten us all.
PPS: Just in case, what a beauty is my old 305mm Cooke Portrait series IIA ...
OK...OK..enough is enough!!
Will someone PLEASE mount these damn lenses onto a 16mm camera and shoot a test!!!!!
Cheers, Jeff Barklage, s.o.c.
Calm down easy now!
I did shoot with them in the end and the results were superb !
Hope that clears that little subject up !
Cheers
Matthew Woolf
London DOP
I spoke briefly to a Brazilian DP that shot some car commercials using the S4's/S-16 and he was very pleased w/ the results.
John Babl
Miami
I would suggest, when testing the 16 & 35mm lenses in a 16mm camera (whoever the volunteer may be) to screen booth results in 35mm. Will be glad to hear your opinion.
Best to you all.
Ramiro Civita (ADF) Buenos Aires Argentina
How ironic you would say this today. I was walking by an SR this afternoon that had a Cooke S4 on it. I grabbed a follow focus and some rods and they fit. That was my only concern. I looked through the camera and it looked pretty darn sharp.
Did not shoot a test but there is no real need since the format of the lens will obviously cover the format of the camera?
Shoot to your hearts content. Problem is the widest Cooke is a 14mm. What if you want to go wider, say 7mm?
Tom Jensen
Lens Tech LA,CA
I AC'ed on a spec spot a couple months ago, using S4's on an SR3. The results were stunning - even off the split.
The balance was a bit tricky as they are rather on the heavy side for an SR, especially since when used on a light weight jib as we were doing..
I've only worked with various incarnations of the Zeiss Supers and really liked the more neutral colour rendition.
Cheers
Kim Sargenius
Student Shooter Sydney
S4's & Ultraprimes on SR3's SOP here, used on loads of TV dramas etc.
Just watch out for the viewfinder fouling the iris on the ultras, our 'finders have been modified to prevent this.
My two groats worth.....
Andy Taylor Camera Engineer Arri Media London UK