Cooke’s SP3 Lenses Bring Vintage ‘Cooke Look’ to Modern Cameras
Popular high-end cinema lens maker Cooke Optics has announced the SP3 prime lens series for mirrorless cameras, promising to deliver a cinematic look to the modern videography market.
The SP3 range of full-frame prime lenses comprises five focal lengths, with each prime lens delivering a T2.4 aperture. Each lens also features a choice of user-changeable mounts without compromising what Cooke calls a “small, lightweight yet robust construction.”
The Cooke Optics SP3 range includes 25mm, 32mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm focal lengths. Each lens has Sony E-mount hardware installed, although RF-mount versions will be available soon. Early adopters can receive a set of RF mounts at no cost. Cooke also says that L-Mount is available now as an accessory part, and M-Mount parts will be available next year.
“SP” stands for “Speed Panchro,” a legendary name in cinema lenses. The original Cooke Speed Panchro lenses remain highly sought after by filmmakers, and the lenses have profoundly impacted cinema.
“The imaging market has long been viewed as ‘videography’ and ‘cinematography,’ with their associated differences particularly evident in budgets and hardware. However, these boundaries are now blurring with vast improvements in the quality of ‘mid-market’ camera performance and consequently the creative optical possibilities and ambitions in this area are widening. This ‘democratization’ means that we can now offer truly cinematic glass to the traditional pro-video market at an accessible price point and with flexibility of camera mounts, enabling more directors of photography to enhance the narrative of their stories,” says Tim Pugh, Chief Executive Officer, Cooke Optics.
The new SP3 series channels the original Speed Panchro spirit but features a novel design Cooke Optics says is optimized “optically and mechanically” for mirrorless cameras. The company promises that its new primes deliver outstanding resolution but with the characteristic fall-off of the original SP lenses.
“[The SP3 series] offers outstanding definition and resolution yet features fall-off towards the edge of frame, which is a key factor in the famous cinematic look achieved by the legendary Speed Panchro lenses together with the trademark dimensionality and contrast performance that renders faces with remarkable skin tone and character, known as The Cooke Look. The SP3s also feature specialized cinematic optical coatings that ensure control of excessive flare,” explains Cooke Optics.
The SP3s are also some of Cooke’s lightest lenses yet. Depending on their focal length and mount, the lenses weigh between 1.1 pounds (500 grams) and 1.52 pounds (690g). Cooke Optics says the lenses will work well on gimbals and drones.
Each lens includes a dual focus scale, and the manual lenses’ focus and iris mechanics are aligned across the set, ensuring that users can swap between lenses without rearranging focus and aperture motors.
The Cooke Optics SP3 range will be available starting around the middle of this month. A single lens costs $4,500, while the complete set of five lenses will be bundled alongside a heavy-duty case for $21,375.
For complete details on the exciting new Cooke SP3 lenses, visit Cooke Optics’ website.
Image credits: Cooke Optics
