Cooke Widens Full-Frame SP3 Series With 18mm T2.4 Cine Prime
Cooke Optics, a legendary name in cinema lenses, announced a six-lens set for its full-frame SP3 cinema primes that includes a new 18mm T2.4 lens, promising to deliver a vintage look on modern mirrorless camera bodies.
Cooke’s new 18mm T2.4 lens is its widest SP3 offering to date, joining existing the 25mm, 32mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm lenses. Every lens in the set features the same fast T2.4 aperture.
Cooke released the original 5-lens set last year, which sought to bring Cooke’s legacy for high-quality cinema glass to the mirrorless camera market. The “SP” in the name SP3 is a reference to Cooke’s legendary Speed Panchro cinema lenses on which the SP3 lenses are based.
Each of the SP3 lenses have solid-yet-compact build, which Cooke calls a “small, lightweight yet robust construction.” The lenses have built-in gears on the manual focus and aperture rings, which are mechanically aligned across the set for easy swapping on a cinema rig or gimbal.
Additionally, the lenses have user-changeable lens mounts. The set comes standard with Sony E-mount, and Canon RF-mounts are available at no cost. Additionally, Cooke added optional Leica L and M mounts earlier this year.
What sets the SP3 lenses apart from others is the specific look they create. Like the Speed Panchros that came before them, there is a distinct fall off on the edges of the frame. Additionally, the SP3s are color-matched to Cooke Panchro and i Classic line, so projects shooting with other Cooke lenses could easily use the SP3s for a B or C cam.
Pricing and Availability
The lens set has a bit of a split personality — catering to mirrorless hybrid shooters who also want uncompromising image quality. Despite their compact design befitting of a Sony FX3 or Canon R5C, which are relatively affordable cinema-oriented mirrorless cameras, the famous ‘Cooke Look’ comes at a premium. A single lens in the set starts at $4,500, which is quite possibly more expensive than the mirrorless body it could be used on. The new 18mm T2.4 goes for $4,970, and the full six-lens kit is available to preorder now for $25,995. The pre-existing five-lens set remains available for $21,375.
Image credits: Cooke
