DPs can try out Cooke’s new Varotal/i, S8/i and other lenses and watch the footage in a dedicated screening room in Toruń’s Old Town. 

Cooke Optics is offering attendees at EnergaCAMERIMAGE the unique opportunity to light and shoot tests with their lenses and view the graded results in a 4K screening room. 

The venerable lens manufacturers, established in 1894, will be based at the historic Hotel 1231 in the heart of Toruń’s Old Town. A ten-minute walk from the festival’s main hub at CKK Jordanki – where Cooke will also have a presence – Hotel 1231’s renovated medieval buildings will host a spacious and controlled environment for cinematographers to conduct in-depth tests. 

An interior shooting set rigged for both day and night lighting will be equipped with a selection of cameras and an array of Cooke lenses including the new S8/i FF primes and Varotal/i FF zooms. Also available to test will be the S7/i and Macro/i full-frame lenses, plus both the full-frame and Super-35 series of Anamorphic/i and Panchro/i Classics. 

After shooting, attendees’ footage will be graded and presented to view in a dedicated 4K screening room on site, allowing every detail of the lenses’ characteristics to be scrutinised. DPs wishing to take advantage of this unique opportunity should contact Carey Duffy, director of product experiences, at marketing@cookeoptics.com

The test environment will be the first chance for many DPs to try out the S8/i FF primes announced in March. At T1.4, the S8/i are a stop faster than their S7/i predecessors and amongst the fastest cinema lenses in their class. Cooke has reduced the size and weight of the lenses and focused on improving the glass’s contrast and thus perceived resolution. 

“The lenses have been designed and produced in a smart way using an all-spherical design which provides an organic, filmic aesthetic to accompany the latest digital film cameras,” says CEO Tim Pugh. 

“The clean, symmetrical and consistent bokeh is a nice aspect to have for a whole range of focal lengths,” adds chief optics advisor Iain Neil. “It’s a filmic look.” 

Currently available in seven lengths from 25 to 135mm, with more on the way, the S8/i provide a larger than full-frame image circle. Cooke’s /i technology provides iris, focus and inertial data as well as shading and distortion maps for seamless visual effects work. 

This technology comes as standard in the Varotal/i series too, now consisting of three full-frame zooms with overlapping focal lengths: 19-40mm, 30-95mm and 85-215mm. The parfocal zooms, consistent at T2.9 throughout their range, are designed to closely match the S8/i FF (at T2.8) and S7/i FF primes.  

The Varotal/i is a modernisation of the original Cooke Varotal which was used on such iconic movies as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The new versions offer minimal breathing, specialised coatings to control flare, and a relatively compact form factor, all contained in the distinctive anodised, scratch-resistant shell that DPs have come to expect from Cooke. 

Both the S8/i and Varotal/i range of course give DPs the famous Cooke Look which naturally emphasises skin tones, adds dimensionality to faces, and produces organic focus fall-off and bokeh. 

For cinematography students, Cooke will also be hosting a daily seminar at Hotel 1231 throughout the week of EnergaCAMERIMAGE. The seminar on the company’s optical philosophy will give students a chance to meet and quiz Cooke engineers and product experts.

Please visit www.cookeoptics.com/camerimage for tickets and up to date details.

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This article is sponsored by Cooke Optics.