The Cooke S4 Prime Lenses were designed and developed in close technical collaboration with Clairmont Camera and Otto Nemenz in Hollywood. They are colour-matched and compatible with Cooke's 18-100mm T3.0 and 25-250mm T3.7 zoom lenses. The S4 lenses represent a major advance in fixed focal length lenses for 35mm format professional cinematography.
Cooke Awards
1998 - Cinec Award for Technical Excellence, Germany
1999 - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Engineering Award for Optical and Mechanical Design
2000 - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development
2001 - Two Queen's Awards for Enterprise - International Trade and Innovation, England
2001 - Winner, Exporter of the Year, 2001 International Business Award, Export Times and Trade Partners UK
2001 - Winner, Product Innovation, 2001 International Business Award, Export Times and Trade Partners UK
Optical Design: The optics are designed to give maximum performance at full aperture with superior control of flare, distortion and spherical aberration.
/i Electronics: The S4/i system is designed for use with LDS equipped cameras and for use with any professional film camera -- 16mm or 35mm -- using a /i Lens Display unit, provided by Cinematography Electronics. All new Cooke S4 lenses incorporate /i technology.
/i dataLink: to save considerable time and money in post.
Colour Balance: All Cooke S4 prime lenses are colour balanced to a specification within parameters approved by Kodak.
T2 Aperture: All Cooke S4 primes have a true T2 aperture and cover Super 35mm format.
Index Marks: Every index mark is labelled. More detailed markings allow for more detailed focus control.
Focus Movement: Our Academy Award® winning cam-style focus movement coupled with the added benefit of a large lens barrel diameter, has allowed for an increased number of focus markings, particularly at close focus. Spherical aberration has been controlled throughout the range of focal lengths to eliminate compensation of changes in back focus with aperture. A four-point contact bearing provides a smooth positive backlash-free movement.
Camera Mounts: Arriflex PL Mount
Focus Scaling:Â Large, clear numerals on both sides of the focus barrel benefit the focus puller when shooting under difficult lighting conditions.
Compatibility: All Cooke S4 primes have a common fixed front diameter of 110mm, with a focus drive gear of 140T x 0.8 mod and an iris drive gear of 114T x 0.8
External Finish: A scratch resistant PTFE hard anodised finish is provided on all Cooke lenses, providing a durable, hard-wearing surface to meet the most demanding environmental conditions.
Iris: A new eight-leaf linear module iris assembly is fitted into the Cooke S4 primes with an aperture range of T2 to T22.
Weight/Size Ratio: The lenses are designed for all shooting applications, including handheld and Steadicam, providing comfortable balance ratio with the latest compact cameras.
Reliability and Service: The Cooke S4 prime lenses are designed to meet a market requirement for fully reliable performance with a minimum of downtime.
Cooke /i Technology: Using a Metadata Capture and Sharing Workflow
With schedules tighter than ever and demands for higher image quality, the need for production and post to work closely together has never been more important. A new protocol is improving efficiency and quality across the entire workflow, saving significant time and cost -- /i Technology from Cooke Optics.
/i enables film and digital cameras to automatically record key lens and camera data for every frame shot and provide it to post-production teams digitally. It streamlines production and post, saves time and cost, and eliminates guesswork while enabling greater creative freedom.Â
Capture: Use any PL mounted camera* – digital or film – to capture focus, zoom and iris settings of each take, synced to timecode. No manual data recording, no errors.
Record:Â /i records the information (directly into the camera or via /i dataLink*) for every frame at any frame rate up to 60 fps, film or digital, and stores it as metadata.
Share:Â Metadata is passed through to post-production** to improve VFX creation and DI calibration.
Improve Accuracy & Speed:Â Artists create visual effects and 3D models that are more accurate, with much greater speed.Â
*Supporting Cameras and Devices:
RED has built-in /i support utilizing contacts in the RED camera lens mount for direct metadata capture.
Aaton has built /i support into the Penelope 2 35mm camera, for direct metadata capture.
Cooke’s /i dataLink device is a small box that mounts easily to any camera to record lens data from any /i enabled lens, records it on an SD card, and stores settings as metadata for post-production.
/i is also supported by devices from
•ARRI
•Cinematography Electronics
•Preston Cinema Systems
•CMotionÂ
•Service Vision
•Mark Roberts Motion Control
Supporting lenses:
Cooke S4/i Prime Lenses
Cooke S4/i 15-40mm CXX T2.0 ZoomÂ
NEW! Cooke RED Set
RED 18-50mm Zoom
RED 50-150mm ZoomÂ
**Supporting Software:Â
Avid editing systems take lens metadata captured with /i and pass it through to VFX. Stay tuned for news of additional editing system support. The Pixel Farm’s PF Track tracking software fully supports /i, synching lens data with 3D camera data.