It wasn’t that long ago that if you wanted proper PL mount cinema prime lenses that covered a full frame sensor your choices were quite limited, but that has started to change. Cooke has today announced the S7/i Full Frame Plus prime lens range that has been designed to cover to the full sensor area (46.31mm image circle) of the RED Weapon 8K.
A certain amount of future proofing
The new Cooke S7/i Full Frame Plus range gives you a certain amount of future proofing and versatility by allowing you to use the lenses on 35mm/Super 35mm sensors, as well as full frame and VistaVision. While the lenses apparently work on the Arri Alexa 65 in the 4.3K Full Frame 1.5 Aspect mode they probably won’t be able to cover the sensor if you are shooing in Full 2.11 OpenGate.
Cooke S7/i primes: Full range of focal lengths available
The new lenses will be available in 18, 25, 32, 40, 50, 75, 100 and 135mm. All Cooke S7/i Primes have a true T2.0 aperture and cover 35/Super 35mm, full frame and beyond. They 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 134T x 0.8. A nine-leaf linear module iris assembly is fitted into the Cooke S7/i lenses. The new lenses are certainly not lightweight with the average weight of an S7/i lens being approximately 3.5kg.
At NAB Cooke will also debut the Panchro/i Classic range and the new front Anamorphic/i zoom lens. The S7/i lenses are scheduled to start shipping in June, but there is currently no indication of pricing. If you are an owner/operator looking for an affordable PL prime lens that covers full frame or VistaVision sensors then Cooke S7/i primes probably aren’t the lenses for you – the range is definitely being targeted at rental houses.
