COOKE S2 / S3 SPEED PANCHRO T2.3

COOKE S2-S3 HIRE

COOKE S2 - S3 SPEED PANCHRO RENTAL

The Cooke S2-S3 Speed Panchro T2.3 rental/hire lenses are one of the most charming vintage lenses available nowadays. When they first came out, they were a real game-changer in the high-end film lens market; the reason is that they were, by far, the fastest lenses available back then. Despite their age, they still give outstanding performances when used with today's super35 digital sensors. The Speed Panchro S2-S3 T2.3 lenses are a combination of various Panchro lens series and designs that evolved throughout the years. The original Speed Panchro S2's optical performance was improved, and the result was the launching of the 100mm T2.8; four years later, the Speed Panchro S2 152mm T3.7 lens came. After that, the Speed Panchro S2 set was completed with the S3 lenses: improved wide-angle lenses with no vignette in a 35mm sensor format, the 18mm and the 25mm.

The Speed Panchro S2-S3 full set is composed by 8 lenses and covers a range from 18mm to 152mm. An 80mm front diameter is kept throughout the whole set, except the 152mm (with a 110mm front diameter). The T2.3 aperture is constant up to 75mm, the 100mm has a T2.8 and the 152mm a T3.7. The British branded Speed Panchro S2-S3 T2.3 lenses set an example for future designs and image looks. Their smooth image look and warm color tones are the ideal choice for portraits. They react nicely to direct light entrance and deliver low contrast. They don't have noticeable problems with chromatic or geometric aberration.

One of the differences between The Speed Panchro S2-S3 T2.3 lenses and the new Cooke lens series is performance in maximum iris aperture. The Speed Panchro were designed to be used somewhere around T4, so it's not recommendable to use them wide open, because they tend to lose image definition. Lately, several rehousing of these lenses have been made to add different features. 'PS Technik' rehoused lenses are lighter and more compact (with an 80mm front diameter), and 'True Lens Services' created a similar to the original S4 lens set (110mm front diameter).

Despite their great success, the British brand stopped producing prime lenses, and for the next 30 years, they just assembled zoom lenses. In 1998, Cooke launched an S4 lens set with several improvements, of which we will highlight the T2 iris aperture.

Panchro Speed S2-S3 T2.3 Technical specifications