COOKE EQUIPMENT RENTAL

COOKE - THE COMPANY

• In 1880 the brothers William and Thomas Smithies Taylor moved to the English city of Leicester and opened a business on Slate Street, dedicated to the manufacture of optical tools. They chose that city because of the abundance of coal that fed the steam engines, with which the city was experiencing a true industrial revolution. They contributed to the development of the railway industry and camera lenses. The company was called T.S. and William Taylor.

• They built a lathe and began work on optical engineering. In the year 1881 they made lanterns of brass and mahogany, with lenses hand-polished from blocks of solid optical glass. It was a simple design that attached spotlights, one above the other, illuminated by two gas candle burners.

• But the real moment for the company came when H. Dennis Taylor, optical manager, wanted to eliminate distortion at the outer edge of optics being used in astronomical telescopes. In 1893, Taylor created and patented the Cooke Triplet, a wonderful solution to design problems faced by optical designers in those days. The very next year was when Cooke's first photographic lens under the Cooke brand was sold. The Triplet became the world's most widely used design for intermediate aperture lenses.

COOKE LENSES HIRE

H. DENNIS TAYLOR - COOKE FOUNDER

• Taylor was born in the year 1862 in the English city of Huddersfield. He was at St Peter's School in York, and began to study architecture. But in the year 1880 he dropped out to start working at Thomas Cooke and Sons of York, a company that made lenses for microscopes. He became the optical director and chief designer of that company, but he really became best known thanks to the creation and patent in 1893 of the Triplet Cooke and thanks to this work he won the Duddell Medal and Prize in 1933.

• During his life he married a Portuguese Charlotte Fernandes Barff, with whom he had a daughter and two sons. His son, Edward, followed in his footsteps and also made a name for himself as an eyewear designer. He died in retirement in the English town of Coxwold.

COOKE - CINEMA'S CONTRIBUTIONS

• The first silent Hollywood movies were made with an evolution of the Triplet Cooke lens, the Speed Panchro. The film "Modern Times" by the great Charlie Chaplin was made with these optics. Later, Martin Scorsese's cinematographer Robert Richardson continued to use the Cooke.

• These lenses could withstand the harshest climatic and atmospheric conditions without any problems, which is why they were chosen for many expeditions, among them we can name the Imperial Transantarctic Expedition whose director was Sir Ernest Shackleton (1914-16). Official expedition photographer Frank Hurley chose a Graflex camera equipped with a Cooke 12-inch f 3.5 lens and 6 3/4 x 8 1/2-inch and 4 3/4 x 6 1/2-inch glass negatives. to capture your images.

• Inventor Horace Lee adapted his f/2.0 optical design into a cine optic that combined a wide aperture with an angular field of view and definition previously impossible with much smaller apertures. From that moment on the Cooke Speed Panchro was the most widely used optic in Hollywood between 1920 and 1960 and was used in all major films, such as "Casablanca" with the Oscar for best picture in 1944.

• Another great optics designer was Gordon H. who created the Cooke Varotal 20-100mm, T3.1 35mm in 1971. It was the first high quality zoom designed for professional film photography. This lens came with a new design that remains the basis for all Cooke Zoom Lenses that are still manufactured.

• At the turn of the new millennium, the value of metadata was a given for archiving, but it was largely overlooked at the acquisition stage. Recognizing this shortfall, Cooke created a protocol that provides the industry with a means to effortlessly share lens data from acquisition to post-production. The result was /i technology, a system that enables digital film cameras and equipment to record and display key optics data in every frame.

• This new technology is being used in all new Cooke optics, the technology is being consolidated with mixed reality filming. Precise data for each optic feature can be fed into a virtual production workflow to speed production and repeat creative decision making.

RENT COOKE SPHERICAL LENSES

You can consult all our Cooke lenses hire in our optics section or lenses rental. Consult our extensive catalogue of film and TV equipment hire.

Rental Cooke S8/iFF

• It is Cooke's best prime series perfected for film and digital cameras. They have a T1.4 aperture. The Cooke S8/iFF spherical objectives for rent consist of a set of 25mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm and 135mm optics. They use PL mount and have a weight between 2.1Kg and 3.2Kg.

S7/i rental

• It's the perfect design to cover pop-up full-frame cinema camera sensors. These lenses can shoot in 35mm / Super 35mm formats, as well as Vista Vision full frame. It consists of a set of 16mm, 18mm, 21mm, 25mm, 27mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 65mm, 75mm, 100mm and 135mm optics. The S7/i lenses for rent have a weight between 1.75Kg and 2.45Kg.

Rental Cooke S5/i T1.4

• The Cooke S5/i T1.4 objectives for rent are considered to be the top range of the brand, the scale that they have glows in the dark, thus helping focus pullers when working in low light. They have technology i. The set of optics consists of 18mm to 135mm optics with a T1.4 aperture and 270º focus rotation. They have a PL frame and a weight of 2.76Kg to 5.1Kg.

S4/i rental

• Cooke S4/i lenses give good optical and mechanical performance, control of flare, distortion and spherical aberrations at maximum aperture. They feature i-technology. The S4/i lenses for rent, comprise a set of 18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm lenses. With PL mount (LDS) and a weight between 1.5Kg and 4.7Kg.

Rent Cooke S4

• It is a set that goes from 18mm to 100mm and has a T2 aperture, with a PL mount. The weight of the Cooke S4 lenses for rent ranges from 1.5Kg to 2.25Kg.

Rental Cooke Mini S4 T2.8

• They carry everything essential for today's filmmaker, light and small optics that offer the same resolution and optical quality. The Cooke Mini S4 T2.8 rental lenses have a 300-degree focus ring rotation and are color balanced. They have a weight of 1.5Kg and 2.25Kg.

Rental Cooke S2/S3 Speed Panchro T2.3

• It is a vintage set that ranges from 18mm to 100mm and offers a soft, low contrast look. Although manufactured between 1930 and 1954, the S2/S3 Speed Panchro T2.3 rental lenses are perfectly suited to the new digital sensors. They have a PL mount and a focus rotation of 300º.

Rental Cooke S4/i 15-40mm T2

• Cooke S4/i 15-40mm T2 rental lenses are manufactured to maintain sharpness and contrast at their maximum aperture. With easy handling that maintains the aperture and focus position throughout its travel.

Rental Cooke Vatoral 25-250mm MKII T4

• The Cooke Vatoral 25-250mm MKII T4 rental lens is a vintage documentary-style zoom lens. It has a front of 121mm and a weight of 5.21Kg.

Rental Cooke Vatoral 20-100mm T3.1

• The Vatoral 20-100mm T3.1 rental lens was introduced in 1971 and is PL-mounted. Its "Cooke Look" is admired for its unique warmth and softness. This lens is manufactured with an anti-reflective coating that increases shadow definition, light transmission, and reduces ghosting and flare. It has a weight of 5.21KG.

COOKE ANAMORPHIC LENS RENTAL

Rental Cooke Anamorphic/iFF 1.8X

• The Cooke Anamorphic/iFF 1.8X is designed for large format production. It has a focus rotation of 270° and PL mount. It provides a slightly different compression factor and a larger image circle to fully cover Full Frame sensors (Alexa LF, Sony Venice, Red Monstro).

Rent Cooke Anamorphic i

• Cooke Anamorphic i rental objectives are a set of lenses with a 2X anamorphic factor. They have an LDS system with which metadata can be passed from the lens to the camera. They have a PL mount and have a focus rotation of 300º.

Rental Cooke Anamorphic SF

• The initials SF mean "Special Flare" and are a set of focal points designed with a coating that allows improved, natural and sharp flashes with even more creative options. The Anamorphic SF lens for rent has a PL mount and a focal rotation of 300º.

Rental Cooke Anamorphic 35-140mm

• This Cooke lens features an 11-blade diaphragm for a cinematic-looking 2:1 oval bokeh and oval bokeh effect. Made for use with digital cinema cameras covering image formats up to Super 35mm. It has a weight of 10.25Kg.