Loading cart...
Cooke Varotal/i Zooms: Cooke Look in Full Frame
- Author: Sam Jorgensen
Cooke & Cine Visuals Present: Cooke Varotal/i FF Zooms
Cinematic Heritage
In the 1970s, parfocal mechanics allowed zoom lenses to maintain the same focus, throughout the focal range. Previously, zoom lenses were used in still photography for speed in making frames, so the need for maintaining focus was not as necessary. However, optical technicians saw an opportunity for greater efficiency on film sets without having to adjust focus. Though developed at Angenieux, Cooke quickly took this innovation and adopted it, embedding their iconic Cooke Look. The Cooke Look is well-known. Not only does Cooke provide excellent rendering in their glass and image quality, they continually outfit impressive designs in their lenses. In this time of the early 1970s, the original Cooke Varotal Zoom series of lenses would be released. These lenses would become widely popular. Based on prime optical designs already beloved in the time such as the Cooke Speed Panchros, their ability to be molded into a zoom was welcome. For its day, the mechanical design was incredibly innovative, efficient, and ergonomic making them not only a key lens for narrative film productions but also greatly used broadcast scenarios.
In November of 2021, Cooke revived the Varotal series. Instead of a simple reworking of old glass, Cooke began work from the ground up bringing these lenses into the modern world. Though taking inspiration from the original Varotal series, the Varotal/i FF Zooms have the S7/i and S8/i as their base optical blueprint. In an ever-growing Full Frame digital filmmaking world, Cooke saw a need and decided to fill it. The new Varotal/i FF Zooms are designed to cover Full Frame and bring the Cooke Look to Full Frame zooms.
Image Fidelity & Focus
Gentle focus fall-off and refined optical control give the Cooke Varotal/i FF Zooms a subtle, romantic character rarely associated with modern large-format zooms. Rather than pursuing purely clinical sharpness across the frame, the Varotal/i lenses are designed to preserve the dimensional warmth and natural rendering synonymous with the Cooke Look. Skin tones carry a gentle glow, and faces are rendered with a flattering, organic softness that never feels artificial.
Focus transitions smoothly from center to edge without abrupt separation, creating an immersive, cinematic depth that supports the subject rather than calling attention to the lens. The balance between crisp central detail and graceful edge roll-off gives images a sense of dimensionality and cohesion across the zoom range. Even as focal length shifts, the lenses maintain consistent color, contrast, and character—allowing cinematographers to move fluidly without sacrificing aesthetic continuity.
Engineered for full-frame and large-format capture, the Varotal/i zooms account for the increased resolution and scale of modern sensors while avoiding a sterile or overly sharp digital feel. Their controlled contrast and smooth highlight roll-off help preserve latitude in skin tones and nuanced color transitions, lending richness and depth to the image. In digital workflows especially, this organic rendering subtly tempers excessive sharpness, restoring a sense of texture and humanity to the frame.
In essence, the Cooke Varotal/i FF zooms combine the flexibility of a modern cinema zoom with the expressive warmth of classic Cooke optics—bringing a tactile, cinematic presence to contemporary large-format storytelling while maintaining consistency, balance, and elegance throughout the zoom range.
Handling & Adaptability
Three lenses in the set exist. 19-40mm, 30-95mm, and 85-215mm. These three focal ranges together give a huge focal range for cinematographers to play with when framing. Each of the trio prioritizes a range. The 19-40mm covers wide angles, the 30-95mm covers the normal lenses, and the 85-215mm provides a nice span of telephoto lengths. A practical goal with zooms is maneuverability in finding frames. Time on set is important and with a zoom finding the frame can help prevent lens swaps or other time consuming lens adjustments. Instead of two larger zooms, the kit comes with three focal lengths. With sets of two zooms, the cutting point between wide and telephoto is usually around 50mm, or they cut out the wide angle. Most lens swaps are happening within the normal range of lenses, thus with a cut off at 50mm, much less time is saved as lens swaps may still be frequent. Each zoom prioritizes an aspect of the focal range. Cinematographers can then pick a lens knowing they will be living in a wide, normal, or telephoto range for a shot. Thus, they can find the frame for that shot with any troublesome lens swaps.
Additionally, each lens is greatly streamlined. Both the 30-95mm and 85-215mm weigh 8.08 lbs and measure 10” in length while the 19-40mm weighs 7.7 lbs and measures 8.97” in length. For zooms with the Cooke Look, these are decent sizes and weights that are extremely useful for sticks or dolly shots and even light enough for some handheld and steadicam work. Ergonomic usage on set is also increased for camera assistants with uniform front diameters. Each lens has a front diameter of 114mm, making mattebox and filtration adjustment easy and quick.
Image Circle
In order to cover Full Frame, a lens usually needs to have a minimum of a diagonal image circle of 43.3mm, with some cameras such as the ARRI Alexa Mini LF having an Open Gate diagonal of 44.71mm. Each Cooke Varotal/i FF Zoom in the series has an image circle of 46.3mm, which is more than enough to cover the necessary size for Full Frame. This brings the Cooke Look to a set of extremely user-friendly Full Frame zooms. Thus, the Cooke Varotal/i FF Zooms pair excellently with the ARRI Alexa Mini LF, Sony Venice, RED Raptor, and other Full Frame cameras.
Flare & Bokeh
As opposed to the Cooke S7s that the lenses are based on, flaring in the Varotal/i FF Zooms are more controlled and less intense. While halation is still golden and beautiful, the same optical aberrations are toned down. In the S7s green circles stretch as part of the flares whereas this is mostly absent in the Varotal/i FF Zooms. Bokeh is large and bubbly as is an iconic aspect of the Cooke Look. At the edges of the frame, the swirl of the bokeh turns into rounded triangular crescents that have unique and organic characteristics. They feel alive and whimsical.
These lenses are available for rent at Cine Visuals. For inquiries or testing appointments email info@cinevisuals.com or call (323) 244-2552.