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Cooke Speed Panchro
Cooke Speed Panchro
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- Cooke Speed Panchro 18mm T2.2
- Cooke Speed Panchro 25mm T2.2
- Cooke Speed Panchro 32mm T2.3
- Cooke Speed Panchro 40mm T2.3
- Cooke Speed Panchro 50mm T2.3
- Cooke Speed Panchro 75mm T2.3
- Cooke Speed Panchro 100mm T2.8
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Cooke Speed Panchro
Prime - Spherical - Super 35
product details
Cooke Speed Panchros are among the most influential cine lenses in history. Originally designed in the 1920s for speed and warmth in the early days of panchromatic film stocks, they became a default standard for Golden Age cinema and much of the 20th Century. Their images are intimate on faces, gentle in contrast, and quietly romantic. In the modern era, True Lens Services (TLS) breathed new life into these classics with industry-standard rehousings, transforming vintage optics into robust, standardized cine shells that hold precise marks, accept contemporary accessories, and survive the rigors of todayโs productions. The result is a best-of-both-worlds tool: vintage soul with modern mechanics. Cine Visuals offers nine focal lengths: 18mm, 25mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm, 152mm, and 203mm. Three unique and rare Tele Panchros: 317mm, 406mm, and 560mm are also available (these three focal lengths are not rehoused by TLS). Combine the Panchros with original Cooke Varotal zooms or the Canon K35 Zoom for a complete spectrum of vintage offerings. These lenses can be rented individually, partially, or as a full set from Cine Visuals.
| Focal Length | |
| T-Stop | |
| Type | |
| Format | |
| Front Diameter | |
| Lens Mount | |
| Metadata | |
| Iris Blades | |
| Image Circle |
| Era / Generation | |
| Contrast & Tonal Character | |
| Sharpness & Resolution | |
| Focus FallโOff / Transition | |
| Iris & Bokeh Quality | |
| Flare & Highlight Behavior | |
| Handling & Ergonomics | |
| Build & Modifications | |
| Cinematic Heritage & Credits |
*Refer to Technical Specifications table. Not the same for all focal lengths.
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Technical Specs Table
T-Stop
Type
Format
Front Diameter
Lens Mount
Metadata
Close Focus (ft)
Close Focus (m)
Weight (lbs)
Weight (kg)
Length (in)
Length (mm)
Iris Blades
Image Circle
Front Filter
Rear Filter
Horizontal Angle of View (Full Frame)
Horizontal Angle of View (S35)
Focus Rotation
T2.2
Spherical
Super 35
110 mm
PL
โ
8"
0.20 m
1.80 lbs
0.82 kg
2.40"
60.96 mm
โ
33 mm
โ
โ
โ
โ
โ
T2.2
Spherical
Super 35
110 mm
PL
โ
8"
0.20 m
1.90 lbs
0.86 kg
2.70"
68.58 mm
โ
33 mm
โ
โ
โ
โ
โ
T2.3
Spherical
Super 35
110 mm
PL
โ
9"
0.23 m
1.80 lbs
0.82 kg
2.70"
68.58 mm
โ
33 mm
โ
โ
โ
โ
โ
T2.3
Spherical
Super 35
110 mm
PL
โ
13"
0.33 m
1.90 lbs
0.86 kg
2.70"
68.58 mm
โ
33 mm
โ
โ
โ
โ
โ
T2.3
Spherical
Super 35
110 mm
PL
โ
15"
0.38 m
2.30 lbs
1.04 kg
3.10"
78.74 mm
โ
33 mm
โ
โ
โ
โ
โ
T2.3
Spherical
Super 35
110 mm
PL
โ
2'4"
0.71 m
2.70 lbs
1.22 kg
3.50"
88.90 mm
โ
33 mm
โ
โ
โ
โ
โ
T2.8
Spherical
Super 35
110 mm
PL
โ
2'
0.61 m
3.60 lbs
1.63 kg
5.75"
146.05 mm
โ
33 mm
โ
โ
โ
โ
โ
Cooke Speed Panchro
Image Fidelity & Focus
Speed Panchros are renowned for their romantic rendering. They are not surgically sharp, especially wide open, but they offer low-to-moderate contrast and a painterly quality that flatters faces and softens digital harshness. Mid-tones are beautifully separated; focus falloff is graceful, with pleasing vignetting at wider apertures. Stopped down a stop or two, the lenses tighten up nicely while retaining their organic micro-contrast. Focus โpopsโ softly: the in-focus plane has presence without a hard wall, then transitions gradually into blur.
Handling & Adaptability
These TLS Panchros are PL mount and play nicely with ARRI, RED, Sony, and film bodies. The rigid chassis tolerates clip-on matte boxes and motor stacks without image shift. Because the mechanics are modern (hard stops, standardized gears), they integrate seamlessly with wireless FIZ systems and metadata-capable accessories even though the optics themselves predate /i protocols.
Flare & Bokeh
Flares are ghostly and expressive, often producing a veiling glow that enhances atmosphere. Veiling flare and small, warm internal reflections occur when pointing at sources, yet the images tend to hold together rather than collapse into milk. Chromatic aberrations are visible, but cinematographers often lean into these imperfections. The bokeh is swirly, sometimes cat-eyed, adding to their vintage character.
Image Circle
Rehoused S2/S3 optics are Super 35 lenses. They comfortably cover S35 film and digital modes with clean corners; some longer focal lengths may cover certain larger formats in crop/monitoring modes, but full-frame and LF are not the design intent.
Cinematic Heritage
Speed Panchros trace to the 1920sโ30s, matured through Series II (post-war) and Series III (late 1950s/early 1960s), where designer Peter A. Merigold famously updated the 18 mm and 25 mm with early aspheric elements to improve aberration correction while shrinking size. Their ubiquity across mid-century Hollywood helped define a softer, warmer, face-forward aesthetic that many still call simply โthe Cooke Look.โ Speed Panchros have shot countless classicsโa few examples: Citizen Kane (1941), The Red Shoes (1948) to Dr. Zhivago (1965).
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