Cooke goes large format with the Panchro 65/i Lens Series

With the introduction of 65mm digital cameras such as the Arri ALEXA 65 and the forthcoming Blackmagic Design URSA Cine 17K 65, the need for an increased choice of lenses is becoming essential. And, if there was one company that has the heritage to produce glass for large formats like this, it's Cooke.

Cooke famously produced its Double Speed Panchros and Duopanchros back in the 1950s to support large format shooting on film, and it's the Speed Panchro line that the company is looking to inspire its latest set of lenses.

In a press release, Cooke stated "Cooke has carefully crafted the Panchro 65/i lenses to preserve the unique aesthetic qualities of the Panchro line. Aberrations are skillfully integrated into the optical design, delivering that classic Panchro feel across a much larger image circle to meet the demands of this larger format and modern digital imagers."

The new lens line will include six different focal lengths, comprising 30mm, 40mm, 55mm, 75mm, 100mm, 152mm. Cooke says that on an ALEXA 65, this would give a field of view of 84.1 to 20.2-degrees, while on the URSA Cine 17K 65 they would range between 80.5 to 19-degrees.

The speed of the lenses ranges from T2.5 for the 55mm, 75mm and 100mm, T2.8 for the 30mm and 40mm, and T2.9 for the 152mm. All lenses can stop down to T22 with a weight range between 1.8kg and 2.8kg. Since the lenses carry the /i moniker, they will record metadata including focal length, focus distance, zoom position, near and far focus, hyper focal distance, T-stop, horizontal field of view, entrance pupil position, distortion and shading data.

The Cooke Panchro 65/i lenses will be available from early 2025 with demo units following soon after. Pricing TBA.

tl;dr

• Cooke is launching the Panchro 65/i Lens Series to support the new generation of large format 65mm digital capture, compatible with cameras like the Arri ALEXA 65 and Blackmagic Design URSA Cine.
• The new lens line features six focal lengths: 30mm, 40mm, 55mm, 75mm, 100mm, and 152mm, providing a field of view ranging from 84.1 to 20.2 degrees on the ALEXA 65 and 80.5 to 19 degrees on the URSA Cine.
• Lens speeds vary, with T2.5 for the 55mm, 75mm, and 100mm; T2.8 for the 30mm and 40mm; and T2.9 for the 152mm, all capable of stopping down to T22 and weighing between 1.8kg and 2.8kg.
• The Panchro 65/i lenses support metadata recording (including focal length, focus distance, and distortion data) and are expected to be available in early 2025, with pricing to be announced later.