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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Vintage Cooke Speed Panchro Set FOR SALE

Visual Products

Visual Products

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Location
Wellington, Ohio USA
Website
www.visualproducts.com
We have a (6) lens set of Cooke Speed Panchro lenses available.

The lenses have been rehoused and put in BNCR mount. Along with
the set we are including one of our BNCR lens mounts for the RED ONE:

groupnoprc.jpg


The set consists of a:

18mm T2.2 Series III
25mm T2.2 Series III
32mm T2.3 Series II
40mm T2.3 Series II
50mm T2.3 Series II
75mm T2.3 Series II

6up.jpg



Our BNCR Lens Mount is easy to install and RED-Approved:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=21106&highlight=bncr

These vintage Cooke lenses are legendary for their look and are
still sought after by discerning cinematographers decades after
their manufacture stopped. The rehousing included the addition
of focus gears and larger aperture and footage markings (a vast
improvement over their original configuration!). All of the lenses
cover 2k fully.

The (6) lens set is priced at $10,000 and includes the BNCR lens
mount at no additional charge (a $1,390 freebie!!).

This is a good opportunity to get quality, CINE lenses for much less
money than lenses of comparable quality.

It's Cooke glass, baby! Cooke!!
 
they meant 2k..and though I would love to also hear it from them directly, I respect their honesty about the fact that these cooke panchros do exhibit falloff when shot in 4k and the 18mm cooke speed panchros series III has been reported to suffer from vignetting when shot on red.

Visual Products is a great vendor for glass.
 
The Speed Pancros are actually not Super35mm glass, but intended to cover 35mm Academy, which is just a fuzz smaller than RED One 4K. I'd be on the look-out for actual vignetting in the corners of a 4.5K frame once RED enables that shooting mode. Of course, being that the mode will be 2.40:1, I think that may buy back some corner image real-estate due to the shorter frame height.

S35mm did not come about until the late '70s and wasn't accepted as a standard until '81, if I have my facts straight and it was based on the old (and failed) Supervision 235 concept from 1954. The SII Speed Panchros were designed in the mid 1930's and I believe the Series III SP's were early 50's upgrades. I believe that the 18mm and 25mm were the only two SP's to get the Series III treatment and I don't think the actual coverage of the optics changed much, if at all.

So watch out for port-holing and some barrel or spherical distortion on the 18mm. The longer focal lengths should provide a bit better coverage.
 
ahhhh, the speed panchro 2K/4K conundrum...

here's the deal:

when i checked these lenses on a white lens chart with a red one in 4k
mode, the 18mm and the 25mm did fall-off a bit in the corners-- they still
produced an image in the corners, but there was a fall-off in exposure.
all the other lenses covered 4k without issue. as a dealer, we live
and die by our reputation. since the 18mm and 25mm did fall-off in
the corners, we could not technically call them 4k lenses, and we listed
the them on our website as being good for 2k coverage so our customers
wouldn't experience any undesirable "surprises" when they got the lenses.

this all begs the question: how usable are the 18 & 25 in 4k? well, it depends.
if you make your living shooting white lens charts, these ain't the lenses for
you! however, there are still plenty of shooting situations for which the fall-
off would most likely go unnoticed.

while not technically providing 4k coverage, i wouldn't neccessarily reject this
speed panchro set out of hand for 4k-- certainly not at this price. the lenses
really do have a very pleasing look, and the price is very fair for a set of
true cine-style primes.
 
Excuse my twopence worth. When your full 35mm image is shown at the cinema its in 166:1 format before safe area is applied. No corners present! Thats why these lenses are ok at both 166 and Super35. So in my book they are ok for 4K use becos as the man says who shoots charts not images. No doubt I will now be shot down in flames. However;
This is one heck of a deal from good guys VP and if I were in production I would eat them up!!:biggrin:
 
No dig at Visual Products intended in my post. Just saying that people have to consider these lenses for what they are. I think there's a great deal of RED owners out there who are not familiar with older lens offerings such as the Speed Panchros. If someone is used to the RED 18-50 or relatively newer model primes like the Zeiss standards, super speeds, etc.. they're going to see something quite different when they mount one of these old Cookes. The difference can be good or bad, depending on their needs and perspective on the matter. I had to do some research, had to play with some old Cookes to get a feel for them.

It's true that the 18mm *barely covers* the RED One 4K area. There is noticeable port-holing or fall-off on the 18mm and the 25mm, more so for the 18mm for sure being the shorter focal length.

They produce a very unique and organic image. For people looking for a "film look" this could be it for you. The lenses are an acquired taste. And could be magical for someone who needs the sort of look or character they bring to the image.

If you just shoot charts with them, you will not be pleased. If you want a sharp image like you expect from Zeiss standards, speeds, UPs, etc.. these won't give you that. If you want a piece of glass that is soft on faces and has silky smooth bokeh and bloom effects, this could be your glass. For what it's worth, the RED 18-50 beats the pants off of a Cooke 18-100 when shooting charts, but we all know what the 18-100 does for actual production images.
 
Tony Covell said:
Excuse my twopence worth. When your full 35mm image is shown at the cinema its in 166:1 format before safe area is applied. No corners present! Thats why these lenses are ok at both 166 and Super35. So in my book they are ok for 4K use becos as the man says who shoots charts not images. No doubt I will now be shot down in flames. However;
This is one heck of a deal from good guys VP and if I were in production I would eat them up!!:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Hi,

They work perfectly with Film S35 1:185 without question, just the lenses are not telecentric & porthole when wide open on a digital sensor or 35mm Adapter. The same happens with the Zeiss Standards. Only the wider lenses with a small exit pupil suffer.

Stephen
Stephen
 
Visual Products said:
since the 18mm and 25mm did fall-off in
the corners, we could not technically call them 4k lenses, and we listed
the them on our website as being good for 2k coverage so our customers
wouldn't experience any undesirable "surprizes" when they got the lenses.
Click to expand...

Yes, I respect you guys so much for this. Sure some people may tolerate this falloff..but they should at least be made aware of it.
 
What is the FFD for these lenses?
 
I've got a set... 18's and 24's do porthole... I cant remember if a 2:35x1 crop takes care of the problem... in any case the lenses look fantastic and the rehousing means focus is easy and pro.
 
How will these be with the Epic X? I haven't seen them with the Red One so I don't really know just how prominent it already is.
 
Man I wish some of the reputable sellers would post some FOOTAGE of the lenses on a RED so we can SEE what they are talking about... all the adjectives are great- silky, soft faces, film look... especially for us newer guys who dont know glass like Mr Kilgore and the pros selling them.

seeing is believing... and at $10K to $50K for used lenses... all the moreso.

Would be so great if SOMEONE would strap em on a RED and post some footage... I bet they may sell faster ;)

cheers!
 
Tim Whitcomb said:
Man I wish some of the reputable sellers would post some FOOTAGE of the lenses on a RED so we can SEE what they are talking about... all the adjectives are great- silky, soft faces, film look... especially for us newer guys who dont know glass like Mr Kilgore and the pros selling them.

seeing is believing... and at $10K to $50K for used lenses... all the moreso.

Would be so great if SOMEONE would strap em on a RED and post some footage... I bet they may sell faster ;)

cheers!
Click to expand...

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14464&highlight=tango

Still my favorite Red footage.
 
I've owned 2 complete sets of rehoused Cookes these past 10 years...LOVE EM!!!!!
I've used them on super-35 feature films, projected: BEAUTIFUL!!
My first set was rehoused by Century Optics and they were called the Century Series 2000, I bought from Otto in LA, these were stolen by some unknown jackass....
My second set I bought from British DP Geoff Boyle and these were rehoused by Van Diemen...both incredible beautiful rehousing work.
I have used my 2nd set on both of my REDS and they are simply great.
Yes, there is a slight fall off on the 18 & 24, subtle yet there on the LCD & on a video-out monitor.
When I import these images into RedAlert! & RedCine the vast majority of this fall off disapears. I think some of it is that weird phenomina that you see when shooting certain skin tones. The REC 709 & the REDSPACE on the 720 HDSDI output sometimes does weird things.
I was concerned that this was an issue the 1st time I mounted these Cooke primes to my 1st RED, but once imported into RedAlert! I see that the bulk of this subtle falloff does greatly disappear.
I have not mounted VP's Cookes on my camera but how different can they be?
Cooke is beautiful and if maintained well [meaning if the optics begin to yellow due to age & the organic balsm glue used..and you have them serviced], you will create some beautiful images.
I shoot a lot of TV spots with beauty products and really like this cinematic look. I wouldn;t shoot sheet-metal spots [automobile] with them, but for 99% of my work they fit the bill.
$10K is a helluva price!
Believe me, I paid over $30,000 for my set 3 years ago!
We recently did a big white cyc shoot and the master shot was with the 18mm. There was a tiny falloff on the sides, just about at the outer action safe area. I mentioned this to the editor and he said not to worry, they were going to do an edge falloff in post anyway. If they didn't, he said it was so little that he would push in maybe 2% to 4 % on the image to compensate.
 
Does the portholing disappear at 2.8 or 2.8/4
 
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