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Cooke S4/i and 5/i - experience

J

Jon MIchael Puntervold

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The price difference between Cooke S4 and 5 is not huge. But the 5's are much faster... any drawbacks with the 5's compared to the S4 one should be aware?

Anyone have experience using both sets?

Best regards,
Jon M.
 
Jon MIchael Puntervold said:
The price difference between Cooke S4 and 5 is not huge. But the 5's are much faster... any drawbacks with the 5's compared to the S4 one should be aware?

Anyone have experience using both sets?

Best regards,
Jon M.
Click to expand...

the S5i's are just an update to the S4i. Faster glass. Same look. If I was given the option I'd take the S5i's for the extra speed.
 
Matt Ryan said:
I should also mention the the S5i's are much heavier than the s4i's. They are equivalent to Master Primes in weight.
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Hearvier & larger can be a real issue. A larger front element is a bigger reflection in the subject at well!
 
s5i's have 110mm diameter fronts and Master Primes are 114mm. S4i's also have a 110mm front diameter like the 5i's. 5i's have an illuminated focus scale like Master Primes which the S4i's dont have....5i's have 9 iris blades, s4i's have 8.

The heaviest S5i is the 50mm at 3.23 pounds but all others are under 3 pounds with the exception of the 18mm at 3.03 pounds.

The heaviest S4i is the 18mm at 3 pounds (150mm, 180mm, 300mm are over 3.5lbs). Most all others are average of 2 pounds.

Hope this helps. I personally would get the 5i's for their low light ability which is always useful. S4i's are awesome lenses but if they were similar enough in price I'd choose the 5i's.
 
Jon MIchael Puntervold said:
The price difference between Cooke S4 and 5 is not huge. But the 5's are much faster... any drawbacks with the 5's compared to the S4 one should be aware?

Anyone have experience using both sets?

Best regards,
Jon M.
Click to expand...

What is the price difference between the two (on average)?

Matt Ryan said:
I should also mention the the S5i's are much heavier than the s4i's. They are equivalent to Master Primes in weight.
Click to expand...

How do they compare in terms of the various image quality metrics?
 
Chuck Z said:
What is the price difference between the two (on average)?



How do they compare in terms of the various image quality metrics?
Click to expand...

Image quality is almost identical between all the cooke lenses from Panchro's, S4i's, to S5i's. You can easily switch lenses and not know the difference other than f/stop and weight/size differences. Cooke claims the new 5i's have smoother and creamier bokeh but honestly it's hard to see a difference from the s4i's.
 
The S4/i's and Panchro/i's have 8 bladed iris. 5/i's have 9. No idea why... I guess it's a smidgen more round?

The S4/i's are much more abundant and surely less expensive to rent. They also have more focal lengths, but 5/i's are being added to the lineup so it's likely a matter of time before that's not a big advantage.
 
Right now, S4/i's offer the following focal lengths 5i's do not have or have yet to add... 12, 14, 16, 21, 27, 35, 150, 180 and 300mm

The 5/i's have 18, 25, 32, 40, 50, 65, 75, 100, and 135.

The cooke panchro/i's have 18, 25, 32, 50, 75, 100, 135.
 
Yes.

Many of you probably have figured out that I am a HUGE cooke fan. And if you didn't, there you go. I am. But this lens is not nearly as wonderful as their primes.

I love the oldschool Cooke 18-100 T/3, all S4's, Panchro/i's and 5/i's.... but the CXX never did it for me. I included it in a test I did when I compared the Cooke S4/i's to a set of Panchro/i's. The CXX did decently for a very wide angle cinema zoom... But it really got put to shame when it was put head to head with Panchro/i's or S4/i's. It just didn't reach that level of Cooke badassery (the scientific scale for cinema lenses, btw)

Most noticeable was the color cast. The Panchro/is and S4's were pretty much identical in color rendition. The CXX was noticeably warmer. Always. It also had much more CA at the edges of frame, and at wide focal lengths it had a bit of distortion in the perspective. I would not have noticed the distortion had I not been comparing the lenses to S4's and Panchro/i's which handled distortion much better and thus really opened my eyes to the CXX. Then again, it is a very wide zoom, so there are side effects in the design. It does go to 15mm which is quite wide.

It was a bit of a disapointment to me, personally. But then again, the S4/i's are almost cine lenses at perfection... thus I can't quite figure out if the CXX is likely just a disappointment because it was being held to Cooke prime standards. I guess, in summary, it's not a "bad" lens. It just does not come close to the quality of the S4 primes, in my opinion. It should also be said that I nit pick lenses and a great variance to me might not seem that big of a gap to others.

In the end, there was no doubt that the CXX was considerably warmer in color, had a little more distortion in perspective, and greater amounts of CA at the edges of frame. Check out that test at http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?234707-Cookies-Cookie-Cook-and-Cooke.

That should help!
 
Matt Ryan said:
5i's have an illuminated focus scale like Master Primes which the S4i's dont have....5i's have 9 iris blades, s4i's have 8.
Click to expand...

Not quite correct, the 5/i have actually 7 blades, and they are the only lenses with an illuminated focus scale, the Master Primes do not offer that feature, it is unique to the Cooke 5/i series.
 
alvitdk said:
Not quite correct, the 5/i have actually 7 blades, and they are the only lenses with an illuminated focus scale, the Master Primes do not offer that feature, it is unique to the Cooke 5/i series.
Click to expand...

Sorry I should have stated glowing marks for the Master Primes and dimming illuminated lights for the s5i's. I guess Patrick and I got our 9 blade number incorrectly but I remember reading they added a blade to get a smoother more round bokeh.
 
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