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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 :)

New Cooke Panchros anybody?

Paul Nordin

Paul Nordin

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As far as I can figure out, only one set of the new Cooke Panchros has made it's way to the West Coast so far. Just wondered if anyone has had a chance to work with or evaluate them yet?
 
Don't know if itll help you but we have a set on the East Coast, at TCS. Fortunately, they've been busy - almost immediately - and that means unfortunately, I don't have a lot of information to share beyond what you already know.
 
Hi Just shot Amy Grant's new music video with them and a Red 17-50.

AC Inc in Nashville has a set for rent.... also no help to those on the west coast.

Build quality is immaculate and beefy image is Cooke at it's best... nicely sharp with slightly more warmth than Red or Zeiss lenses but not nearly the color shift of the old Panchros.

We shot a little under a 4 if I remember but we did test some wide open shots and they are extremely sharp and I'd have no fear if I had to shoot wide open with them.
 
I was operating on the Amy Grant video, I felt like the mechanics were a little loose for my liking. They were great to work with, but beefy is the right word...Not light lenses. Optically great...cooke look right out the gate, good wide open. If you gotta get some cookes and you don't have s4/s5 money, I say go for it.

I am going to put my biased opinion in and say, the RED 17-50 is really a force to be reckoned with. Just ever so slightly sharper than the cookes, not quite the contrast...but honestly barely indistinguishable from the cookes...and its a zoom
 
Yes kip answered but I will second, they both look amazingly well wide open. Kudos to the designers of both lenses.

I will say I wish the 17-50 had more iris blades, I don't like the look of it at around an 8...lucky for me I never shoot at an 8. I don't remember the look of the iris in the cookes, but I am sure its quite a few more blades
 
Didn't have the time for flair tests...getting a flair... but no flair problems all day without a matte box.
 
the panchros have an 8 blade iris design according to the specs. likely the same as in the s4's as all their modern sets are supposed to match in look [though the s5's are apparently using 7 blades so not sure what the deal is with that]
so far as sharpness goes, and i wish i understood more about glass that this was not guessing, could it be that the unique focus falloff of the cookes gives the perception of a softer look than the red zoom. being as differences in actual sharpness, at centre at least, in all recent glass is significantly beyond the resolving power of digital sensors or film to measure.
i would be interested to know if that is the case or not.
and please, keep the info on these panchros coming they look like a great option and i've found almost nothing said of them so far anywhere
 
Hey everybody!

Just got a delivery of the new Panchros! We are heading off to do some testing! I will report back and post the results.

Jordan
 
Jordon we will be looking forward to your assessments. Thank you. Which focal lengths did you receive?
 
I bought a set and they are quite amazing. I used to own/shoot with manual Nikon prime lenses if/when I didn't rent professional cinema lenses from a camera house... I didn't think I'd notice a difference so immediately, but even on the Red monitor, I did.
The difference seems to just ring when I double in to check critical focus. The image is crisp and clear... doesn't really feel like doubled in! The look, feel, and quality is pretty great. I'm going to do some tests as soon as I finish a commercial shoot I'm DPing tomorrow and Wednesday with them. I'd love to post 4k still images of the results!
 
I've got the Cooke Panchro/i 32mm (only) and its very sharp wide open and looks, to my eyes, like an S4. I love it. The focus falloff is awesome. I recently got the Hod Rod PL mount adaptor for a GH13 I picked up and the image quality is just insane for a $650 body. :-)

Bottom line: quality glass makes all the difference.
 
I received my set of Panchros last week. They are wonderful lenses. Typical cooke build, very usable wide open. Typical cooke fall off. I already have a set of the Original panchros, and a set of S4's coming next week, at some point i'll shoot some comparison footage with all 3 sets and post.
 
Robert Horwell said:
I received my set of Panchros last week. They are wonderful lenses. Typical cooke build, very usable wide open. Typical cooke fall off. I already have a set of the Original panchros, and a set of S4's coming next week, at some point i'll shoot some comparison footage with all 3 sets and post.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Robert. Looking forward to see your tests.
 
Any more info, images, links, etc???

Anyone know how long the current wait is to get a set of these if they ordered today? I suppose I could ask ZGC and see what they say.
 
Definitely call them Jeff. The 18mm starts shipping early next year.
 
New Cooke Panchros arrived today

New Cooke Panchros arrived today

Jeff Kilgroe said:
Any more info, images, links, etc???

Anyone know how long the current wait is to get a set of these if they ordered today? I suppose I could ask ZGC and see what they say.
Click to expand...

We received our Cooke Panchros today after only being ordered about two weeks ago. We also ordered at the same time a set of Cooke S4/is and they are due to arrive at the end of February. In contrast the S5/is were going to be about NAB timeframe.

I thought I would take a quick pic of the 25mm Panchro next to a 25mm Zeiss CP2, 25mm RPP and a 25mm Zeiss Master Prime for a size comparison. Please note that the 100mm Panchro is about an inch longer than this 25mm. We think these Panchros will be very popular with all of the PL mount cameras that are finally coming out. Thanks to RED for pushing the envelope!

We are very pleased with the look/performance and build quality of these lenses.

Cheers!
Bryan Mayo
 

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