COOKE ZOOM LENSES

Cooke 10-30mm T/1.5 Ultra Fast Zoom Lens
Super 16mm

There were three different versions of this lens from what I’ve gathered. This is the fastest of the three. At a T/1.5, there is no faster zoom lens. And in my opinion there are very very few that match it’s beautiful rendering. It has a short range at 10-30mm but that’s a sweet spot for a wide to CU field of view. It’s a rare s16 zoom and it’s one of the rarer lenses in existence.

From OLD FAST GLASS:
“This is one of the only Super Speed zoom lenses in the world. It’s small and light enough for handheld work. It has excellent close-focus, and really well-controlled focus breathing. It will deliver beautiful lens flares, and it’s as sharp as a primes lens […] In Super-16, 10-30mm is the equivalent field of view of 20-60mm in Super-35. […] The Cooke 10-30mm has much of the same optical DNA of the legendary Cooke 20-60mm T3.1 [Varotal], but its redesigned rear optical group shrinks the image circle down to Super 16 format […] What that means is that you get the same field of view, depth of field, quality, and flares of the Cooke 20-60mm, but for the super 16 format. Ed Lachman used his own personal Cooke 10-30mm T1.6 along with his personal set of Cooke Speed Panchros to shoot much of the film CAROL.”

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Cooke 10.8-60mm T/3 Zoom Lens
Super 16mm

Once again, the wizards at OLD FAST GLASS said it best:
“Optex modified this incredible Cooke lens, which was a 9-50mm T2.5 originally designed for standard 16mm film. It was expanded to get full Super 16mm coverage. The result: it’s probably the sharpest super 16mm zoom available, has virtually no focus breathing, focuses very close, and of course has character only Cooke lenses can deliver, and it’s very small.”

Varotal, Taylor Hobson, London, England, Vintage Lenses

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