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Cooke Speed Panchro advice needed


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Recently I have become proud owner of a set of Cooke Speed Panchro Primes Ser. 2/3 with an arri standard mount:

 

18mm Ser. 3

25mm Ser. 2

35mm "

50mm "

75mm "

 

The lenses are in good condition and I will use them on a music video shoot (35mm) very soon. At the moment the lenses are with a lens engineer (Les Bosher) to attach focus gears for a follow focus unit. For the low budget shoot, I have bought an Pl to arri standard mount adaptor.

Unfortunately, there won t be any time or budget for previous tests.

 

Has anyone used these lenses before and has any tips or advice on them. (e.g. what are the things I should avoid or be careful about? What is the optimal range for these lenses? How do they flare?...) Do I suffer any light loss with that type of adaptor? Do I have to compensate in exposure?

 

Thank you very much for your help

 

Thomas

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Recently I have become proud owner of a set of Cooke Speed Panchro Primes Ser. 2/3 with an arri standard mount:

 

18mm Ser. 3

25mm Ser. 2

35mm "

50mm "

75mm "

 

The lenses are in good condition and I will use them on a music video shoot (35mm) very soon. At the moment the lenses are with a lens engineer (Les Bosher) to attach focus gears for a follow focus unit. For the low budget shoot, I have bought an Pl to arri standard mount adaptor.

Unfortunately, there won t be any time or budget for previous tests.

 

Has anyone used these lenses before and has any tips or advice on them. (e.g. what are the things I should avoid or be careful about? What is the optimal range for these lenses? How do they flare?...) Do I suffer any light loss with that type of adaptor? Do I have to compensate in exposure?

 

Thank you very much for your help

 

Thomas

 

Nice choice on the lenses. Ser 2/3 panchros are some of my favorite glass. I've used them a lot, actually. I'm sure Benjamin Aguilar will chime in, he bought a set recently on my recommendation and I think is enjoying them.

 

That adapter is only a mechanical way to hold arri std lenses in a PL mount hole. There is no light loss, exposure compensation, or any of that nonsense. Just make sure that the lenses are tested on the adapter against tape focus. Some adapters are built better than others and sometimes the wide lenses will show the problem while the long ones look as good as ever.

 

I would try to light up to a 2.8 or 4 for most work. I often would light up to that with the intention of a little ND to open up for the closeups. They get pretty soft wider open than that, which is part of why I love them. The 100mm wide open on a woman's close-up is really something special.

Edited by Chris Keth
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Nice choice on the lenses. Ser 2/3 panchros are some of my favorite glass. I've used them a lot, actually. I'm sure Benjamin Aguilar will chime in, he bought a set recently on my recommendation and I think is enjoying them.

 

That adapter is only a mechanical way to hold arri std lenses in a PL mount hole. There is no light loss, exposure compensation, or any of that nonsense. Just make sure that the lenses are tested on the adapter against tape focus. Some adapters are built better than others and sometimes the wide lenses will show the problem while the long ones look as good as ever.

 

I would try to light up to a 2.8 or 4 for most work. I often would light up to that with the intention of a little ND to open up for the closeups. They get pretty soft wider open than that, which is part of why I love them. The 100mm wide open on a woman's close-up is really something special.

 

 

Thanks for your advice Chris. That s very helpful. I ll keep that in mind. Do you know anything about their characteristic when flaring? Is it a problem to stop down (F 8 or so) the lenses when shooting a landscape to achieve a very long depth of field?

 

Thanks again

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Thanks for your advice Chris. That s very helpful. I ll keep that in mind. Do you know anything about their characteristic when flaring? Is it a problem to stop down (F 8 or so) the lenses when shooting a landscape to achieve a very long depth of field?

 

Thanks again

 

They flare quite easily, as do all older single coated lenses. Make sure you check well for hits. Hard mattes aren't a bad idea, either.

 

Stopping down is never really a problem. You'll be fine stopped down for landscapes.

Edited by Chris Keth
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