Cooke 15-40 S4 CXX Zoom

[Alex Wuijts]

Hey guys and girls

 

Just wanted to share an experience I've had with this lens. I was working on a commercial where we wanted the flexibility of a documentary crew, but also obviously very good image quality. I've been in this situation before a couple of times and never really got around the problem of the weight of the lens and the quality it gave. I knew I wanted to shoot with the Alexa, but an Alexa with a zoom can be one hell of a heavy setup, only suitable for handheld if your last name is Schwarzenegger. Also, I was never too fond of the combination of digital cameras with supersharp, contrasty lenses, like the Optimos.

Anyway I saw this lens in the catalogue and decided to try it out. I do not regret that decision at all! It's a T2 lens over the entire range, and it's very, very nice if you shoot wide open. There are no issues like breathing or bad distortion, the sharpness is also very good. Because of the range you have to move in when shooting close-ups, making it a very 'personal' and human lens, if you know what I mean.

The setup was reasonably heavy. You don't want it on your shoulders all day, but combined with an easyrig 4 even that's possible.

 

Anyway, if you, like me, sometimes wonder how to deal with this situation, I recommend this lens. And I'm in no way affiliated to any company :)

Edited February 27, 2014 by Alex Wuijts

[Haris Mlivic]

I totally agree! Spent a day with it on an Epic in the back of a limo. The image is really nice wide open, and to me seems a lot more "filmic" than a lot of other wide-angel zooms. It may be because of the t2, but still really nice!