
Award winning Cooke S4 Prime Lenses were designed and developed in close technical collaboration with industry professionals. They are colour-matched and compatible with Cooke's, 18-100mm T3.0 and 25-250mm T3.7, 15-40mm, T2.0 CXX zoom lenses and the SK4 16mm lenses.

All of our S4 Prime lenses (and CXX zoom lens) are now supplied equipped with /i Technology, as of February 2005. S4/i lenses are designed for all PL mounted professional motion picture film and electronic cameras. The /i Technology provides cinematographers and camera operators with vital information on lens setting, focusing distance, aperture and depth-of-field, hyperfocal distance, serial number, owner data, lens type and focal length in both metric and footage measurements. For zoom lenses, the zoom position is displayed.
For companies interested in producing compatible products with /i Technology, the /i protocol is available as a free download: See "S4/I Communications v2.28 protocols" in PDF format under Technical Resources, Free downloads.
65 Soft Effects Attachment
The 65 Soft Effects is made for the S4/i 65mm and 75mm lenses (via Cooke 75mm adapter ring). The design for the attachment is based on Cooke's PS945 soft focus lens for 4x5 large format photography. See more about the soft focus effect in sample photos taken with the PS945 lens. The effect is high resolution with a stunning glow to the highlights -- subtle, but most pronounced wide open at T2, becoming less pronounced as you stop down. (Effect from T2 to T4 with the 65mm lens; T2 to T5.6 with the 75mm lens.) More details.
The Cooke S4 Variable Soft Effects Attachment is designed for use on the 65mm and 75mm S4 cine prime lenses. Depending on the aperture used, a variable degree of softness can be applied to the image. The soft effects attachment fits directly on the 65mm S4 lens, and for this reason it is engraved as being for that lens. If you want to use it on the 75mm S4 lens you need to use the Cooke adapter ring which is engraved for use with that lens.
Adjustment of the Soft Focus Effect
The soft effects attachment delivers a range of soft focus effects with the 65mm and 75mm S4 lenses as the aperture is varied. For the 65mm S4 prime lens the soft focus effect is greatest at T2, reducing to no special effect at T5.6. At apertures below that, the lens operates as a normal, sharp lens. The 75mm S4 lens provides the same effects, but when this lens is stopped down to T4 it is already fairly sharp.
In general, if you want a particular degree of softness you may need to use neutral density filters.
Comparison with Soft Focus Filters
The Cooke soft effects attachment works in a completely different way to nets or soft focus filters. Rather than bluntly scattering the light, it uses a higher order aberration effect to reduce sharpness at lower spatial frequencies in the image. It follows that the change in its effect with aperture is much more pronounced than with a soft focus filter or a net. Roughly speaking, a net or a softening filter has the same effect at all apertures; that is not quite the case, but certainly there is much less variation of softness with aperture when using nets and filters than with the Cooke Soft Effects Attachment.
The Origins of the Soft Effects Attachment
The origins of the Cooke Soft Effects Attachment are in Large Format Still Photography, with our Cooke PS945 Lens for large format photography: Cooke Optics Ltd. manufactures a highly acclaimed large-format stills lens for the 4x5" and 7x5" formats using this soft focus technology, which provides the same variable degree of softness.
At the request of the large format photographic community, this lens is based on the revered Pinkham & Smith portrait lenses of the early 20th century. Use of the Cooke PS945 lens by many professional large format photographers has, ironically, now revealed at least as many non-portrait applications for this lens as portrait applications. The ability of the lens to provide what is described as a "unique, and special luminosity" to the image with a range of lighting arrangements is especially valued. Hide details

Cooke S4
Lens Awards
1998
Cinec Award for Technical Excellence, Germany
1999
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Engineering Award for Optical and Mechanical Design
2000
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development
2001
Two Queen's Awards for Enterprise - International Trade and Innovation, England
2001
Winner, Exporter of the Year, 2001 International Business Award, Export Times and Trade Partners UK
2001
Winner, Product Innovation, 2001 International Business Award, Export Times and Trade Partners UK
2007
NAB2007 Premiere Product Award – S4/i System

Our Cooke S4/i Prime lenses are supplied with /i Technology that collect detailed lens data for production, VFX and post-production teams and are designed for all PL mounted professional motion picture film and electronic cameras. The /i Technology provides cinematographers and camera operators with vital information on lens setting, focusing distance, aperture and depth-of-field, hyperfocal distance, serial number, owner data, lens type and focal length in both metric and footage measurements, as well as inertial tracking data, shading and distortion data. For zoom lenses, the zoom position is displayed.
More on /i Technology


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Cooke 15-40mm T2.0 CXX Zoom Lens

You expect and get superior performance and ease of operation from Cooke lenses. The Cooke S4/i 15-40mm CXX zoom lens offers attributes beyond great optical and mechanical performance for 35mm/Super 35mm formats:
New Variable Vignetting Stop
Cooke's new Variable Vignetting Stop allows the high speed CXX lens to maintain T2.0 and high resolution throughout the zoom range. This innovative mechanism adjusts automatically. The benefit to you: no ramping and no flare.
Light and Bright
T2, of course. Light and comparable in size to a Cooke S4/i prime telephoto lens. And like our S4/i telephoto lenses, the CXX zoom offers an extraordinary close focus: Under 7 inches from the front element. And like the Cooke S4/i Primes - no breathing.


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