"We shot a 5 minute documentary and TV spot in very harsh, uncontrolled conditions across South Africa with a mixed style of a lot of run and gun shooting, super high speed, drone and helicopter shots.
Shooting in dark shacks, often with the lens wide open or at T2.8 they performed beautifully without having to think about it too much. The Cookes were thrown around a lot and put through dirty, dusty situations for two weeks straight without a single problem. We really pushed these lenses. They are mechanically superb but the sharpness was the best thing. They're pin sharp when you need it but have a wonderful fall off to creamy softness in the out of focus regions."
"Other anamorphics that I've used were too clean cut, the lines were too straight. If you want to embrace realness, Cookes have more character and texture without going overboard. When you try to flare them they're subtle and beautiful — just a subtle glow, not overbearing like you see in vintage anamorphics. Anamorphic lenses can get a lot of distortion, particularly the wides, but these have the right balance of character and cleanness.
I love the /i Technology. I was shooting hand held and pulling my own focus half the time with the read out in front of me, which I got used to and took for granted. When shooting drone and helicopter footage I had to switch to lenses without /i Technology and felt naked because I had to go to the monitor to see where the focus was. Your life is made a hell of a lot easier with /i Technology.
For cinematic feel, sharpness and speed, you can count on the Cooke Anamorphics."