DP Philip Lanyon goes for a different look for follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation while remaining true to the TV and film franchise

Star Trek: Picard, the highly anticipated streaming series from CBS All Access, relied on two complete sets of Cooke Optics Anamorphic/i SF (“Special Flair”) lenses to tell the story for the follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation, and centres on Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) in the next chapter of his life. Director of Photography Philip Lanyon’s goal was to give this new series a big movie adventure epic saga feel — while keeping fans in a familiar visual world.

“Almost all of the Star Trek movies have been shot using anamorphic lenses and so is the [CBS All Access] Star Trek: Discovery series, which switched to Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses in its second season,” explained Lanyon. “I was given the opportunity to shoot the second season’s sixth episode and I just fell in love with the Cooke lenses. I tested a lot of lenses for Picard and a lot of different looks. But in the end, the Cooke Anamorphic/i SF lenses gave me the exact look and control I wanted.”

CVP, one of the UK’s leading production solutions providers, will be providing hands-on experience with some of the latest kit to reach the UK market at this year’s BSC Expo 2020 (Friday 31st January to Saturday 1st February, Battersea Evolution, London).

Featuring a set inspired as a homage to the BSC’s 70th anniversary, the showcase at BSC Expo will allow customers to compare like-for-like options and to get hands-on with the equipment they are interested in — along with all the necessary accessories — to find out how their creative desires can be best fulfilled.

BBC's new landmark wildlife series, Seven Worlds, One Planet, documents the unique wildlife to be found across all seven continents. The series, which began airing in the UK in October 2019 was shot by Director of Photography, Mark MacEwen on a set of Cooke miniS4/I lenses.

MacEwen, who has over 20 years’ experience in wildlife cinematography, chose the miniS4/i lenses for his sequences to bring the ‘Cooke Look’ in a smaller, more light weight form.“I’ve used Cooke lenses before and always loved them. The look of the Cooke lenses does it all for me, and the way they separate the subject and background and flare is the way I see the world. I also like the way they work on digital sensors - to me, they just help take some of the digital edge off the camera and help keep it looking more organic and natural,” he said. “The miniS4/i’s were great as the size and weight of them allowed me to use them not only for tripod work, but for hand-held gimbal work with animals where I have to hold the MVI Pro rig for hours, following the animals waiting for the right moment or bit of behaviour. The build quality is also amazing and works so well with the follow focus gear.”

“Outside of the flora and fauna, it’s the huge amounts of time we have to invest and of course the extreme demands we place on the kit, due to the environments we subject them to. I am happy to say that the miniS4/i’s performed flawlessly in every situation.”

Cooke Optics announced today that it has opened a service operation in Los Angeles, CA to provide full lens servicing and testing. This new operation further strengthens Cooke Optics’ dedication to worldwide service and support.

Les Zellan, Chairman, Cooke Optics, said, “With hundreds of movies and TV shows shot in and around LA each year, and many local rental houses stocking Cooke lenses, we’re proud to offer full lens servicing at a convenient location. The LA operation joins the Cooke service operations around the world, so customers can now reach us directly on both US coasts, the UK, São Paulo in Brazil and Shanghai in China.”

Michael Nadas has joined Cooke Americas as the company’s Optical Engineer in LA. He comes to the team with 28-plus years of technical experience in the film and television production industry, specializing in evaluating, testing and repairing both cinematic and broadcast lenses from multiple manufacturers to factory specifications. Michael established the quality control standards for lens testing and evaluating procedures company-wide at Sim, a leading supplier of studios, production equipment, workflow/dailies and post-production solutions. Over the course of his career, he has acquired an in-depth technical knowledge of specific types of lenses that are unique to our industry and most recently led Sim’s Motion Picture Optics department out of Los Angeles.

Cinematographer Si Bell and Director Anthony Byrne move crime drama series to a more cinematic look and feel

For four seasons, Thomas Shelby, his family and his gang — Peaky Blinders — have been captivating audiences around the world with this crime drama set in 1920s Birmingham, England in the aftermath of World War I. But the fifth season would mean a total change in how the series was to be shot, moving from Cooke S4/i spherical lenses (used since season three) to anamorphic with Cooke Optics' Anamorphic/i prime lenses as well as 4K for this season’s Netflix full-season distribution in the US, which became available on 4 October 2019 (UK distribution on BBC One began in early September with one episode per week).

One of the challenges for cinematographer Si Bell and director Anthony Byrne — both big fans of the series — was maintaining continuity with the four seasons that came before them, regardless of the new production changes.

“Anthony and I had wanted to do this series for a number of years, having watched all of it and always talking about it,” explained Bell. “When we got the gig, we both watched the entire series again and paid special attention to the things we loved, things we thought could be different and things we thought could be better. But we obviously had to keep continuity.”

At the 27th Edition of the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography (EnergaCAMERIMAGE) held in Toru, Poland from 9-16 November 2019, Cooke Optics will be showcasing the best in cinematography with its latest full frame and prime lenses. This will give cinematographers the opportunity to see for themselves just what is meant by “The Cooke Look®”.

The first of three lenses to be highlighted at EnergaCAMERIMAGE will be the new S7/i Full Frame Plus T2.0 prime lenses — available in focal lengths of 16,18, 21, 25, 27, 32, 40, 50, 65, 75, 100, 135mm and 180mm. The S7/i Full Frame Plus features superb optical and mechanical performance, control of flare, distortion, veiling glare and spherical aberrations at full aperture. Its cam-type focus mechanism allows for smooth focus adjustments, while its modular construction increases ease of maintenance and serviceability.

The Anamorphic/i Full Frame Plus T2.3 prime lenses brings full frame capture capabilities to those shooting large format with the anamorphic characteristics cinematographers expect, including flare and oval bokeh. Avaliable in 40, 50, 75 and 100mm focal lengths in both Standard and Special Flare (SF) versions. This initial set of Anamorphic/i Full Frame Plus prime lenses will be joined by the 32, 135 and 180mm later this year.

Imagine that in the not too distant future, a dating app could match you with your soulmate by mining the data in your brain. That’s the premise of Osmosis, the French-language original series from Netflix; however, things don’t always go as planned. Cinematographer Jean-François Hensgens was chosen by Netflix to shoot the first six episodes of the eight-episode series with multiple directors, including Julius Berg, Pierre Aknine and Mona Achache, while maintaining visual and artistic continuity from episode to episode.

When the original two mini-series of Top Boy ended on the UK’s Channel 4 in 2013, few people thought the critically-acclaimed drama about two London street gangs would ever come back.

New products from Aaton-digital and Transvideo will be exhibited on their partners’ booths at the show:

On the ARRI booth the Transvideo StarliteHD2 monitor-recorder will be on demo with its new firmware upgrade giving increased resolution and reduced latency, enhancing its many capabilities further and making it also an excellent choice now for focus pulling. The upgrade will be available for all existing StarliteHD worldwide for a cost of 145 Euros. (ARRI booth C7925)

Cooke Optics has set out a roadmap for delivery of its most recently announced and highly anticipated lenses, as well as an update about  /i3, the latest and most ambitious version of its /i Technology metadata system.

Cooke Optics, the multi-award-winning manufacturer of precision lenses for film and television, has appointed Carey Duffy to the role of Director of Sales Europe, effective from 4 January 2016. Based in the UK, Duffy will take over the European sales territory from Director of Sales, Thomas Greiser, who takes on more responsibility for North and South America as well as covering South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

A production unit of the new 65mm Macro Anamorphic/i 2x Prime lens will be available to view on Cooke Optics stand 11.D10 at IBC 2015, alongside the Academy Award®-winning companys acclaimed 5/i, Anamorphic/i, S4/i and miniS4/i lens ranges. Cooke will also reveal more details about its highly anticipated Anamorphic/i Zoom lens, and will present /i3, a major update to its /i Technology metadata system. In addition Cooke will launch cookeoptics.tv, a new channel celebrating the work of many of the worlds leading cinematographers.

A production unit of the new 65mm Macro Anamorphic/i 2x Prime lens will be available to view on Cooke Optics stand 11.D10 at IBC 2015, alongside the Academy Award®-winning companys acclaimed 5/i, Anamorphic/i, S4/i and miniS4/i lens ranges. Cooke will also reveal more details about its highly anticipated Anamorphic/i Zoom lens which was announced at NAB 2015, and in addition will present a major update to its /i Squared Technology metadata system.

Cooke Optics, the multi-award winning manufacturer of precision lenses for film and television, has pledged to start shipping the 25mm and 135mm Anamorphic/i lenses by NAB 2015. The new lenses, announced at IBC 2014, will further enhance the range which currently includes 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm models.