1 The Director of Photography – an overview

56 Practical Cinematography
Figure 5.5 The Cooke zoom
Cooke Lenses ‘Classic’ 18–100 mm T3 Zoom lens
The Cooke 9–50 mm, 10.4–52 mm for Super 16, and the Canon
8–64 mm limit their maximum aperture to T2.5 or T2.8 for the Cooke
and T2.4 for the Canon. These sensible apertures and shorter zoom
ranges have enabled the designers to produce lenses with virtually no
image shift, very high definition and no discernible distortions or
vignetting. The same applies to the 35 mm Cooke 18–100 T3 lens of
which, as you will have gathered, I am a huge fan.
I realize many cinematographers might disagree, but it really is
almost impossible to tell, subjectively, the difference between images
shot on any of these zooms and most prime lenses. You might be able
to tell when testing but, I submit, it is virtually impossible once the
shots have been cut into a narrative scene. Zoom lens design has come
a long way since they were first introduced. If you are going to use any
kind of filtration then, by balancing its strength, any difference really
is impossible to see.
Interestingly, Canon also make an 11.5–138 mm T2.5 zoom for
Super 16 mm, which is also a fine lens with just one drawback – there
is a noticeable image size change on focusing.
Conclusions
You must be very careful and aware when you choose your lens set.
Lenses that, on paper, seem to have a high specification may not perform
as well as some others given the way you are going to use them.
The character of the lens, under the circumstances you are going to
use it, often means more to the cinematographer than the technical
specifications of the lens, such as the minimum aperture, which may
never be used.
Most importantly, remember that your audience has come to be
entertained and will probably never know what lens you used, nor will
they care – all they are interested in is that you stir their emotions.