Cooke Cine Varotal 25-250mm T3.9 Mk II

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Cooke's 10:1 studio zoom of the 1980s, a staple on features and commercials before the modern Optimo era. Warm and moderately contrasty, softer at the long end wide open. Close focus is long at roughly 5ft6in, so diopters are common.

Key specs

Focal length

25–250 mm

Max aperture

T3.9

Mount

PL

Image circle

Super 35

Close focus

1.68 m

Front diameter

121 mm

Weight

4.17 kg

Field of view by sensor

Full frame

71.5° – 8.2° horizontal · frames like 25 mm – 250 mm on full frame

Super 35

52.9° – 5.7° horizontal · frames like 36.1 mm – 361.4 mm on full frame

Micro Four Thirds

38.2° – 4° horizontal · frames like 52 mm – 520.2 mm on full frame

What it goes on

Supplied in PL on most surviving copies and needs rod support. Frequently paired with a 1.4x or 2x extender; service is still available from Cooke specialists.

• PL camerasNativeALEXA 265, ALEXA 35, PYXIS 12K, PYXIS 6K +15 more
• Sony E camerasWith adapterRonin 4D-6K, Ronin 4D-8K, Alpha 1 II, Alpha 7 IV +13 more

  Wooden Camera E to PL · Vocas PL to E · Metabones PL-E. Solid and common. Support the lens — the E-mount is not built to carry a heavy cine zoom on its own.

• Canon RF camerasWith adapterEOS C400, EOS C50, EOS C70, EOS C80 +10 more

  Wooden Camera RF to PL · Canon PL-RF (C400 / C80) · Kipon PL-RF. Common; use lens support with heavy glass.

• L-Mount camerasWith adapterCinema Camera 6K, PYXIS 12K, PYXIS 6K, Ronin 4D-6K +6 more

  Leitz L-PL · Wooden Camera L to PL · Sigma MC-31. Common; use lens support with heavy glass.

• Micro Four Thirds camerasWith adapterMicro Studio Camera 4K G2, Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, Lumix BGH1, Lumix GH6 +1 more

  Wooden Camera MFT to PL · MTF PL to MFT. Works, with a 2x crop on Super 35 glass relative to full frame.

• LPL camerasWith adapterALEXA 265, ALEXA 35, ALEXA Mini LF, URSA Cine 17K 65

  ARRI PL-to-LPL Adapter. ARRI's own adapter, passes LDS / Cooke /i lens data.

• Nikon Z camerasWith adapterKOMODO-X 6K S35, V-RAPTOR [X] 8K VV, V-RAPTOR XE

  Wooden Camera Z to PL · Kipon PL-NIK Z. Common; use lens support with heavy glass.

• Leica M camerasWith adapter· by flange mathsALEXA 265, ALEXA 35, ALEXA Mini LF, Ronin 4D-6K +1 more

  24.2 mm of room for a plain ring. Check rear-element and mirror clearance before buying.

• B4 (2/3") camerasWith adapter· by flange mathsURSA Broadcast G2, URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2, AJ-CX4000

  4 mm of room for a plain ring. Check rear-element and mirror clearance before buying.

• Nikon F camerasWith adapter· by flange mathsURSA Mini Pro 12K, URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF, URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2

  5.5 mm of room for a plain ring. Check rear-element and mirror clearance before buying.

See every camera this lens fits →

Sources: visualproducts.com, greenwoodcine.com