Testimonials

AN AUDIENCE WITH JEREMY BENNING, CSC

Jeremy Benning, CSC, began his career as a gaffer before moving into steadicam work on a wide range of commercials, film and television projects. He began taking on the role of DP on relatively small projects in between steadicam jobs, and for the last eight years he has been working full time as a DP for film, TV and commercials. In February 2010 Jeremy took delivery of the very first set of Cooke Panchro lenses, and recently took them to British Columbia (doubling as Afghanistan) to put them through their paces on the forthcoming feature film, Afghan Luke.

I’ve been a fan of Cooke lenses for a long time, pretty much as long as I’ve been shooting. I’d always ask for them, though the smaller projects I worked on couldn’t always afford them.

I’d been thinking about buying my own set of lenses for several years, but the cost had always been prohibitive. Then I met Les [Zellan] at a trade show and heard about these new Panchro lenses - he gave me the full pitch, and I was hooked! To get the quality of a Cooke lens but at a more affordable price - it seemed like a no-brainer. So I bought my first ever set of lenses, which also turned out to be the very first set of Panchros out of the factory.

I discussed the Panchros with some friends, and a few people mentioned the fact that they are a T2.8 stop compared with a T2.0 stop on the Cooke S4s, but I see it like this: 80% of what we shoot is no wider than a 2.8 so it’s perfectly adequate. You’re paying for how fast the lens is, so renting a 2.0 lens is like renting a fast car and driving it really slowly! Plus, digital cameras are so much more light-sensitive these days that 2.8 isn’t an issue any more. And, most importantly, these are Cooke lenses, and the quality speaks for itself. If you can save money on lens rental but still get that level of quality, you can put more money towards other things. I am also pursuing 3D cinematography; another DP friend of mine has ordered a set of Panchros so we can have a matched pair of smaller primes suited for 3D rigs.

I love the fact that the lenses are hand-made, with 100 years of tradition and craftsmanship that you just don’t find with anyone else’s lenses - a kind of ’secret recipe’ that produces the distinctive ’Cooke look’.

For me, the ’Cooke look’ is a natural, organic, round look that gives skin warmth and texture. Shooting with digital cameras makes everything hyper-sharp; the Panchros are sharp without being clinical. Compared to other, less forgiving lenses, they are an oxymoron - soft yet sharp at the same time.

I took my Panchros to British Columbia to film Afghan Luke, a feature about a war correspondent who goes back to Afghanistan to find evidence for a shocking story of war crimes. Mike Clattenburg, the director, was familiar with Cookes and liked their look. The Panchros also had the advantage of being smaller than the S4s, which was invaluable for this project as it was to be shot in a semi-documentary style with two RED MX cameras.

From a shooting point of view they performed the way I would expect an S4 to - we ran the gamut of lighting conditions including flaring issues, extreme contrasts and a low sun on the horizon, and the results were fantastic. I used the Panchro set from 25mm to 100mm, and rented an 18mm S4 to flesh out the set (my 18mm Panchro had not been delivered at that time). Looking at the footage, you wouldn’t be able to tell which was shot with the S4 and which was a Panchro - it was the first time I’d been able to do a direct comparison and I couldn’t see the difference, it was all exactly the same image quality.

From a physical perspective, we put the lenses through hell! We shot for three weeks in the worst conditions I’ve ever seen, in a windy and talcum powder-dusty desert where everything was covered in dust every day - but the Panchros just kept working perfectly with no problems at all. I knew they’d withstand the conditions; I just sent them back to the factory for a good clean afterwards and they came back perfect.

The aesthetic of the film was also an appropriate use of the Cooke lenses, as we were shooting natural landscapes with beautiful light quality. It was very warm and organic, and the Cooke lenses gave the shots a ’naturalness’ compared to other ultra-precision lenses.

When I first started shooting digitally, mainly for budgetary or logistical reasons, I was slightly wary since in those early days it didn’t look as good as film. Now the margin of difference is so small and the advantages of digital are so great that I rarely use film any more - digital is more cost-effective, the workflow is straightforward, and I like the confidence I get from being able to see the results instantly rather than relying on a crappy video assist, then waiting for the lab.

Cooke lenses truly give me the best of both worlds: the ease and cost saving of digital but a warm, filmic look. Plus, the Panchros have exceeded all my expectations of a cost-effective lens with all the quality of a prime lens. They are Cooke quality, with all that that implies.