We are pleased to announce that Bertone Visuals can now offer to its rental clients the best anamorphic lenses available today on the market. We are referring to the PL Zoom Angenieux Optimo 56-152mm S2 T4 and the natural companion kit to pair with it the Cooke Anamorphic /i handcrafted T2.3 primes (32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm). Both typologies of lenses share some characteristic with other lenses produced by these two European manufacturers; the Angenieux Optimo 56-152mm shares some similarities like size and shape with the light weight compact zoom Angenieux Optimo 45-120mm T2.8 (spherical glass) and weights 4.3lbs, whereas the Cooke Anamorphic /i share some mechanical element like the focusing ring with the top of the line spherical lenses produced by the British manufacturer: the Cooke S5i T1.4 (spherical glass). The Cooke Anamorphic / i primes weight varies between 5.81 and 6.47 lbs. Later on this year there will be two more Cooke primes joining the collection: the 25mm and the 135mm T2.3. Unfortunately, these two lenses won't be available for NAB 2015 or at least not to us, but probably they will be delivered to us this summer. The Angenieux anamorphic zoom 56-152mm although it has a 2X squeezing factor like the Cooke anamorphic /i primes it doesn't have the anamorphic group of lenses in the front like the primes, but in the rear just before the mount. This characteristic does not change the quality, the sense of depth and the famous oval bokeh that DPs expect from the anamorphic format when they are shooting with a fast aperture. The inherent color of the glass for the Cooke lenses and the Angenieux zoom is definitely a match as it has always been in the spherical world for years. It is not a secret that the Cooke Anamorphic primes are less incisive than the Zeiss Master Anamorphic, but it all depends what is the subject matter of the shooting people, faces, vehicles, landscapes, architectures? All of these nuances are different and require different choices every time there is a visual story to be told and of course we can make exactly the same statement about cine digital cameras. What is the best camera ? What are the best spherical and anamorphic lenses? True answers? It depends ! I heard that in law school already many years ago ;) .
