News

Cooke Optics Announces Aaton Support for /i Technology (18/9/2007)

Cooke Optics Ltd., a premier manufacturer of precision lenses for the motion picture industry, announces that Aaton, the renowned film equipment manufacturer, has incorporated support for the Cooke-developed /i Technology into its Penelope-2 35mm camera. /i Technology enables film and digital cameras to automatically record key lens and camera data for every film frame shot and provide it to post-production teams digitally. The technology streamlines both production and post, saving significant time and costs and eliminating guesswork, while enabling greater creative freedom.

Aaton made its name with innovations that are now widespread in the film industry, including Super-16 and built-in video-assist. In 1982 it introduced Event Memory, a method of recording physical parameters of a camera, such as iris focus and lens adjustment Ð but until now no lens manufacturer had the technology to work with the camera.

"For me, /i Technology is the embodiment of a 25 year old dream - we have been working towards this type of collaboration between the camera and the lens for a long time and, since I have a long association with Cooke, I am delighted that they have made it possible," said Jean-Pierre Beauviala, Chairman, Aaton.

Les Zellan, chairman of Cooke Optics, said, "It is fantastic that Aaton, an innovative company that truly understands the needs of the film maker, has joined the growing number of organisations that support /i Technology. By adopting /i, companies like Aaton are helping streamline acquisition and automate data recording processes across the entire production and post chain."

Aaton joins ARRI, Avid, Cinematography Electronics, CMotion, Dalsa, Mark Roberts Motion Control, Preston Cinema Systems, RED, The Pixel Farm and Service Vision in supporting /i Technology. Cooke Optics has also incorporated the protocol into its own S4/i series of Prime and Zoom lenses, providing cinematographers and camera operators with vital information on lens setting, focusing distance, aperture and depth-of-field, hyperfocal distance, serial number, owner data, lens type, focal length in both metric and footage measurements, and zoom position for zoom lenses.

www.cookeoptics.com

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