The Taylor Hobson VistaVisions is the second breakthrough project created by our in-house optical department- No.9 Optics.
In the mid-1950s, Taylor-Hobson Cooke Optics produced a limited run of ‘Double Speed Panchro’ lenses, a bigger, scaled-up version of their beloved ‘Speed Panchros’. Same speedy performance, familiar focal lengths, but with extra coverage to suit Paramount’s flashy new VistaVision format. This clever setup doubled the image area on the film negative, serving up sharper resolution, a wider aspect ratio, and beautifully fine grain.
Though VistaVision had its moment in the spotlight, it was eventually nudged aside in the early ’60s by the anamorphic grandeur of CinemaScope. Still, the format hasn’t lost its charm, and it remains relevant today, used in films like The Brutalist (DoP: Lol Crawley), One Battle After Another (DoP: Michael Bauman), and Bugonia (DoP: Robbie Ryan).
