--
For four seasons, Thomas Shelby, his family and his gang - Peaky Blinders- have been captivating audiences around the world with this crime drama set in 1920s Birmingham, England in the aftermath of World War I. But the fifth season would mean a total change in how the series was to be shot, moving from Cooke S4/i spherical lenses (used since season three) to anamorphic with Cooke OpticsAnamorphic/i prime lenses as well as 4K for this season's Netflix full-season distribution in the US, available now. (UK distribution on BBC One began in early September with one episode per week.)
One of the challenges for cinematographer Si Bell and director Anthony Byrne - both big fans of the series - was maintaining continuity with the four seasons that came before them, regardless of the new production changes.
Anthony and I had wanted to do this series for a number of years, having watched all of it and always talking about it, explained Bell. When we got the gig, we both watched the entire series again and paid special attention to the things we loved, things we thought could be different and things we thought could be better. But we obviously had to keep continuity.
Going anamorphic for the new season made absolute sense, said Bell. There's a time jump between the fourth and fifth seasons, with a new storyline for the Shelby family, so a new look made sense and it made the series more cinematic than it had ever looked.
The first consideration was the move to 4K and camera selection. The previous seasons were shot on an ARRI ALEXA, but through many camera tests the team decided that the RED MONSTRO 8K sensor had the best look for the project, with the flexibility, sensitivity and physical size of the camera they needed. The next consideration was the anamorphic lenses - and this would be Bell's first anamorphic project.
Following extensive testing, the anamorphic lens of choice became the Cooke Anamorphic/i primes. We wanted a great anamorphic cinematic look with the ability to shoot fast, but the lenses also had to be very reliable through varied environmental conditions and have good accuracy for the focus pullers. That may seem like a lot to ask, but the Anamorphic/i just stood out from the rest.
For production, Bell's kit consisted of the Anamorphic/i 25, 32, 40, 50, 65 MACRO, 75, 100 and 135mm. The 40mm was a real workhorse for handheld and establishing shots, with the 65 MACRO being the go-to lens for getting really close to the actors and to pull focus from the background, said Bell.
One specific scene where the Cooke Anamorphic/i 40mm prime lens stood out was a five-minute sequence in Episode Five after a character has been shot. There's a handheld shot for the entire five minutes with the scene going around to different characters, explains Bell. We had multiple lights rigged on boom arms that hit specific areas so we could move 360 degrees around the set without seeing any lights. The 40mm worked perfectly for this shot giving it cinematic scale and a beautiful Anamorphic quality.
Production of the fifth season of Peaky Blindersdidn't get off to an auspicious start. With the first week of shooting near Manchester, in a hilly area of northern England, the first day delivered rain, wind and freezing temperatures. That's what we had for the first shot of the season, said Bell. And then it got worse with torrential rain while shooting in the moors and countryside area, but camera and lenses stood up to the challenge.
I was really excited to give Peakyan anamorphic feel, and the Cooke standard Anamorphic/i lenses with their subtle bokeh and no big anamorphic flares gave it that look a cleaner look, and not an extreme in your face' anamorphic look, said Bell. We needed and got a softer, more naturalistic look that didn't make a statement that we were changing the show. We had the perfect balance with the Cooke Look - that carried over since the third season - which really enhanced the cinematic scale of the series and brought it to a new level.
And for Bell, when it came to shooting anamorphic for the first time? For me, using Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses wasn't that different to using Cooke spherical lenses - I could still do whatever I needed to do with lighting or even shooting wide open - Anamorphic/i's coped with everything. Doing close focus took a little bit more time, but we didn't really think about it, we were able to use the 65mm MACRO and we just needed to be aware of the camera getting too close.
Bell also has some advice for cinematographers who find themselves in the same position he was in: shooting their first anamorphic project.
Creatively this season was great and we're proud of what we did on Peakyand people like it. If you're looking at your first anamorphic project like I was, it's simple: go out and get a set of Cooke Anamorphic/i's and start shooting, he concluded.
About Cooke Optics, LTD
Cooke is a storied name in both cinematographic and ultra-high-end professional photography markets. Known worldwide for their precision, exacting tolerances and superior quality, Cooke lenses are specified by many of the world's most respected cinematographers. Cooke is also the developer behind /i Technology, the protocol enabling vital lens and camera information to be captured and passed digitally to post-production teams. Cooke was honored with a 2013 Academy Award of Merit (an Oscar statuette) for its continuing innovation in the design, development and manufacture of motion picture camera lenses.
Features in production or recently shot with Cooke lenses include Sweetheart, Vice, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star Is Born, Venom, Call Me By Your Name, Motherless Brooklyn, Stan and Ollie, Darkest Hour, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. Television shows in product
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
11/06/2026
Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...
-- 
