Cooke Amotal and LLL Speed Panchro II

gelatin silver print (cooke amotal 50mm f2) leica m2

Amsterdam, 2022

Erik.

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brusby said:
Nicely detailed and handles b&w tones well
m240, Amotal
M2400578 by Brusby, on Flickr
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You are preaching to the choir. It is an obscure lens that research and good guidance led me to. It shines in my annual Rhodie blossoms shoot. It gets the flower details well and the glow also. Of course it works well in other instances for me, almost always color.
 
I'd imagine these lens would shine in video for cinematic scenes. I wonder if there's and examples of video using theses lenses.
 
cboy said:
I'd imagine these lens would shine in video for cinematic scenes. I wonder if there's and examples of video using theses lenses.
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Cooke no longer makes still lenses but they do make great movie lenses. They are prized for that "Cooke Look." Much of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon was shot with Cooke lenses as have many other films. This site can fill you in: Home - S8 Teaser It is all about the light and Cooke does light so well. And they are sharp without making your eyes bleed. I really like my Amotal and IIRC there is a fellow in The Netherlands who likes his, too. Just a rumor but one with reasonable credence.

The general lack of fame of English lenses is not an indication of a lack of quality. I believe the Amotal was their last still lens and it went out of production in the late 1940's.
 
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boojum said:
Cooke no longer makes still lenses but they do make great movie lenses. They are prized for that "Cooke Look." Much of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon was shot with Cooke lenses as have many other films. This site can fill you in: Home - S8 Teaser It is all about the light and Cooke does light so well. And they are sharp without making your eyes bleed. I really like my Amotal and IIRC there is a fellow in The Netherlands who likes his, too. Just a rumor but one with reasonable credence.

The general lack of fame of English lenses is not an indication of a lack of quality. I believe the Amotal was their last still lens and it went out of production in the late 1940's.
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Barry Lyndon was shot on a mix of Cooke Speed Panchros, a Canon 35mm T/1.5, Angénieux zooms and a few of the infamous Zeiss 50mm ƒ/0.7s for candlelit interiors, some of which were modified with a projector lens to reduce the focal length to something like 37mm.

Cooke lenses are quite common in film production and have been since the silent era. S4 lenses were quite common in the late 1990s and 2000s. And the S2/S3 Speed Panchros have seen a resurgence in popularity to soften the harshness of digital cinematography. English camera technician Joe Dunton has had a career adapting Cooke and Zeiss lenses with anamorphic elements to shoot widescreen, though Cooke now has their own series of anamorphic lenses. Star Trek Picard was shot entirely on Cooke anamorphics, for instance.
 
Trying to get the lenses to exhibit flare, not direct into sun, but close. Point of focus is base of the fu dog on the right.
LLL Speed Panchro f2

Amotal f2
 
What I understand about the technical end of lenses can be written on the head of a pin and you would still have room for the Lord's Prayer. All I know is that when I use the Amotal and point it at something I get a better image than I would otherwise. The series I did this year of white Rhodies at f/4.0 had that sweet glow about it. And I took enough that I got a good one or two so I am pleased. The color is good and it does subtle very well as in addition to doing bright color very well.

Were it not for the wisdom of the board, and one ignoble miscreant in particular, I would not have this lens today. So every time I take it out on the M9 it is with thanks for the help and guidance I got here.
 
Thank you Dexdog for this great test. In my eyes the LLL Speed Panchro has more effective coatings and therefore the images with that lens have more contrast. The Amotal is from 1948 when coating was still someting exceptional. It is great that the LLL Speed Panchro is available. The Amotal is rare and therefore more expensive. I would choose the Amotal for analog black and white photography and the LLL Speed Pancro for color.

Erik.
 
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