THC, no, not that kind. Taylor-Hobson-Cooke

boojum

boojum

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Back at the dawn of time when SLR's were new and many from Europe, dealers offered them with a 50mm or maybe 55mm Taylor-Hobson-Cooke lens, f/2.0 IIRC. They were rumored to be BBC TV camera lenses. Now there isn't a sign of them anywhere. There must have been some sold. Does anyone know anything about these lenses?
 
Many were made for the failed Bell and Howell Foton cameras and the un-used reminder were sold to a NYC camera store and had the lenses remounted in Italy in LTM as a very few in Contax RF mount to be sold in this camera store with new Leica and Contax bodies..because there was some loop hole to sell a new camera from these makers with a non factory made lens cheaper than manufactures suggested list price when the camera body was sold with the factory made 50mm lens.
 
I have one of these in LTM that does not appear to be made in Italy. Based on the pics I have seen online, my lens does not resemble the ones re-mounted in Italy
 
A beautiful lens, and a great performer too. I know that there are several versions of this lens out there, but I have never seen a definitive history of my version of this lens. I would appreciate any info RFF folks could provide
 
I use this lens with a 34mm Walz filter, a Kenko Japan K6-2/25 step-up ring and a Kenko Series VI lens shade. As retro as can be.
 
I've never seen this thread on the Cooke Atomal until now. The lens was made for the American Foton camera, an expensive camera from the end of the 1940's. Many Amotals have been converted to fit Leica's. I'm happy to own one of those.

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

Erik.

48015769108_4487fa2bfe_b.jpg
 
Erik, a great pic that shows the impressive performance of this lens. Even harder to demonstrate in B&W. Congratulations
 
dexdog said:
I have one of these in LTM that does not appear to be made in Italy. Based on the pics I have seen online, my lens does not resemble the ones re-mounted in Italy
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Maybe other contractors did the remounting work too..could have been in Italy or in other nations..not all would mark the nation of origin of the re-mount.

You got to remember a NYC camera store had these done...could be other camera stores did the same thing but used other contractors or requested not to have them marked as to not confuse the English origin of the optics to the buyer...TTH Cooke was a prestigious brand well known to Hollywood cinematographers and others.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...0mm-1833055362
 
Wow! What a knowledgeable group. I know THC is a very good cinema lens but wondered what happened to those THC lenses sold by the NY camera store and what lenses they are. I think the store was Willoughbeys, an old and respected dealer who seems to now be gone. Nope, still there, on 36th. But my memory seems to be the THC lens was offered with an Eastern bloc SLR camera during the mid to late 50's when I was just embarking on my career of fame and fortune with a camera. LMAO The dates are right, though. ;o)

I checked eBay and find some there. Some of the old lenses are just wonderful. Does anyone have color?
 
boojum said:
Wow! What a knowledgeable group. I know THC is a very good cinema lens but wondered what happened to those THC lenses sold by the NY camera store and what lenses they are. I think the store was Willoughbeys, an old and respected dealer who seems to now be gone. Nope, still there, on 36th.

I checked eBay and find some there. Some of the old lenses are just wonderful. Does anyone have color?
Click to expand...

The camera store with that modified Cooke Amatol lens in the 1950s ads in camera magazines was I believe Peerless..who later joined forces with Willoughbys to become Willoughbys-Peerless then back to Willoughbys.
 
xayraa33 said:
The camera store with that modified Cooke Amatol lens in the 1950s ads in camera magazines was I believe Peerless..who later joined forces with Willoughbys to become Willoughbys-Peerless then back to Willoughbys.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. I had forgotten that. That was the store of the era. My first 35mm camera came from there, a used Voigtländer Vito II, my meme.
 
I had to go back and re-take my history lesson after reading "Taylor Hobson Cooke." I remembered there was something confusing about these names. It had to do with the "Cooke Triplet." That lens was actually designed by Dennis Taylor, but named the Cooke Triplet because Taylor worked for Cooke, the manufacturer. And the other thing was that Dennis Taylor apparently had little or nothing to do with Taylor, Taylor and Hobson, a British company; which in turn, apparently had nothing to do with Cooke, an American company. What I wondered is how "Cooke" got into the name "Taylor Hobson Cooke." So according to Wikipedia, Cooke Optics is also a British optical company based in Leicester, and is a "spin-off" of Taylor-Hobson and can be regarded as the successor of Taylor, Taylor and Hobson. Now I wonder if the present Cooke Optics is in any way related to the American Cooke company. (I'm sure my old brain will remember all this for at least five minutes.)
 
My father worked with TTH in the fifties, early in his career, on their optical coating processes.

I have one of the Bell & Howell Foton-derived ltm THC 50/2 lenses but it is still in pieces for CLA-ing. I bought the lens after seeing one of Erik’s photos that he took with it, that was just perfect, although Erik subsequently took the web version of the photo down so I can’t link to it.

50mm is a difficult focal length for out-of-focus rendition - the TTH 50/2 has by far the best out-of-focus rendition of any Leica mount 50mm lens I have seen. I can’t wait to use it on my MP.

Marty
 
Freakscene said:
My father worked with TTH in the fifties, early in his career, on their optical coating processes.

I have one of the Bell & Howell Foton-derived ltm THC 50/2 lenses but it is still in pieces for CLA-ing. I bought the lens after seeing one of Erik’s photos that he took with it, that was just perfect, although Erik subsequently took the web version of the photo down so I can’t link to it.

50mm is a difficult focal length for out-of-focus rendition - the TTH 50/2 has by far the best out-of-focus rendition of any Leica mount 50mm lens I have seen. I can’t wait to use it on my MP.

Marty
Click to expand...

I'm starting to believe that I "need" one. But first I have to learn to take better photos.
 
There is a group on the lens on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/groups/4496780@N20/pool/.

My lens only fits M-cameras, I think I would use it more when it was LTM, but this is true for all the M-lenses, btw.

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

Modern art gallery in Utrecht. The linear distortion is not caused by the lens, but by subsidence of the building.

Erik.

49887971313_4a1bfc734b_b.jpg
 
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