Leica Cooke Amotal LTM 2" f/2.0

[boojum]

I never really knew the Brits made lenses. That should tell you a lot right there. But I did remember THC lenses being sold on imported DDR SLR's way back in the day in the NY area. Rumor had it they were surplus BBC TV camera lenses being unloaded at bargain prices. They were, in fact, THC Amotal 2" f/2.0 lenses from the failed Bell & Howell Foton camera which had been reworked to LTM lenses. Little did I know. I have run across them recently and been impressed by their rendering of light and color. They make cine lenses now and are famous for the "Cooke look" or so their ads say. Photos out on Flickr assembled by a photo search for "Amotal" pull in some lovely pics. And while I cannot buy my way to glory I can get better tools to make the job more pleasant. And so have I done. Here is a link and a photo. Cooke Amotal​

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This is cropped in GIMP.​

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[CatsAreGods]

 

[boojum]

View attachment 311857

Is that gun in your pocket? I truly think this is the lens I have been looking for. It is sunny here today and I will soon be out with the M9/Amotal combo and fresh batteries. Wish me luck.

 

[CatsAreGods]

Is that gun in your pocket?

It's an older meme, but it checks out

 

[Brian]

Very nice- This is an uncommon lens, and every lens is unique in its "Prescription" as an optical engineer told me. "Formula" usually depicts the block diagram and relates families of lenses. Prescription is the exact glass, radii of the surfaces, and spacing between elements. The combination gives the lens a unique rendering.

The UK still make lenses, I will be getting a Bertele Sonnar made by Skyllaney this Summer.

 

[boojum]

Very nice- This is an uncommon lens, and every lens is unique in its "Prescription" as an optical engineer told me. "Formula" usually depicts the block diagram and relates families of lenses. Prescription is the exact glass, radii of the surfaces, and spacing between elements. The combination gives the lens a unique rendering.

The UK still make lenses, I will be getting a Bertele Sonnar made by Skyllaney this Summer.

The Bertele sounds like it will be an interesting and good lens. I expect you will keep us posted with reviews and pics when you have it. I'll be happy to see them,

"Prescription" - hmmm, yes. I suspect that Cooke is meddling with some interesting glass types for their special "Cooke Look." After two days with the Amotal I am pleased, quite pleased. In the right light it will really glow and it does this without seeming to sacrifice any other qualities. It is pretty sharp. It is beautifully made, definitely not a Lucas product. The Canon 50mm LTM f/1.8 you recommended is the closest other lens I have. And I am an eager fan of the KMZ Jupiter lenses from the 50's. Very nice color and true with great hues and shading. The J8 has to be the best lens buy around. I have pretty much lost interest in the CV lenses as they seem cold.

I will be using this Amotal a lot in the next few weeks. And I am interested in seeing it work on a Pixii where it is an effective 75mm. It looks like the Pixii will be here Monday. It is in PDX now. A sacrifice of five oxen will always bring good things. But I am so tired of beef ribs. ;o)

 

[boojum]

So, here is a first snap with the Pixii APSC camera using the Cooke Amotal. I am going out to find some better images but this was just a quick one of a clinging vine. I neglected to enter the correct lens size, it was 50mm not 28mm.

Not too impressive but we all have to start somewhere.

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[boojum]

Here is a better example of the Cooke on a Pixii. It does well with whites. This is from a mess of photos I took of the Rhodies.

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[boojum]

WARNING! This is not a Leica or Pixii photo stream. Two pics, both from a Sony A7M III minutes apart. First with a Cooke Amotal, second with a Zeiss/Sony 55mm f/1.8. Both SOOC. There is a difference.

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[boojum]

Succumbed to M9/Amotal fever this afternoon when we got some sunshine. I wandered around the West Mooring Basin, as usual, and took photos of the Oregon Responder, as usual. And some other stuff. I like the Amotal, I like how it does color and hue, I like its precision. I want to do a Canon 50mm LTM f/1.4. Canon 50mm LTM F/1.8, Jupiter 50mm 8 LTM ('57 KMZ) and the 2" (~50mm) Amotal f/2.0 test just to see how they compare.

Fasten your seatbelts, here come five.

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[boojum]

My favorite Sesame Street character, Grover, and a house in the town in Colorado named after him. Looks like lens distortion to me. Ah, well, nothing is perfect and I will center architectural type pics in the future. But other verticals looks fine. Second story windows and chimneys are vertical. The fence to the left of the house cants to the right. Maybe the house was canted and the lens is OK. M09/Amtal. Ecco! Grover, Colorado!

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[boojum]

California. It is not LA and San Francisco. Those are ornaments. California is Bakersfield. California's business is oil and agriculture. The San Joaquin (Valley, San Joaquin Valley - Wikipedia) is most of California's ag produce. This is a photo of some grain storage buildings alongside I-5 just north of Williams. It may be north of dry land rice farming prevalent around Sacramento, but you can be sure it is farming that pays the rent around here. And I-5 carries produce to market. M9/Amotal. It was triple digit heat.

NB, added later, note there is no lens distortion here. That red house in Grover, Colorado, was tilted. As I had hoped/suspected. Bravo Amotal.

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[boojum]

Part of the Astoria fishing fleet getting worked on before returning to work. Both shot with the 2" Cooke Amotal.

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These fellows are getting their sailboat blasted with fine glass particles. They seem happy as does the blaster in the background. Bottom painting tomorrow. Bottom paint is US$250 a gallon and at least two gallons will be needed.

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[boojum]

Yeah, out with Cooke again, this time on an M240 to see how it works. This is not a good example as I had to crop it but otherwise it is SOOC. An old mail/baggage and passenger car awaiting restoration here in Astoria. I fear the Second Coming of Christ will precede the restoration but we never know for sure. Yeah, overexposed. Backed off the exposure compensation by EV -1/3. Hope that helps some. M240/Amotal

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[boojum]

Very nice- This is an uncommon lens, and every lens is unique in its "Prescription" as an optical engineer told me. "Formula" usually depicts the block diagram and relates families of lenses. Prescription is the exact glass, radii of the surfaces, and spacing between elements. The combination gives the lens a unique rendering.

The UK still make lenses, I will be getting a Bertele Sonnar made by Skyllaney this Summer.

Have you gotten the lens? If you did, how do you like it?

 

[Brian]

The Bertele Sonnar delivery "shifted to the right" with all going on, will be here for Fall colors.

 

[boojum]

The Bertele Sonnar delivery "shifted to the right" with all going on, will be here for Fall colors.

Just so long as they have a copy with your name and address on it. I am looking forward to hearing about this lens and how it compares to your other Sonnars and "Sonnars."

 

[rayvonn]

And now it looks like Lens Light Lab have started manufacturing some sort of remake of this lens (that's if you can get a good copy, I note Brian's previous comments on this forum about that company).

Light Lens Lab 50mm f/2 "Speed Panchro II" Update

Hi everyone! A small batch of eight 50mm f/2 "Speed Panchro II" lenses were made before the factory going on break during Chinese New Year Holiday. These lenses were sent to initial testers in China! Announcement on pricing and availability to Western customers will be released after CNY holidays! Photo/Videos of t

lightlenslab.myshopify.com

 

[boojum]

And now it looks like Lens Light Lab have started manufacturing some remakes of this lens (that's if you can get a good copy, I note Brian's previous comments on this forum about that company).

Light Lens Lab 50mm f/2 "Speed Panchro II" Update

Hi everyone! A small batch of eight 50mm f/2 "Speed Panchro II" lenses were made before the factory going on break during Chinese New Year Holiday. These lenses were sent to initial testers in China! Announcement on pricing and availability to Western customers will be released after CNY holidays! Photo/Videos of t

lightlenslab.myshopify.com

The Speed Panchro is a slightly different lens. I have read one YT review. It claims the "Cooke Look" wide open. The Amotal has the "Cooke Look" through a number of stops. This takes little from the Panchro. Both the original Panchro and the original Amotal are getting pricey. I really like the Amotal. Really. And I am plenty vain so I will put in this link to a folder of Amotal shots with the M9, a great combo.. There is one night shot of some boats tied up shot with my sweet J8 but all the rest are Amotal. The ones with the Rhodies are very nice, in close with good light and an example of why I like this lens so much. The brick red house in Grover, CO, is nice and there are a couple of others like the gate in Oysterville. Cooke Amotal

The Cooke magic for me is that it can be both sharp and dreamy at the same time. This is a personal opinion unsupported by any testing, rigorous or otherwise. YMMV

The Panchro replica is interesting and I am following it and how it does in the lens market. Thankfully I am happy enough with the Amotal to not lust after the Panchro. And I am so grateful to the honest seller on eBay who parted with this very clean copy at a fair price. It is well-loved and in a happy home. I got lucky. And I shopped for months before I bought.

 

[boojum]

Further on the Cooke lenses, I am rewatching Doc Martin. Season 5 seems to have been shot with Cooke lenses but it might just me getting dottier, too. But there is that glow in S5 E1. I really like some other camera - lens combos but there are instances where that Amotal is just stellar and nothing I have or know of can equal. Granted Moulton came up with a weird design for the bike I have, but Cooke did great with his postwar lenses, just great. Some engineering solutions are more complicated than others.