Lucky me? 2 Cooke Series II Portrait lenses in one deal.

[Tin Can]

I am not looking for pricing or value as we all know that sure varies a lot.

I can use them for 2 weeks to make up my mind. Lens board making is tomorrow.

It's a private party sale where the seller insists I be a user and not a speculator.

OK, for the meat of the matter. Both are Cooke Portrait Series II f4.5. One is 10-1/2" # 125439 and the other is 14-1/2" # 56973. According to research the little one covers 5x8 and the bigger 8x10.

The little one has the handle and set focus stops, the big one does not have a handle or marks engraved for focus stops.

My questions are for people who have used these.


How do you like them?

Any tips?

Can I shoot portraits up one format with them?

Age?

[Mark Sawyer]

If you're into vintage lenses, it's hard to imagine anything nicer! An elegant design with the option of adjustable softness, and no one did the lens-grinding or machine work better than TT&H. The 10.5" would be perfect for 4x5 and 5x7, and the 14 1/2" for 8x10.

The Knuckler attachment began in 1924, so the small lens dates there or after. The large lens is the earlier version of the same lens; I'm not sure if they overlapped or not, but I tend to doubt it.

And if you buy them, yes, lucky you!

[Tin Can]

Just got the Cooke 14.5 mounted up on the 11x14 Deardorff.

Took my time on the lens board as I don't want to have a crash.


f4.5 sure is bright. And for 1 to 1 portrait work I think it will work. My whole 11x14 GG is bright and I don't care how sharp or soft the edges are.

The thing is this lens does not have marks, as in 1 to 4 softness settings like the smaller one and I guess I will need to mark my soft focus spots with gaff tape. I sure am not going to etch or scratch marks in. A 1/4 turn soft looks not too soft on GG. 2 turns soft looks way out of focus. The thing is, I can refocus it when it is 2 turns out.

Looks good so far, but I know i'll want a longer one and those seem really scarce.

Shooting some studio shots tomorrow.

[Tracy Storer]

Buy both if you can, seems like a rare opportunity to spend quality time with serious vintage glass.

[Tin Can]

Most likely I will get the pair. Mounted the big one no problem as my SC11 has a big inside Packard.

For the little one, it's taking more time as I need to make a shutter box and conform the system to my Horseman lens board system, which I use on a few cameras.

I'm going to post a show and tell on the little Cooke fit up. It may interest some people in a slightly different way to set this up.

Buy both if you can, seems like a rare opportunity to spend quality time with serious vintage glass.

[Tin Can]

Here's a pictorial of my mounting the 10.5 Cooke on an old 5x7/8x10 Limhof Color Kardan. It seems nobody loves these things but me.

I consolidate all lenses possible to Horseman board or small Linhof. I use Horseman frames to adapt to bigger cameras.

I wanted a Packard shutter so it is mounted on the back of the 9" Linhof board. It's complete except for the flash sync microswitch. I use that to trigger my wireless strobes.

Now I can mount 4 barrel lenses to it and all Sinar/Horseman mounted shutter lenses.

I used hole saws very carefully to bore my holes, they came out great. The rest was fitting it all up.

[andrewch59]

I am hoping I have hit the right thread here and you may be able to offer some advice. I have just received my cooke 15 inch f:3.5 portrait knuckler, what a lot of lens! Anyway, the soft focus turns ok, but the knuckles seem a bit loose, is this normal? If not how can they be tightened (correctly)?

Just read your thread on the size of the illuminated image on gg, cant wait for a look see. but the mounting board wont fit on my Deardorff 11x14, the board is slightly larger. I am going to have to take the face plate off the Deardorff and make a new one, my ilexpo shutter is slightly too big for the deardorff too.
So any advice on those knuckles would be appreciated.

[Steven Tribe]

Yes, the knuckles are mounted by 2 internal screws at the base of the casting. You may wish to add a friction ring to ensure they doesn't get loose again - and also prevent thread damage with over tightening. Getting the ring off is not difficult.