Anyone wish to share field experience of the Cooke Series XVa Triple for 'landscape'

Considering the price new in barrel is not that much more than current used prices, it makes sense to me to buy the barrel version new and find a clean used Copal 3 shutter. badgergraphic.com is still showing the barrel option on their webpage. That's where I bought mine in 2014. Took about 3 months to show up after ordering.

December 2023 The used price is now about $10,000 USD . Is this lens such an legend that it is worth while to invest in it? I shoot 8x10 and 11x14 Wisner and also 8x10 Sinar, Alrca Swiss and Kodak . I would use this on the Wisner cameras. I mean I would love to have one but is the price goign to hold into the future? or are the images that much better
I shoot Color in both Ektachrome, Provia and Some Ektar 100. Is the color that wonderful?

Yes I have many questions. It is quite an investment.

Thank you

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Originally Posted by Torontoamateur

December 2023 The used price is now about $10,000 USD . Is this lens such an legend that it is worth while to invest in it? I shoot 8x10 and 11x14 Wisner and also 8x10 Sinar, Alrca Swiss and Kodak . I would use this on the Wisner cameras. I mean I would love to have one but is the price goign to hold into the future? or are the images that much better
I shoot Color in both Ektachrome, Provia and Some Ektar 100. Is the color that wonderful?

Yes I have many questions. It is quite an investment.

Thank you

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I use mine on a Wisner 8"x10" and I love it. I pretty much only photograph in b+w. Personally there's absolutely no way I'd spend $10k on it.

Just because someone is asking $9000 for a lens does not mean they are actually selling for that amount. The last one I followed sold for around $3000.

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Originally Posted by karl french

Just because someone is asking $9000 for a lens does not mean they are actually selling for that amount. The last one I followed sold for around $3000.

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Has anyone on this forum had the opportunity to carefully compare the image quality of the Cooke XVa to a classic Zeiss/B+L 12/19/23 Protar V!!a set?

The Cooke is a modern lens with the best lens coating in the business. The youngest Protar VII is at least 75 years and almost all of them are uncoated. The Cooke is sharper, but the Protar VII is still a sharp lens, especially when stopped down. I have a fairly extensive set of Protar VII cells. It's fun to mix and match focal lengths and try out the single cells. But I use the Cooke XVa more often.

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Originally Posted by karl french

The Cooke is a modern lens with the best lens coating in the business. The youngest Protar VII is at least 75 years and almost all of them are uncoated. The Cooke is sharper, but the Protar VII is still a sharp lens, especially when stopped down. I have a fairly extensive set of Protar VII cells. It's fun to mix and match focal lengths and try out the single cells. But I use the Cooke XVa more often.

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Thanks, Karl. I have 5 different Protar VIIa sets in shutter, with combined FL ranging from 145mm through 300mm. Some though not all of them, are quite sharp, with the Zeiss sets seemingly sharper than the B+L sets.

I have never even seen a Cooke XV or XVa. The extra air-spaces would seem likely to give the individual cells better correction for single cell use. I would expect that a multicoated Cooke XVa set with 8 air-glass surfaces would have better contract than uncoated Protar VIIa sets even though the Protars have only 4 air-glass surfaces, like Dagors.

I have noticed that of my Protar sets, the set(s) with matched same FL, sequentially numbered cells seem to be noticeably sharper than sets with differing FLs, which I attribute to more perfect front-back cell symmetry and hence better cancelling and correction for some aberrations. Is that your experience as well?

While I generally shoot with modern Plasmat/SA pattern lenses, I try to keep an appropriate Protar VIIa with each LF camera bag for those times when they might be right for the image, such as boosting deep shadows.

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Originally Posted by Joseph Kashi

Thanks, Karl. I have 5 different Protar VIIa sets in shutter, with combined FL ranging from 145mm through 300mm. Some though not all of them, are quite sharp, with the Zeiss sets seemingly sharper than the B+L sets.

I have never even seen a Cooke XV or XVa. The extra air-spaces would seem likely to give the individual cells better correction for single cell use. I would expect that a multicoated Cooke XVa set with 8 air-glass surfaces would have better contract than uncoated Protar VIIa sets even though the Protars have only 4 air-glass surfaces, like Dagors.

I have noticed that of my Protar sets, the set(s) with matched same FL, sequentially numbered cells seem to be noticeably sharper than sets with differing FLs, which I attribute to more perfect front-back cell symmetry and hence better cancelling and correction for some aberrations. Is that your experience as well?

While I generally shoot with modern Plasmat/SA pattern lenses, I try to keep an appropriate Protar VIIa with each LF camera bag for those times when they might be right for the image, such as boosting deep shadows.

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Joseph, where are you based? If you're ever in the San Francisco Bay Area you're welcome to take mine out for a spin.

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Originally Posted by rorye

Joseph, where are you based? If you're ever in the San Francisco Bay Area you're welcome to take mine out for a spin.

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Thank you - it's very kind of you. However, I am in Southcentral Alaska (Kenai Peninsula) and haven't been anywhere near the Bay Area for a year. In March 2023, we flew into Sacramento on the way to Mendocino for a bit of a break from the snow, but that's only an occasional trip. Best Regards Joe