Cooke Panchro SIII/II Information

[Michael Millichamp]

Hey guys,

Im currently looking for some older vintage glass for my Scarlet as a replacement for my RPZ 18-85, and I have been intrigued by Cooke Panchros. The older set, not the new versions.

The lens tests I have seen really have something extra about them and I absolutely love the way they look.

But when I try to do some research about them, and find out more, I feel like I will look at one set, and then the next set I look at, labeled completely the same, will be completely different.

Ive been looking on and off for a couple of weeks, and I thought why not just come here for some info.

Does anyone have a set that they could talk to me about?

Thanks!

 

[Robert Hart]

There will be better qualified people to comment soon enough. Take their advice and disregard my comments once new responses are in.

I have had a play with two old Cooke (by Rank, Taylor, Hobson) Speed Panchro Series II lenses, a 50mm and 75mm and have previously mentioned them here. Both had been severely fungussed, not just a bit of fluff but crocodile skin fungussed coatings and etched glass. They were regarded as uneconomic to repair. Had I known the type had more respect, I might have sent them off to be professionally repaired. They came to me as a gift for me to fix if I could.

In the process of polishing off the fungus damage all coatings were lost. The 75mm in addition had some deep cleaning marks already on the front element. Both lenses are now flary but are despite these abuses still as sharp as a Noct-Nikkor 58mm using the SI2K focus assist readout numbers. The image from both the 50mm and 75mm appear to be evenly lit across the frame and distortion is not evident. A local DP who wants the sort of distressed look uncoated lenses yield for creative reasons is presently testing them on a EPIC. If he will give me some grabs from his tests, I will post them.

The lenses appear to have been built as a basic core containing optical elements, focus and iris mechanism which were fitted into several outer barrel/mount options.

If the lenses you seek are in ARRI standard mount, they likely will have mouse ear shaped metal handles on them. On other lenses of comparable age, these handles are for the focus movement. With the Speed Panchro Series II lenses in the ARRI standard mount, the lens barrel itself is rotated for focus and the handles are held to prevent the lens from turning inside the mount which is not keyed. This is a very confusing, awkward and non-instinctual focus movement which will frustrate modern-day operators unless you have the lenses properly remounted to PL.

To the layman, it appears that the ARRI standard version of the lenses was an improvised adaptation. The focus numbers are very closely grouped around the barrel on a fixed ring. On the specimens I have, there is no corresponding witness mark. Pulling focus for creative reasons would be no picnic.

Adaptors for ARRI standard mount to PL-mount, which use a compression collar that unscrews outwards from the adaptor ring into compression against a wire lockring, may also fail to secure the lens bodies from turning inside unless some loctite is frugally applied on the mount/adaptor face contact surfaces. If loctite is used, collimation to your camera will need to be spot-on beforehand as there may not be any going back if the stuff cannot be released.

The aperture ( iris ) controls (EDIT seem to) form part of the very front rim of these lenses. Unless you are careful, it is possible to inadvertently overstress the iris blade mechanism by mistaking this control as the fixed front of the lens body to grip firmly as you attempt to adjust focus. A similarly styled Schneider Cine-Xenon ?? 28mm in the same kit had a broken iris blade from this circumstance.

The other DP I spoke to felt that good specimens, whilst they would reproduce the image of the times when they were introduced and used, will not come up to the performance and utility of modern lenses. Expecting them to perform equally as a substitute for modern would be a disappointment. In themselves, they do yield an image aesthetic which is identifiably unique and not displeasing.

 

[Robert Hart]

Here are some images.

 

[Stephen Williams]

A lot of Mr & Mrs Smith were filmed with them as there were not enough sets of S4's at the time. Beatuiful lenses for ideal for beauty, why use a modern lens then add diffusion!

 

[Michael Millichamp]

I would really love to rent a set and test them out.

I wonder if anyone would be so kind to let me do this...

 

[Sidney L. Plaut]

I own a complete set of rehoused series 2000 Cooke s2&3 / 18,25.32,40,50,75,100,152mm.

I absolutely love the look and so do a selected group of DP's and directors here in Scandinavia ( I own one of the only sets here).

 

[Robert Hart]

Here is a bit more 2K imaging from the Series 2 Cooke Speed Panchros with CP Ultra T* 25mm and 9mm to compare with. Ignore the colours. I can't colour grade to save my life. My edit computer has conflicting software which munts the SI2K default look. I have restored colour from the raw image as best I can but a small degree of red/green colourblindness does not help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sf9xXE5QrU