Cooke Amotal and LLL Speed Panchro II

dexdog

dexdog

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Experimenting/farting around with more lenses. I took a series of pics with both my 1947 Cooke Amotal in LTM and the new Light Lens Lab Speed Panchro II. I was wondering how the Cooke parentage would translate into the production of the new LLL lens. Will probably post more images as I go. Do not have a model to photograph, and my dog is not in the mood to play that role at the moment. Images are high quality jpeg straight from Sony a7iii without any post processing. White balance is set to daylight, histograms are very close, the camera is set to Natural color rather than Standard, Vivid or the other options. Point of focus is on the broken branch that is pointing to 10 o'clock. Anyone interested in looking at bigger files should be able to access my Smugmug account by clicking the images; use RFF as password if the site asks for one.

Amotal f2


LLL f2
 
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The lenses seem to render pretty similarly. LLL lens seems to be a tad sharper but has harsher bokeh. All in all (to my surprise) I think I prefer the LLL lens
 
Great! I have been interested in a comnparison of these two as I have the Amotal and like it a lot. So the LLL Speed Panchro comparison is very interesting to me. In sharpness and modeling it seems the Pancho has a slight edge, but that might just be my eyes.

Thanks for the work.
 
I have a few observations on the two lenses, like them both, but they do have differences. I think that the Amotal is a little bit sharper than the LLL offering overall, especially wide open. The Amotal has more vignetting/corner darkening at f 2 and 2.8 than the LLL lens, although both exhibit it to some degree. I think the vignetting is pretty much gone by f4. The LLL exhibits warmer/redder colors than that Amotal; I think that the Amotal has a more 'natural' color rendering. I am starting to wonder whether the Amotal undergoes some minor focus shift as it is stopped down. Will have to try to check that out
 
dexdog said:
I have a few observations on the two lenses, like them both, but they do have differences. I think that the Amotal is a little bit sharper than the LLL offering overall, especially wide open. The Amotal has more vignetting/corner darkening at f 2 and 2.8 than the LLL lens, although both exhibit it to some degree. I think the vignetting is pretty much gone by f4. The LLL exhibits warmer/redder colors than that Amotal; I think that the Amotal has a more 'natural' color rendering. I am starting to wonder whether the Amotal undergoes some minor focus shift as it is stopped down. Will have to try to check that out
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I do not want to get into a dialogue which would bore others. That said I do find that the Amotal has that famous "Cooke Look" of lumounosity at the more open f-stops. This is what I like and use on my spring "Rhodies Tour" to photograph the spring Rhododendron bloom in my area. I get a sharp, in focus image with that glow. And it applies to other images, too, in addition to a soft, natural color that is not washed out. An example, deliberatley a bit underexposed and SOOC

Spring Rhodies.jpg.jpg​
 
One of the things that strike me about both lenses is the dramatic, but smooth, fall-off in sharpness away from the center of the image, not quite the same as a Sonnar, but not that dissimilar (probably why I like these lenses). I have seen several youtube reviews about how the original Cooke Speed Panchro and LLL clone are prone to flare, may have to look at that next
 
dexdog said:
One of the things that strike me about both lenses is the dramatic, but smooth, fall-off in sharpness away from the center of the image, not quite the same as a Sonnar, but not that dissimilar (probably why I like these lenses). I have seen several youtube reviews about how the original Cooke Speed Panchro and LLL clone are prone to flare, may have to look at that next
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I, too, am most fond of the Sonnar 5cm f/2.0 which I have as a KMZ '51 and '57 J8. Lovely lenses and the Bertele is enticing. But how much better can it be? I will be follwoing closely. But the Sonnar f/2.0's and the Amotal are my go-to 50's. I was guided to them by the nefarious Sonnar Brian who knows his lenses. If I do get the Bertele I think I will be done shopping for 50's.

As for the Amotal flare, I use a lens hood and a UV filter. I try to expose myself to as little risk as possible. The Amotal was a spectacular buy from an upright fellow on eBay, pristine and fully functional. A stroke of good fortune from careful shopping. This is it.


Amotal.jpg​
 
My Amotal looks exeactly like yours, except mine is even prettier! Mine is 298961. The vintage Kenko hood in the above pics rarely leaves the Amotal. I am kinda paranoid about flare, and subconsciosly avoid flare-prone situations
 
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I have an Amotal too. I really love the rendering. My Amotal has been converted from Foton mount to Leica M mount. I would prefer to have an LTM, but the optical condition of mine is pristine, so I'm happy with what I have.

I don't think I'll buy the LLL Speed Panchro. From what I see from the pictures taken with that lens it just does not have that remarkable combination of silky smooth bokeh and sharpness the Amotal has.

gelatin silver print (Cooke Amotal 50mm f2 No. 301114) leica mp

Amsterdam 2023

Erik.

52906394528_ff7e65eb73_b.jpg
 
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I like both the original Amotal and the LLL, but given my preference for vintage lenses I prefer the Amotal. That said, the build quality of the LLL 50/2 SPII is really nice, at least as good as a modern CV. A pretty good deal for 800 USD, in my opinion.
 
Erik, I like have said before that I really like your images, this one is no exception. The above image appears to have a strong light source in the background, but little flare in the portrait. You definately nailed the exposure on this photo. If I recall correctly, Sonnar B used my Amotal and was impressed by the resistance to flare, posted some pics on RFF
 
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Thank you, Dexdog, yes, that Amotal is really something special. TTH from the 1930's to the 1960's is the worlds greatest lens maker in my opinion. The optics of the 50mm Summiluxes in this period are made by them too. The black ones have different (superior) optics with orange/red coating.

gelatin silver print (summilux 50mm f1.4 v1 black @ f1.4) leica mp

Amsterdam, 2023

Erik.

52653426713_864b89972d_b.jpg
 
dexdog said:
My Amotal looks exeactly like yours, except mine is even prettier! Mine is 298961. The vintage Kenko hood in the above pics rarely leaves the Amotal. I am kinda paranoid about flare, and subconsciosly avoid flare-prone situations
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And your kids are cuter, too. ;o) And your sailboat, too. This is mine on the M9 with the hood which lives on the Amotal as the Amotal lives on the M9. A great camera/lens combo.

M9-Amotal.jpg​
 
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