Cooke Series II 13 inch F4.5 Variable Soft Focus Lens

Cooke Series II 13-inch F4.5 Variable Soft Focus Lens

The Cooke Series II 13-inch F4.5 lens’s ability to produce variable soft focus effects indeed marks it as a unique and historically significant piece of photographic equipment. Its contribution to the art and technique of photography, particularly in portraiture, continues to be recognized and appreciated.

This lens represents a key development in photographic history, marking a transition to higher-quality optics and influencing lens design for decades to follow.

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Early Soft Focus Lens: The Cooke Series II was one of the earlier soft focus lenses produced, setting the standard for all soft focus and portrait lenses that followed.

Diffusion Adjustment Feature: The later productions of the Cooke Series II larger lenses, including the 13-inch F4.5, came with a feature known as a “knuckler” to control the level of sharpness. This allowed photographers to adjust the softness of the image, a key aspect of its design for portrait photography. My lens is the earlier version dating back to the original production in the late 1890s.

Design Evolution: The Cooke Series II f/4.5 Portrait Lens underwent several redesigns from 1897 to about 1935. Initially, it appeared in two focal lengths in an 1897 catalog and was offered in more focal lengths in 1908. The lens was based on the Cooke Triplet design and was an anastigmat with a diffusion adjustment. The 10.5 and 13-inch Series II lenses included this diffusion adjustment, operated from the front of the camera.

Usage and Legacy: The lens produced lovely portrait and landscape photography images. Interestingly, in 2000, Cooke Optics started the production of the PS945 Portrait Series 9″ lens for the 4×5 camera, based on the design of the P&S VQ IV Series 2 lens, not on its own Cooke soft focus lens.

Examples and Collectability: Specific examples of these lenses, like the 8-inch, Series II, f/4.5 Cooke Portrait Lens (SN 18936), were marked with “H.D. Taylor’s Patents,” indicating their historical significance and collectability. Another example, the 13-inch, Series II, f/4.5 Cooke Portrait Lens (SN 104857), was acquired with a 1915 Century brand studio view camera, highlighting its use in a professional setting.

This lens is notable for its innovative design, significant impact on portrait photography, and its continued influence in modern lens manufacturing.

Variable Soft Focus Feature: The Cooke Series II 13-inch F4.5 lens was designed with a unique capability to adjust the level of soft focus. This was achieved through a mechanism that allowed photographers to control the degree of spherical aberration, which affected the image’s softness.

Usage in Portraiture: This feature made the lens especially popular in portrait photography during the height of the Pictorialist period. Photographers could adjust the lens to add a dreamy, ethereal quality to their images, which was highly sought after for artistic portraits. The ability to control the softness allowed for various effects, from sharp and detailed to soft and impressionistic.

Influence on Photographic Style: The variable soft focus capability of the Cooke Series II lenses contributed to the popularity of a particular style of portraiture in the early 20th century. This style often emphasized a romantic, almost painterly quality in images, which was quite distinct from the sharper, more realistic styles that were also prevalent at the time.

Technical Innovation: The incorporation of variable soft focus in a lens was a significant technical achievement. It provided photographers with a new level of creative control directly from the lens, without needing to resort to post-processing techniques or special filters.

Legacy and Modern Relevance: The unique soft focus feature of these lenses has influenced both the aesthetic and technical aspects of photography. Even in the digital age, the soft focus effect is often emulated in various software applications, attesting to its enduring appeal.

The Cooke Series II 13 inch F4.5 lens has a rich history in the field of photography, particularly in the early to mid-20th century.

Origin and Manufacturer: The Cooke Series II lenses were manufactured by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson, a British company known for producing high-quality photographic lenses. This company has a long-standing reputation in the lens-making industry, dating back to the late 19th century.

Design and Optical Quality: The Series II lenses, including the 13 inch F4.5 model, were designed based on the classic Cooke triplet formula. This design was revolutionary at its time and significantly improved upon the sharpness, contrast, and overall image quality compared to earlier lens designs. The triplet design became a standard in lens manufacturing.

Popularity and Usage: These lenses gained popularity among professional photographers for their excellent optical performance. They were particularly favored for portrait and landscape photography due to their sharpness and the pleasing quality of the out-of-focus areas (bokeh).

Historical Significance: The Cooke lenses, including the Series II 13 inch F4.5, played a significant role in the evolution of photographic optics. They set a benchmark for lens design and influenced future developments in the field. The Cooke triplet design is still considered one of the most important advancements in photographic lens design.

Collectability and Legacy: Today, the Cooke Series II 13-inch F4.5 lens is a sought-after item among collectors of vintage photographic equipment. Its historical significance and the quality of the images it produces make it a prized possession.

Modern Adaptations: The influence of the Cooke design is evident in modern lens manufacturing. Many contemporary lens designs still draw on principles established by the Cooke triplet.

Additional Information

From the antiquecameras.net website: The Taylor, Taylor & Hobson company of Leicester, England, and later of New York, began their production of soft focus lenses about 1898, and via various company name changes and restructurings, still sell a soft focus lens today (Cooke PS945)!

The first model was the Cooke Portrait Lens Series II which was first sold about 1898. This lens, and its future variations, would be sold for over 50 years. The lens utilized the same diffusion principal as the Dallmeyer Patent Portrait lens, that is, by moving a lens element in relation to the other elements to add varying degrees of spherical aberrations to the lens. Below is an advertisement from the December 1898 issue of The Photographic Dealer describing the lens.

In 1907, T,T&H followed up with another soft focus model, the Series VI Portrait Lens. This lens featured the same type of diffusion as the Series II, but added knobs on the lens where “cords'” could be attached to the lens to make adjustments more easily while focusing on the camera. It was slower than the Series II at f/5.6, but also less expensive and smaller. See below for a December 1907 The Camera magazine advertisement.

The Cooke line would continue to grow and expand into numerous models and updated features.

About 1910, The Cooke Portrait Series II expanded to include the Series IIa f/3.5 which featured a greater speed of f/3.5.

By 1920, another lens was introduced, the Cooke Portrait Series I f/3.1. This was for “Extra Rapid Artistic Portraiture.”

About 1924, the various models began featuring a finger gripping device as an easier way to adjust the diffusion, rather than twisting the lens. This feature is also referred to as a “knuckle duster” and/or “knuckler.” While the pre-1920 lens models mostly featured 3 different positions for the various diffusion amounts, many now featured 5 or 6 positions for a greater range of diffusion.

In 1926, the Series IIb f/4.5 lens was developed and basically replaced the original Series II lens.

In 1930, the Series IId and IIe lenses were also added to the lens line and by 1936, the Series VIa was added.

The Cooke lenses were exceptionally well made, and very expensive lenses (more than triple the price of a Verito ), and many of the longer focal lengths weighed over 30 pounds.

Historic Catalog Listings/Info