RE: [Leica] Housekeeping: and the Cooke Amotal/M3

[Jem Kime <jem.kime@cwcom.net>]

John,
Kind of you to remind me about this valuable resource, I enquired about a 
recent lens I've acquired, it seems there was no response to a request 
posted in '98. So I shall respond.

David,
Are you still logged on?
I recently bought myself a Cooke Amotal lens which being British has a 
closer interest than most non-Leitz lenses. There is now a seperate web 
site for Cooke lenses which are regarded in the movie industry as most 
choice.(Expensive naturally) They list 35mm lenses but these are for motion 
picture work and cover only a 30mm diameter.
My lens came with the original camera upon which it was sold. An RAF chap 
training in Canada bought it in 1956 whilst there, intriguingly the camera 
is a Canadian built model so is quite rare on that scale too (I believe one 
can tell - apart from the records - by the larger 'M3' engraving on the top 
plate.
Anyway, the lens looks in good condition but the iris ring is quite stiff, 
ser # 299022. I've heard of none under 297500 and none over 299500 so if 
you have one I'd be interested in hearing whetehr it lies outside this 
range.
The lightweight (Italian?) mount is disparaged in Marc's book but seems 
smooth and shiny on the base whilst it has dulled at the top where the iris 
ring is, I suspect that the top part was manufactured in England and merely 
the focusing mount was added elsewhere, especially as the engraving seems 
different.
There is an interesting engraving inside the filter ring, before the ser. 
#, which reads, 'ELC'. I can't think it stands for Ernst Leitz Canada, but 
maybe 'Electron Beam Coating' perhaps, I don't know, any other thoughts?
The lens is a screw mount and as the package was sold complete came with a 
Leitz 50mm LTM-M adapter mounted.
It seems a dinky little lens and should give some good results, I'll see 
what they look like in a while.
Jem


Date: 28-Oct-1998 17:59:40
                From:  inyoung@jps.net
                Subject: [Leica] Off topic, B&H Foton

                Hi,

                 Pardon me for this off topic.  Sometimes I do need to rely 
on vast
                knowledgebase of LUG members.
                 Recently, I had luck to pick up the impressive Foton in 
very nice shape.
                I thought that it had interchangeable lens but failed to 
remove the lens.
                I know there is 90 lens for it.  Does anyone out there have 
any information
                on this?  Also if somebody can share any experience with 
the Cooke Amotal
                lens, I would appreciate it.

                Regards,
                David


- -----Original Message-----
From:	John Collier [SMTP:jbcollier@home.com]
Sent:	14 January 2000 20:08
To:	LUG
Subject:	[Leica] Housekeeping: How to amaze your friends and fellow 
leica-users

If you need to know something, search the archives first and impress
everyone with your new found knowledge and cleverness. The easy to use
search site is located at:

http://lq.corenetworks.com/lq/search.html?ln=leicausers

Yet another public service announcement.