Cooke-Telar No3 15 3/4" lens - info please?

djkloss · Jan 30, 2008

Hello,
I just came upon this lens and was wondering if I could get more info on it. There is no shutter. I think it goes with the 5x7 Graphic that is older than dirt and the rolling(?) shutter probably doesn't work. Is there a way of combining this lens with a shutter? Can I use it on a 4x5 Wisner Tech. Field Camera?

Thanks!
Dorothy

PHOTOTONE · Jan 30, 2008

I may be wrong, but wasn't the Cooke-Telar an "add-on" lens designed to turn a normal lens into a telephoto??

Ole · Jan 30, 2008

Something like the Dallmeyer Adon, you mean?

My initial thought was that it could be a Busch-made import?

djkloss · Jan 30, 2008

On the lens is engraved "By Emil Busch Optical Works, Germany made specially for the Taylor Hobson Co. NY."

also it says 30,134C

Ole · Jan 30, 2008

That's it then.

It's a Busch Telar, the precursor of the Bis-Telar. In other words it's a "telenegativ", or a kind of teleconverter. The great new thing with the Bis-Telar was that it was a complete lens, fixed focal length, and far better corrected for distortion than previous tele lenses - and telenegativs.

PHOTOTONE · Jan 30, 2008

Ole said:
That's it then.

It's a Busch Telar, the precursor of the Bis-Telar. In other words it's a "telenegativ", or a kind of teleconverter. The great new thing with the Bis-Telar was that it was a complete lens, fixed focal length, and far better corrected for distortion than previous tele lenses - and telenegativs.

I'm confused..how can it be a "teleconverter"...and....a complete lens...all at the same time?

Ole · Jan 31, 2008

PHOTOTONE said:
I'm confused..how can it be a "teleconverter"...and....a complete lens...all at the same time?

It isn't. The Telar is a Telenegative, which changes the focal length of the lens you screw on the front. The Bis-Telar is a complete lens.

Dallmeyer's Adon, on the other hand, can be either or both depending on which one it is - they're all called Adon.

djkloss · Jul 3, 2025

I know this is an old thread, but since I started it and never found what I was looking for and... would like to know this...
The Front of the lens is marked Cooke Telar 15 3/4" f/7. However when I look through the ground glass to infinity (tops of pines quite a distance away - more than 30 feet)
I measure from the lensboard to the film plane and it measures 9". So how do I know what focal length it is on my 4x5? I always thought you measured as I did - at infinity - and that's your focal length.
I looked in Kingslake, and couldn't find anything. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance...
Dorothy

djkloss · Jul 3, 2025

here are some snap shots of the lens

Dan Fromm · Jul 3, 2025

djkloss said:
I know this is an old thread, but since I started it and never found what I was looking for and... would like to know this...
The Front of the lens is marked Cooke Telar 15 3/4" f/7. However when I look through the ground glass to infinity (tops of pines quite a distance away - more than 30 feet)
I measure from the lensboard to the film plane and it measures 9". So how do I know what focal length it is on my 4x5? I always thought you measured as I did - at infinity - and that's your focal length.
I looked in Kingslake, and couldn't find anything. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance...
Dorothy

This is a Busch (located in Rathenow) lens. It is a telephoto lens. One property of a telephoto lens is that the flange-to-film distance -- that's what you measured -- is less than the focal length. Your lens' focal length is as marked.

djkloss · Jul 3, 2025

Dan Fromm said:
This is a Busch (located in Rathenow) lens. It is a telephoto lens. One property of a telephoto lens is that the flange-to-film distance -- that's what you measured -- is less than the focal length. Your lens' focal length is as marked.

Thanks Dan, that's what I wanted to know

Ian Grant · Jul 4, 2025

T.T.&H, (Taylor, Taylor & Hobson) distributed some Busch, Rathenow, lenses alongside their own in the US, from their New York office. Cooke was one of their trade names, initially only used on the Cooke Triplet lenses.

The TT&H New York distribution was short-lived, beginning in the very early 100s. The Busch Telar was released in 1905 but is not in the Cooke NY 1907 catalogue. Cooke introduced their own Telephoto lenses in 1914.bMy 1911 & 1915 BJP Almanacs list the 135 Broadway TT&H address. by 1920 Burke & James were distributing Cooke lenses, and subsequently Eastman Kodak,

So I would guess that dates your Telar Cooke marked lens to between 1907 and 1914. Here's an Emil Busch 1911 BJP Almanac advert:

The 15¾" marking and the 16" in the advert may just be a différance in rounding off a metric conversion,

Ian

djkloss · Jul 4, 2025

Ian Grant said:
T.T.&H, (Taylor, Taylor & Hobson) distributed some Busch, Rathenow, lenses alongside their own in the US, from their New York office. Cooke was one of their trade names, initially only used on the Cooke Triplet lenses.

The TT&H New York distribution was short-lived, beginning in the very early 100s. The Busch Telar was released in 1905 but is not in the Cooke NY 1907 catalogue. Cooke introduced their own Telephoto lenses in 1914.bMy 1911 & 1915 BJP Almanacs list the 135 Broadway TT&H address. by 1920 Burke & James were distributing Cooke lenses, and subsequently Eastman Kodak,

So I would guess that dates your Telar Cooke marked lens to between 1907 and 1914. Here's an Emil Busch 1911 BJP Almanac advert:

The 15¾" marking and the 16" in the advert may just be a différance in rounding off a metric conversion,

Ian

Thank you Ian, that's great info!

varg · Jul 10, 2025

I have a Busch No.4 f/7 22" (550mm) lens and I use it for portraits in 8x10" but it covers the size at infinity as well.
A great lens, pretty small and with an extension at oo of ~300mm

This lenses are available for low prices because the reputation of tele photos is not the best.

Give it a try!

Cooke-Telar No3 15 3/4" lens - info please?

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