Here is another Cooke triplet from a folding medium format camera, similar to the Westar 75mm and Correlar 80mm f2.9 lenses, which have their own pages here. This lens was a pleasant surprise, being noticeably better than either of those lenses, or the famous Meyer Trioplan 100mm f2.8 for that matter. For those who might be on the lookout for a very nice triplet that is very cheap and gives nice “bubble bokeh”, keep an eye out for this lens on the Balda Baldix camera (which offered several other “fast” f2.9 options as well). All these lenses are easily removed from the camera, being held in place with a simple retaining ring on the back of the lens. The shutter needs to be disabled or jammed open. I found it easy to use brute force–removing the shutter blades with pliers after unscrewing the back element. Because of the flange distance, it is rather easy to adapt this lens not only to mirrorless, but to any DSLR camera as well.
