Okay Ultra-rare lens gurus. what on earth did I just buy?! TODD-AO "Ultra-Fast" 125mm T1.7

[James Coleman Rogers]

 

AFAIK, TODD AO only did spherical lenses on 65/70mm format.

WTF is this?!?! Is it for ToddAO 65/70??

Edited July 1, 2021 by James Coleman Rogers

[Dom Jaeger]

Is it branded Todd/AO or American Optical?

You can roughly check the image circle size by holding it up to a window (one with half open louvres works well) and holding a piece of paper behind the rear element to form an image. You’ll know if it’s big enough to cover a 65mm film frame.

It isn’t one of the lenses made for the first Todd/AO system back in the 50s. Most of the Todd/AO spherical lenses made for later iterations like Dimension 150 or Cinespace were large format Cookes or repurposed from Hasselblads, Mamiyas, Olympus, Nikon etc.

[James Coleman Rogers]

1 hour ago, Dom Jaeger said:

Is it branded Todd/AO or American Optical?

You can roughly check the image circle size by holding it up to a window (one with half open louvres works well) and holding a piece of paper behind the rear element to form an image. You’ll know if it’s big enough to cover a 65mm film frame.

It isn’t one of the lenses made for the first Todd/AO system back in the 50s. Most of the Todd/AO spherical lenses made for later iterations like Dimension 150 or Cinespace were large format Cookes or repurposed from Hasselblads, Mamiyas, Olympus, Nikon etc.

It was sold to me as Todd AO, will see for sure as soon as I get it.

As for the Todd AO 65/70 Cookes...I have the 55mm DuoPanchro ?, been searching for the 30 and 40 for a while now.

[James Coleman Rogers]

Ohhh boy. Just got a 35mm from the same set...TODD-AO 35 "ULTRA-FAST" 35mm F1.3:

Anyone able to identify what this may have been based on? Is it Zeiss? Canon? At F1.3 I doubt it's photo glass.

[Marcel Zyskind]

K35? Look yellowed by thorium. Nice find

[James Coleman Rogers]

@Marcel Zyskindit's possible. Though comparing the images to my K-35 35mm T1.4, the rear element looks a little bit smaller, and my K-35 has 15 aperture blades whereas this has 9. We'll see for sure after it arrives in a couple days.

Here's a peek at the coatings on the front...looks pretty, and multicoated.

My second thought was "SuperSpeed Baltars" which were made for Mitchell, F&B Ceco, and others, but...those are listed as F1.2 for the 35mm from what little I can find.