Cooke Speed Panchro Lens Colour Temperatures

Colour temperature measurements of each lens in our TLS Cooke Speed Panchro set.

Ben Bateman

Updated 17 Mar 2026

·

2 min read

Vintage series 2 and 3 Cooke Speed Panchro lenses use thoriated glass elements that yellow over time. This can cause colour temperature inconsistencies across a set of lenses as the yellowing occurs at different rates and to different extents.
To measure the colour temperature differences in our set of TLS rehoused S2/S3 Cooke Speed Panchros, we used our lens projector. First we measured the colour temperature of the projector bulb on its own with a spectrometer (5270K). Each lens was then placed on the prjector, and we measured the colour temperature of the light transmitted through the lens.
Here are the results.
Colour temperatures of S2/S3 Cooke Speed Panchros lenses.
Focal LengthMeasured TempBaseline TempDifference
18mm S3
4790K
5270K
480K warmer
25mm S3
5230K
5270K
40K warmer
32mm S2
4740K
5270K
530K warmer
40mm S2
5390K
5270K
120K cooler
50mm S2
5300K
5270K
30K cooler
75mm S2
5140K
5270K
130K warmer

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