{"overview":"The Taylor, Taylor & Hobson 25mm T2 \/ f\/1.8 Cooke Kinetal is a fast wide-angle cine prime built for 16mm motion-picture cameras. Made by the long-established British optics house in Leicester, it dates from the post-war era of professional 16mm news, documentary and television production and was designed for hand-held, low-light reportage work.","market_narrative":"At UK saleroom level the Cooke Kinetal 25mm is an affordable entry point into vintage British cine glass, and in today's market a single hammer result of £88 (Chiswick Auctions, January 2025) is the only verified data point we hold. On that basis the lens is currently worth around £88 at auction, though with one sale the figure should be treated as indicative rather than a firm median, and clean, fungus-free examples in the correct cine mount can sell for materially more when they appear.","buying_guide":"Inspect the front and rear elements under a torch for fungus, haze and cleaning marks, as these older coatings scratch easily and internal haze is common on lenses that have sat unused for decades. Check that the iris blades are dry and snap cleanly across the T2 to T22 range with no oil migration, and that the focus helicoid turns smoothly without stiffness or grease that has hardened. Also confirm the mount (C-mount or one of the Kinetal bayonet variants) matches your intended camera, and look for separation or balsam haze between cemented groups.","specs":"Key specs from the available data: a 25mm wide-angle prime for 16mm cine use, with a maximum aperture of T2 (approximately f\/1.8) under the Cooke Kinetal name.","faq":[{"q":"What is a Cooke Kinetal 25mm T2 worth today?","a":"Based on the single UK auction record we hold, a Cooke Kinetal 25mm T2 sold for £88 hammer at Chiswick Auctions in January 2025, so that figure is the best current guide to its value."},{"q":"How much does a Taylor, Taylor & Hobson 25mm Kinetal sell for at auction?","a":"The verified hammer price is £88, achieved in early 2025; condition, completeness of the mount and the presence of original caps will move individual results above or below that level."},{"q":"Is the Cooke Kinetal 25mm a cine or stills lens?","a":"It is a cine lens designed for 16mm motion-picture cameras, which is why it is calibrated in T-stops (T2) rather than purely in f-numbers."},{"q":"What should I check before buying one?","a":"Look for fungus, internal haze, oil on the aperture blades, scratched coatings, element separation and stiff focus, and verify the lens mount fits your camera body."}],"confidence":35,"reasoning":"Only one verified sales record and no SPECS or variant data were provided, so confidence is capped well below 50."}