Fast Lens for Zorki 1? (F1.4 or greater)

[hyunkseo]

Hey guys are there any F 1.4 through 1.9 lens for the M39 that's affordable?
I am thinking of pairing a zorki-1 with 1600 iso film with such lens... thanks!

 

[k__43]

Hey guys are there any F 1.4 through 1.9 lens for the M39 that's affordable?
I am thinking of pairing a zorki-1 with 1600 iso film with such lens... thanks!

define "affordable" :-D
there is the Jupiter3 which is supposed to focus alright on the soviet RF's. (f/1.5 goes for about 100-150 euros here).
the ltm canons/serenars 35/1.8 or 50mm (I'm going to sell a 50/1.4) .. going from 150 euros (ugly shape, mine is excellent tho)
a CV ultron 28/1.9 maybe?

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Well, Leica/Zeiss made a few at about f/1.5 and there have been a lot of others from Japan and the former USSR. Trouble is, any mis-matches between different makers will show up at the widest apertures, so you could be in for an expensive time after finding the lens.

Regards, David

 

[Mablo]

I would stick with FSU lenses because of those potential mis-matches David mentioned. Jupiter-3 (50mm/1.5) or Jupiter-8 (50mm/2) are both fine lenses provided you'll find one in good condition.

 

[Frontman]

I've used a Canon 50/1.2 lens on an early Zorki. It does work, but the body of the lens blocks half of the viewfinder, so an accessory finder would be necessary for practical use. Remember that the Zorki 1 has a top shutter speed of only 1/500 sec. Fast film and a fast lens may be good at night, or indoors, but won't be very handy outside during the day. My Zorki is a 1948 FED-Zorki with a 1/1000 sec top speed, but that's a couple of stops or more too slow to shoot wide open during the day.

 

[Coldkennels]

Does the Jupiter 3 still take the 40.5 filters of almost all the other FSU lenses? Because that'd be what I'd do for wide open during the day - a 40.5mm ND filter. I'm guessing, however, that the high speed film suggests night time shooting, so I don't think the OP would particularly need to worry about such things.

 

[Thomas78]

I would also suggest J-3 because of compatibility issues.

This is most important when using a lens close distance wide open.

 

[ray*j*gun]

Yes the J3 uses 40.5 filters.

 

[Dez]

I also suspect the J3 would be your best bet, but make sure that it is properly adjusted. Although they are capable of great optical performance, mechanical quality control at the factory was pretty miserable, and most lenses need to have their focus mounts re-shimmed. The fix is simple, and there are many threads on RFF telling how to do it, but you will need an LSM body with a removable back (i.e. not your Zorki 1) to set the focus correctly.

Super fast film and a big aperture implies really low light shooting. The Zorki's squinty viewfinder may make that a bit challenging.

Cheers,
Dez

 

[David Hughes]

I thought shimming was only needed for FED/Zorki/KMZ etc on Leicas? Using FSU lenses on FSU camera bodies is best, imo but I've used the J-8 on the M2, CL and others without problems...

But I seldom shot at 1m with the J-8 wide open and DoF could hide things.

Regards, David

 

[Dez]

In my experience, the lens-to-lens variation in the fast FSU lenses tends to be greater than the systematic variation between the FSU cameras and well-standardized Leicas and Canons. The challenge, of course is that you need to be able to get at the film plane to do the adjustment. I have two cameras that I use as standards, a FED-2 with its wonderful long-base RF, and a Canon P, which is an extraordinarily well constructed camera. I recently had a go at a very nice J3 that was badly set up as received, and I found that the same shimming solution worked for both cameras.
It's a good idea to have one camera and one lens that you always use as a standard to individually adjust lenses and rangefinders. With FSU cameras, especially ones that have seen a bit of use, there are many things that can cause focus problems, and the tolerances in these dimensions will confuse the issue if all the variables are present at once.
The RF can usually only be adjusted at one point, and one needs to take it on faith that the RF cam profile is correct. It's easiest to set it at infinity, while using a known-good lens (I have a Canon 50 f1.4 I use for that), but probably wiser to set it at 1.5m or so.
If you are lucky, the lens when shimmed correctly on the standard camera also focuses properly on the camera on which it is to be used.

Cheers,

Dez

 

[David Hughes]

Thanks; I seem to be amazingly lucky with all my "Made in the USSR" lenses, even those from the 1930's.

Regards, David

 

[Frontman]

Here is what a FED-1948-Zorki looks like with a Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens.

 

[Brian Legge]

Haha I'd love to carry that camera around for the sheer ridiculousness of it. The finder on top is a nice touch.

I picked up a CLA'd Zorki here a year ago or so. Very smooth camera, great finder... but the flange to film plane distance was way off of the Leica standard. It was something like 2-3mm off. After losing a roll to that issue, I reshimmed it but haven't tried it again. Its difficult building the will to do it as I have other cameras that work nicely and I don't have a good way of verifying my flange shimming attempt results without shooting a roll.

All of that is to say that I don't know if a J3 will necessarily be a safe bet. I've come to assume every FSU LTM body and lens may be calibrated differently and require adjustment.

 

[David Hughes]

HI Brian,

I think you ought to attack that Zorki as soon as possible. 2-3mm sounds like something was left out or damaged. And how could any one claim to have done a serious CLA and not noticed it? You'd be able to see it if the registration was that much out and wouldn't even have to measure it to realise, surely?

Regards, David

 

[Frontman]

Haha I'd love to carry that camera around for the sheer ridiculousness of it. The finder on top is a nice touch.

I picked up a CLA'd Zorki here a year ago or so. Very smooth camera, great finder... but the flange to film plane distance was way off of the Leica standard. It was something like 2-3mm off. After losing a roll to that issue, I reshimmed it but haven't tried it again. Its difficult building the will to do it as I have other cameras that work nicely and I don't have a good way of verifying my flange shimming attempt results without shooting a roll.

All of that is to say that I don't know if a J3 will necessarily be a safe bet. I've come to assume every FSU LTM body and lens may be calibrated differently and require adjustment.

The distance from the flange to the film pressure plate should be 28.8mm. Make sure you measure and shim so the distance is consistent top and bottom, left and right. At this distance, Leica and Japanese L-mount lenses should focus properly (so long as your rangefinder is in adjustment).