Adjusting my Jupiter 3

[kaiwasoyokaze]

This is my experience in dealing with a jupiter 3 that did not work with my Leica M4P. Using Mr. Brian Sweeney's instructions I deconstructed my lens and shimmed it along with adjusting the focusing helical. The only thing left to do is to drill holes in the focusing ring to line up the infinity marker.

my experience with this lens has only been with my olympus ep3 so far.

I did some modifications to allow it to work with my leica m4p.

there were two problems with the camera.

1. the focusing helical (?) on the lens did not enable the RF cam to match infinity.
2. the lens (when testing infinity with my Olympus EP3 w/ adapter did not focus all the way to infinity). It focused to just before infinity.

Here's what I have done after taking it apart.



you can see from the pic that the focusing ring mechanism is 'past' infinity. the indications do not match up. this is a easy fix as i need to get my hand on a drill to drill new holes for the screws. I believe that this modification even enables closer focusing to 0.7!

secondly, the aperture ring does not match up as well, because in order to solve problem #2, I shimmed the focusing module (in Brian's words 🙂 )by a couple of mm to enable the lens to focus to infinity. I then had to shift the aperture ring from the module so that the numbers showed up on top. I cut a groove to show the point where it shows infinity.

It's a hack job so far, but testing it on my EP3 i found that it is working fine, and the helical matches the RF cam for infinity as well. All in all, I think working on these FSU lens are pretty fun (I also have a industar 61 that has a similar problem)

I used my digital Olympus PEN EP3 with m adapter to adjust the lens for infinity.

 

[Brian Legge]

How do you plan to handle the holes? I sent a J3 to him a while ago partially because I wasn't comfortable handling that part (and because I didn't have a digital body to handle testing!)

 

[kaiwasoyokaze]

thanks for the comments,

It was actually quite easy once you open it up and poke around.

This is what I think regarding tinkering with old lens.

It was only when I received my Industar 61 then that encouraged me to try to modify the jupiter 3. Of course, it helps that the I-61 was only 10$ so I wouldnt feel too bad if I missed it up.

The I-61 was gummed up and felt horrible when I used it. I took it apart and cleaned off all the gummed up grease (horrible stuff) and shimmed it as well to enable focus to the RF mechanism. The way the I-61 was constructed was very simple and helped me understand the way the lens worked on the camera body.

This little experiment motivated me to work on my jupiter lens. I spent a decent amount on it already and didnt want to send it to get adjusted again (since it was in mint condition) so I poked around inside to understand the mechanics of the lens. It was more complicated then the I-61.

The only thing you really need is a metal file, and jewelers screwdrivers for the tiny screws. you will also need a pair of good scissors to cut out paper shims to adjust the infinity focus. I ended up cutting out three thin paper shims to enable infinity. I experimented until I got the correct distance checking with my EP3.

How do you plan to handle the holes? I sent a J3 to him a while ago partially because I wasn't comfortable handling that part (and because I didn't have a digital body to handle testing!)

For the readjustment of the focusing ring, I think the only thing I will need is a small hand drill to drill new holes for the screws. I also heard you can use a small hammer and tap it in gently into the softer aluminum to make some holes (but this is a real hassle)

And yeah, it REALLY REALLY helps to have a digital body to check the focusing so you can adjust it by minute amounts for infinity.

for the focusing module I cut out paper shims to create the mm necessary to enable infinity focus. I would highly recommend doing this yourself with your own Jupiter 3 or 8 lens that need adjustments.

-OR- send it to me and I can do it too! 😀

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

drilling yes or no!

drilling yes or no!

Perhaps I don't get this....(btw I worked on quite a number of lenses) but after reshimming a lens like a Jupiter 3, you normally don't end up with a mis match of the focussing ring and the distance markings on the barrel. The only thing that reshimming does is - in case of a smaller shim - putting the lens module more backward - i.e. more towards the filmplane; in itself it doesn't change the settings of the focussing ring. What it does do however is changing the position of the f-stops with respect to the f-stop marking on the barrel. However I wouldn't advise to drill out these little lenses with thin metal, better to make another small marking (just a dot) for the f-stops and you're all set. Further drilling and resetting rings would make the lens unusable for its original FSU cameras which is rather a shame IMHO.

Btw the Jupiters from later make all worked fine on my Leica's (even on my M8.2) and didn't need any shimming at all.

 

[kaiwasoyokaze]

Perhaps I don't get this....(btw I worked on quite a number of lenses) but after reshimming a lens like a Jupiter 3, you normally don't end up with a mis match of the focussing ring and the distance markings on the barrel. The only thing that reshimming does is - in case of a smaller shim - putting the lens module more backward - i.e. more towards the filmplane; in itself it doesn't change the settings of the focussing ring. What it does do however is changing the position of the f-stops with respect to the f-stop marking on the barrel. However I wouldn't advise to drill out these little lenses with thin metal, better to make another small marking (just a dot) for the f-stops and you're all set. Further drilling and resetting rings would make the lens unusable for its original FSU cameras which is rather a shame IMHO.

Btw the Jupiters from later make all worked fine on my Leica's (even on my M8.2) and didn't need any shimming at all.

Sorry I might not have been clear in my instructions. I should have taken pictures while the lens was deconstructed but DOH! :bang:

there were two things I did in the modification of this lens to work with my m4p.

the first modification was to enable the helical to match up with the leica's RF focus mechanism. (the focusing cam), This is the part that required some filing (on the lens assembly ring thingy underneath the focusing ring) and subsequently the focusing ring moved a little beyond infinity after.

the second thing was to shim the focus module. Actually the picture does not show it clear but i cut a small groove and coloured it in (albeit poorly) to match up with the new aperture markings.

I have a jupiter 8 coming in (with a body cap FED 2😀) and am looking for ward to receiving this lens and camera body. I heard it doesn't have much problems as the Jupiter 3.

Before I did the modification and shimming, I tested it (with film) on my m4p before I got an adapter on my Olympus EP3 to test it out more easily, and it was out of alignment with both cameras (wasted a roll of film 😡). Unfortunately I received one with problems on my cameras in this case.