Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
I have heard some opposing views about the relative quality and consistency of the older bare aluminum vs new black finished Jupiter 8 and 3 lenses, so I guess I'm putting up this post to get some more.
Dante Stella's very interesting article on lens compatibility states that the best quality was around 1960, but does not explain why this might be the case. The older ones seem to have better engraving, but I don't see why that would imply the optics are better as well. What it does do is to give a really good explanation about why people sometimes tend to get disappointing results from these lenses on non-FSU camera bodies.
http://www.dantestella.com/technical/compat.html
The obvious difference with the J8 is that it went from a double helical to a single helical when it went to the black finish. Annoying, but potentially easier to keep in spec. The J3 kept the double helical though- strange.
So based on the experience of the group, did the lenses tend to get better or worse in their newer incarnation, or is any difference insignificant compared to the normal variations between individual lenses of the same vintage? Is there some "sweet spot" range of dates where the combination of build standards and available optical and manufacturing technologies peaked?
Cheers,
Dez
Dante Stella's very interesting article on lens compatibility states that the best quality was around 1960, but does not explain why this might be the case. The older ones seem to have better engraving, but I don't see why that would imply the optics are better as well. What it does do is to give a really good explanation about why people sometimes tend to get disappointing results from these lenses on non-FSU camera bodies.
http://www.dantestella.com/technical/compat.html
The obvious difference with the J8 is that it went from a double helical to a single helical when it went to the black finish. Annoying, but potentially easier to keep in spec. The J3 kept the double helical though- strange.
So based on the experience of the group, did the lenses tend to get better or worse in their newer incarnation, or is any difference insignificant compared to the normal variations between individual lenses of the same vintage? Is there some "sweet spot" range of dates where the combination of build standards and available optical and manufacturing technologies peaked?
Cheers,
Dez