Buying a Jupiter 3: Where to Begin?

Well, after all of this I picked up another J-3 and J-8 in LTM last night. The Russian seller combined shipping for the lenses, sign of a good seller! I'll post on the lenses when they arrive. The J-8 is going to get a Sonnar module, and not sure about the J-3 yet!
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Well, after all of this I picked up another J-3 and J-8 in LTM last night. The Russian seller combined shipping for the lenses, sign of a good seller! I'll post on the lenses when they arrive. The J-8 is going to get a Sonnar module, and not sure about the J-3 yet!
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Can a Helios 103 lens module go in a J-8 focus unit Brian?
love to have a Menopta/Helios 103 on an LTM Leica.
 
I've never managed to get a Menopta/Helios into an LTM mount. I modified them for my Nikon RF's. The 1981 Helios-103 has a secondary shim for the rear group. I polished it down by ~0.4mm to shorten the focal length to the Nikon standard. On the Menopta and later Helios, I just back the entire module out 1/2 turn and tighten the set screws. It works.

BUT- the optics are too big for a J-8 mount, and you would need a J-3 mount to get it into place. I have used them in my Contax to M-Adapter, but that is not cheap/
 
OK. I stand corrected.
There is something strange about my Menopta.
It fits well on my Contax IIIa but the fit is bad on my IIa.
 
You can check the locking tab and the bayonet flanges. That particular one went right onto my Kiev and Contax IIIa. It was a tight fit on the Nikon S3, and I just left it for the Contax rather than breaking out the file. I converted the other 6 Menopta's to the Nikon, but left this one alone.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
You can check the locking tab and the bayonet flanges. That particular one went right onto my Kiev and Contax IIIa. It was a tight fit on the Nikon S3, and I just left it for the Contax rather than breaking out the file. I converted the other 6 Menopta's to the Nikon, but left this one alone.
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Now that I have from you a CZJ 5cm/1.5 in addition to my CZJ 5cm/2, the Menopta can rest on the IIIa since it works smoothly on this camera.
 
Raid- I sent you a CZO 50mm F1.5! I have my very first CZJ 5cm f1.5, and just dropped off the test roll today. Neat lens, from 1935. Stops down only to F11. It will be interesting to compare with my CZO 50/1.5's. I still have two left, one for the Contax and one customized for the Nikon S-Mount. I moved the rear module in and shimmed it for S-Mount. I wrote "S-Mount" on it.
 
Brian,

I did not pay much attention to the lens being an Opton vs. it being a pre-War lens. I already have an uncoated CZJ 5cm/2 LTM, so the Opton was welcome.

On the other hand, I would warmly welcome to my home any pre-war Sonnar LTM lens.
 
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raid said:
Brian,

I did not pay much attention to the lens being an Opton vs. it being a pre-War lens. I already have an uncoated CZJ 5cm/2 LTM, so the Opton was welcome.

On the other hand, I would warmly welcome to my home any pre-war Sonnar LTM lens.
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The last 50/f1.5 Sonnars from west Germany, marked Opton and later Carl Zeiss (no Jena) are magnificent works of art in their optical and chrome splendor.
Lovely coatings on these lenses.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Well, after all of this I picked up another J-3 and J-8 in LTM last night. The Russian seller combined shipping for the lenses, sign of a good seller! I'll post on the lenses when they arrive. The J-8 is going to get a Sonnar module, and not sure about the J-3 yet!
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So do you drop in lens elements from other old Zeiss sonnars into J-8 bodies? Say the lenses from an Opton into a J-8?
 
The optics from a Zeiss-Opton or a post-war Zeiss Jena will not screw into the J-8 mount. The Zeiss-Opton lens is completely redesigned. I shimmed a Zeiss Opton 50mm f2 for my Nikon RF. The post-war Zeiss Jena 5cm f2 Rigid was also redesigned. The module is bigger in diameter, and the size of the elements also appears to have increased slightly. I left it for my Contax.
 
I am happy with my Contax mount Opton from you, Brian, so my LTM Opton will have to wait until the "Powers" decide my fate!
 
LTM pre-war Jena- Easy to get into a J-8 mount. Post war, you will need to buy a Contax to LTM adapter. That's how I use my Zeiss Opton's on the Canon 7.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
The optics from a Zeiss-Opton or a post-war Zeiss Jena will not screw into the J-8 mount.
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Interesting. I have a postwar Jena f2 module (dating about 1958) that looks exactly like J8 module. Should try fitting it later this week.
 
Let me know how it does. I also have a Post-War module that would not fit. Calipers revealed it was slightly larger in diameter. I did try!
 
I saw those adapters sold by jonluk something on ebay lately, he states that they are checked by a tech for focus accuracy, but I also saw the thread here where it had to be hacked to work poperly. I wonder if they have improved much since that thread.... Maybe I should add this adapter to the Voightlander wish list thread.
 
I've found that it can be "hit and Miss". I have one that works perfectly with a Nikon 5cm F1.4 lens in S-Mount, byt the Sonnar was off. It works perfectly with the Sonnars that I shimmed for my Nikon.

If you are going to use it with a couple of lenses, and those lenses will be mostly used with the adapter, you can always adjust the lens for any residual error.
 
J3's from 50's, 60's, 80's.. even ones with elements mixed, but was 70's left unmentioned intentionally ? 😉 how does this vintage and factory (logo in second picture) usually stand compared to others ?

xayraa33 said:
One can never have enough 50's
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very true, but because of this not every weekend and holiday snapper (like me) have enough time to try every 50's, and are instead hanging around here asking others opinions on them 😛 bad excuse I know..
 

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