Colapsible J-8??

[rbiemer]

Thanks to a question by NorpA, I spent a little time at the Zenit website and they have a page dedicated to the Jupiter 8 lens:

http://www.zenitcamera.com/archive/lenses/jupiter-8.html

And, on that page is this lens:

With this caption:
Резьбовой "Зоркий ЗК 1:2 F=5 см" в складывающейся оправе
which Google translate renders as:

Threaded "Sharp LC 1:2 F = 5 cm" in the emerging frame

I think I want one of these, any one know a source?
And, should I be looking for "collapsible J-8" or --as the image info calls it--a "zk-2-50 collapsible"?

Rob

 

[dexdog]

The lens is a ZK , which is the abbreviation for the Russian words for Sonnar and Krasnogorsk. The lens was made in the city of Krasnogorsk near Moscow with parts of the Contax 50/2 collapsible Sonnar taken as reparations by the Soviets following WW2. Also produced in the rigid 50/1.5 ZK version. The lens made of Contax Biogon parts was called the Biogon Krasnogorsk. After the Zeiss parts were used up, the ZK lenses were copied and produced in Soviet Union as Jupiter 3, Jupiter 8 and Jupiter 12 in both Kiev mount and LTM. KMZ also made ZK 85/2 and 135/4 lenses using Zeiss parts, carrying on production as the J-9 and J-11, respectively. That ZK is probably a pretty nice lens, but quite rare. The lenses were made in the factory known in the west as KMZ, for Krasnogorskiy Mechanicheskiy Zavod.

 

[julio1fer]

Google translated "Зоркий" as Sharp, but I believe it refers to "Zorki" (the camera brand, which also means "sharp", and which is written Зоркий in Russian). IMHO. So, it means something like "Zorki thread ZK 1:2 F=5 cm".

I've seen collapsible Sonnars for Contax/Kiev, but have never met the m39 version. Should be a very nice lens!

 

[przemur]

The last part: "в складывающейся оправе", literally means: "in a collapsible case" (at least according to my not-so-great russian knowledge).

 

[dexdog]

I've seen collapsible Sonnars for Contax/Kiev, but have never met the m39 version. Should be a very nice lens!

Collapsible Sonnars in LTM exist, but are not very common. I have a couple, and both are good performers. I saw one of the collapsible ZKs on US eBay 5 or 6 years ago, but have never seen another one. I got outbid.

 

[Brian Legge]

I've seen references to an FSU Summar copy - any chance those were references to this lens? I wasn't able to find any designation or description of that lens.

 

[sevo]

I've seen references to an FSU Summar copy - any chance those were references to this lens? I wasn't able to find any designation or description of that lens.

The Summar is a early Double Gauss (specifically Biotar) type. I am not aware of a FSU (rangefinder) Double Gauss normal other than the Helios-103, the youngest of all FSU rangefinder lenses - and the latter was never made in LTM (except for after-market conversions). The Helios is a Double Gauss type, but derived from the quite different modern (1979) Summicron rather than the Biotar/Summar.

As far as known, the collapsible J-8 uses original Zeiss optical units - which would make it pretty much the essence of a Sonnar...

 

[Dez]

FSU "Summar copy"

FSU "Summar copy"

This refers to the 50mm f2.0 lens that was fitted to the FED-S camera. The lens was available from some time in the 30's until the Germans overran the factory in 1941. It looks kind of like a Summar, but is quite a bit longer, so I suspect the optical formula is different. Mine gives me decent resolution, but contrast is poor.
One challenge with this lens is that the early FEDs did not have a standardized lens flange to film plane distance, and lenses had to be fitted to the camera. If you get one you might get lucky using a standardized LTM body, but it's a crap shoot.

Cheers,
Dez

 

[johannielscom]

I own a 1941 FED-S kit, with FED 50/2.0 Summar clone, FED 100/6.3 (uncoupled) and a FED 28/4.5 on the way.

The FED 50/2.0 I once tested against a true Summar on my M8 ( I got the FED to mount on the adapter) and I was shocked to see no difference whatsoever. Not in rendering, color, sharpness, contrast, nothing. Identical, apart from barrel length.

From a remark in another thread today (on the FED 28/4.5), I tried mounting the FED lenses to my IIIa and IIIc but they do not screw in all the way. They might with force applied,, but threads would strip. They are M39, but pitch is slightly different it seems.

Anyway, the prewar lenses always had to be matched to the body and since the Leica-thread lenses did mount on the FED-S, I tried the RF and it was off 1.5 meters, showing 2.5 at 4 meters distance. So there's a definite difference in Leica standard and FED non-standard, and it generally might be too big to overcome with some stopping off of the lens.

I hope that once my 28/4.5 arrives, it will agree with the body straight away, or I will have to ship the whole set to Yuri at Fedka.com to have all lenses collimeted to the body again!😱

​

FED S with FED 100/6.3 and FED 50/2.0 lenses by buzzardkid, on Flickr

EDIT: Since that collapsible Jupiter-8 is a post-war lens, it is set to the Contax standard of 52.4 mm and as such should do well on any post-war Russian body. It can be shimmed for the Leica standard by a competent repairman, but since rare I would buy a 1948 Zorki with it for a perfect match. If you ever find one, that is...