Curious about my Jupiter 8

[Pfreddee]

I have a Jupiter 8 lens that came with my Zorki 6, and the name of the lens is in English, rather than Cyrillic. Is this a lens that was originally destined for the export market?

Thanks to all who reply.

With best regards,

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[Sid836]

The black ones with the latin markings on the name plate usually have the marking "Made in the USSR" on the barrel. As being export models, they are expected to have being through better quality control than those with the Cyrillic lettering.
I have two of them, one with Latin and one with Cyrillic markings, came with my two Zorki-4, and they both perform the same.

--- Edit ---
Aha! Found this:
http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?-1424201095

How could I forget SovietCams!

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Anything foreign sold in the USA had (or has) to be marked with the country of origin, since 1871 from memory. That is why it is marked in English. It's probably easiest to mark all of them rather than just the ones going abroad.

Stuff made in the former USSR or any other country where they use a different alphabet to us Welsh and English speakers would obviously not be intended for export if marked in their own language.

I have heard that some makers mark the goods as first and second quality but like everything else on the internet it has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Regards, David

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

I had a black one with cyrillic markings and another black one with roman markings. They were different in that the cyrillic one didn't have coated glass. However I have the same late style Ju 8 in chromium with cyrillic markings but with beautiful bleu coatings

 

[Sid836]

I have just noticed that their prices go up ridiculously high. I have bought the one with the latin inscriptions for 10 euros, and the other one came with my Zorki-4 that I had bought for 30 euros. Now, on ebay I see many of them selling for as much as 60 euros. That doesn't make any sense.

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

Price going up?? It is just so because the well is drying up... remember the design is pre WW II...

 

[fanshaw]

Price going up?? It is just so because the well is drying up... remember the design is pre WW II...

So is the demand, I would imagine (drying up), given the increasing price of film and the low cost of digital cameras. I hope that you are right though so I will be able to offload some of my collection at a good price.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Just checked it, BIN on e-bay starts from $29 for LMT version. Contax mount is cheaper.
Lens was first made in 1948 and into middle of eighties. In USSR mass production quantities.
This well is one of the deepest, I could imagine.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Trouble is, the BIN price is what they hope to get and the auction prices are what they got but all go up and down according to the weather, moon phases etc. No sense to any of them imo. So look for one at 99p (or perhaps cents for most people) and put a sensible bid on and forget it. You can be lucky.

BTW, a lot of dealers spend time each morning putting 99p (ditto) on what they like the look of and then paying 99p for what they were lucky with and then selling it (perhaps) at their BIN price. They use several different ID's to do it.

Regards, David