Date of manufacture for FSU lenses

C

ctdogs

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Is it possible to date FSU lenses that do not begin with year of manufacture in serial number?

For example, my Jupiter 8 (black) has serial number 059746. I assume that the 59 is not year of manufacture because it is preceded by a 0. Is it possible to get an exact year (or even an approximate year) for lenses like this that do not begin with year of manufacture?

Thanks in advance.
 
I did a bit of searching this recently, when I got a black J-8 that starts 02. It seems that there was a period around 1970 or so, when lenses were given 0n numbers instead of year-based. Might have been something to do with the manufacture moving to a different facility.
 
Hi,

Wasn't there a time when a zero meant 1960 and the number starting with 1 meant 1961 and so on? I found it on the www somewhere but was only interested in dating a single lens and didn't bother to save the reference. Then I guessed they went to 70 for 1970 etc, etc.

Regards, David
 
Thanks; that's an interesting site, I've often wondered what the FED light meter looked like as I read a review of it in a magazine from 1941 or '42...

Regards, David
 
Place of manufacture for J8

Place of manufacture for J8

My J8 is stamped "Made in the USSR" and has the KMZ symbol. My best guess is that it was made about 1970-71. Came with a Zorki 4 that was made in 1971, so unless the lens was changed, 1970-71 should be close to date for the lens.

Thanks to everyone that helped with this question!
 
ctdogs said:
My J8 is stamped "Made in the USSR" and has the KMZ symbol. My best guess is that it was made about 1970-71. Came with a Zorki 4 that was made in 1971, so unless the lens was changed, 1970-71 should be close to date for the lens.

Thanks to everyone that helped with this question!
Click to expand...

The first two digits of the serial number are the year of manufacture for your J-8, the same as for your camera. The same is true for most FSU gear. There are exceptions (my FED-2, for example), but for the most part it holds. As for serial numbers that start with zero, don't discount the idea that they are post year 2000 make. There are a fair number of black finish KMZ, LZOS, and FED lenses that belong to this century. (Fedka had a bunch of recent J-8s in stock a month or so back.)


Steve
 
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stevebrot said:
...The same is true for most FSU gear...
Click to expand...
Usually not true for FEDs, no-one quite seems to know what system they used - possibly they just ran roughly sequentially with no direct relationship to year. There are also many other oddities amongst FSU gear. The only fairly safe ones are KMZ and Kiev where the first two digits of an 8-digit serial are likely to be the year IF it fits with the likely production timescale.
 
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