Does Age Matter?

[S.H.]

So, just to reiterate: if my sample of Jupiter-11 13,5cm from 1957 is good (and I will assume it is because I trust Yuri), it should perform optically just as well as a late model, build quality aside?

Yes, by definition.

 

[nation_of_pomation]

Perfect! Next time I need it when I'm out, it'll be put up to the test and we'll see how it compares at least to the newer samples of other lenses I have. It won't be conclusive, I'm sure, but everything I've gotten so far has been EXC+ condition if you were being conservative.

 

[Coldkennels]

I know I'm late to the party but for a long time the Jupiter 11 was one of my favourite lenses. It was rare I needed the 135 but when I did it always gave through. It's a beautiful lens, and I liked it so much that when I got a Kiev it was one of the first things I started looking for to add to that set.

FWIW, the Kiev version is marginally better - there's no change optically as far as I can tell, but it focuses up to 1.5m instead of the LTM's 2.5m. This always made it considerably more usable for me.