Fed 2 & Jupiter 8 Combo

L

Lasek

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Jul 18, 2008
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Dear all
I'm a first timer so please excuse any ignorance of the do's and dont's.

I recently purchased a FED 2, great body but the Industar 26 lens it came with was unbelievably loose with the aperture adjustment moving in and out from the lens body. Not a problem I thought as I'd also purchased a nice jupiter 8 lens from another buyer.

When I screwed on the Jupiter lens though it fitted tight and snug with the camera body with no gap between. This means it is unbelievably hard to focus the lens as it is hard against the camera body.

Can anyone suggest what might be wrong?

Jupiter 8 is in english on the front of the lens and the serial number is N6673847 if that is of any assistance.

Thanks again and I look forward to any assistance you may provide.
 
Its chrome and the focus ring moves freely when not on the camera. Looking at the other lens, the Industar, its screw mount protrudes slightly from the focus ring so that when its attached to the camera the focus ring doesn't come into contact with the camera body (I hope that kind of explains what I'm trying to get at).

Thanks
 
Could it be that the rangefinder cam (you can see it on the upper part of the lens mounting hole, with the lens off) is scratching the J-8 metal? It has happened to me.

Try mounting the J-8 with the lens set to minimum distance. This should safely push the RF cam inside.
 
I also have a J-8 that has the same problem, but it only occurs with my Feds (4 & 5). When attached to Zorki it works OK.
 
It is the rf cam and arm on the Fed 2 that could be the problem.

with the back off the camera and the shutter set on B, look to see where the rf arm and cam wedge is in respect to the J-8's lens cam.
The Fed 2 RF cam could be riding high on the lens cam, hence the roughness when focusing.
 
Thank you all for your kind words of advice. I'll try them all.
I just put a roll of C41 B&W film through the camera and the results are really pleasing.
Also walking around Sydney with the camera certainly had quite a few people interested.....not many FSU RF in Australia.

Thanks again and I look forward talking to you all soon as I hopefully have a Zorki 1 somewhere between the Ukrain and Australia.

Regards
George
 
George, when mounting lenses on your Zorki 1, be very careful not to put upwards pressure on the R/F cam follower.
 
I have two silver J-8s, one tabbed (early) and one later one non-tabbed. I also have two FED 2s, an early and a late one. I've tried both the J-8s on both bodies and they're fine. However, many FED 2s do have the RF arm sitting a little low, these often foul a J-12 and need to be bent upwards a tiny fraction. From memory, both my FED 2s needed this.

I wonder if the problem is related and the RF sensor is catching against somewhere it shouldn't on your J-8. Open the back and take a peek...see that the RF sensor is sitting properly on the lens cam.
 
Dear all
Thank you again for your advice and asistance.

Richard, I looked at your web link at servicing jupiter 8 lenses and am taking a deep breath and am contemplating working on the lens.

I am over the moon on the results I got on one roll of film.

Do you have any advice on the Jupiter 11 135mm lens? (and Jupiter 12 lens)

I thank you all and look forward to talking to you further and feel like i have just made many new friends.

Thanks again
George
 
Lasek, I have a chrome J 12 and it is a fine lens. If you buy one, be sure to get the rear lens cap for it as the protruding rear element needs careful handling and protection. Good Luck. Joe
 
Dear all
Hello again and thank you for your kind words of advice.
I recently received a Zorki 1 of ebay and the problems I had with the Jupiter 8 on the Fed 2 and the difficulty in turning the focusing ring was not apparent on the Zorki.
It has me baffled. Can anyone offer a reason.
 
Lasek said:
Can anyone offer a reason.
Click to expand...

No quality control :(. I have a gorgeous Zorki 3M with a functioning RF which consistently give unsharp photos with my J8. This J8 is quite sharp on my M3 and a friend's M8.
Distance between film and lens could be slightly off on the Zorki for example (that's probably why it looks almost unused after 50+ years, unlike my M3 and the J8 itself !).
 
I attempted to put my J-8 on my beautiful FED-2 today and have the same problem exactly... and the J-8 works perfectly on my Leica and Zorki's... I am also baffled. My J-8 appear to be perfect. You might be able to tune up the I-26 as well... like a I-22, they are quite sharp stopped down a little.
 
I had the problem with the hard focussing on some body's too, a Zorki 4 and a Zorki 3.
And I found out what may was causing this: if you tighten the screws of the lens mount of the camera, the ring will be pressed against the body. If you tighten them too hard, the ring can be pressed out of form. I loosened the screws and re tightend them in an equal way giving not too much presure. I put back on the lens and it focussed freely as it should.
 
Wow. I guess i've gone a little crazy but i've now ended up with three Jupiter 8 lenses. Two with serial numbers starting in 66 (Jupiter in english) and one staring in 61 (jupiter in cyclic).

I'll have to do some tests to determine which I prefer.

The two later lenses focus rings all move easily on my FED 2....interesting!
 
Possible reasons:
a) what wolves wrote
b) there is old dry grease in the lens. Moves freely off body, but rough mounted on body because the RF arm pushes on one part of the lens and that causes friction
c) outermost ring on lens near the camera body fouls vulcanite on body

My tip is b).

the CLA is inevitable. Follow Kim Coxon/Brian Sweeney (?) PDF and if you run into problems ask here. It's worth it. The lens will feel muuuuuch better.

The same with both your cameras... go visit Jay Javier's site and the sticky threads (on top) in the Russian RF section of the forum.
 
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