First photos from Jupiter 3

[Range Loser]

Hi All,

Just got some shots back from a Jupiter 3 50mm f1.5. Heard so much about how bad they can be, but it seems okay. Was too bright to do many pix on f1.5, but the one with the rope is at max' aperture. I will try it out again soon.

Andy..

 

[xayraa33]

very nice turn out.
do some more up close and at f1.5 to see if you got lucky and own a J-3 the does not need to be shimmed.

 

[robin a]

Hi,I want one! Robin

 

[physiognomy]

Nice shots Andy... Congrat's on your J-3! I'm thinking about picking one up for myself as I just bought a Contax II & wont have the $$$ for a 50/1.5 Sonnar for a while unless I get a good deal. Thanks for sharing!

Peter

 

[nzeeman]

congrats for your new lens. from what i heard about it you will have great time with it. photos look pretty good to me but they are a bit small. if you scan more upload them please. 😀
i hope ill also get a j3 one day...

 

[Xmas]

If you use a J3 on a FSU you should not need shimming, of the lens?

Noel

 

[thawkins]

I got a Jupiter 3 the week before last. I put one roll of test film through it. The pictures were good except for one that was at minimum focus distance and it ws very soft. There may have been operator error on my part. I have a roll of Ilford XP12 in the camera now and have shot some more close focus at F2 and 1.5. What is this shimming and how is it done?

Tom

 

[FrankS]

Here's a J3 shot @ f4.

 

[thafred]

Congrats Andy with your J3! Sweet looking camera you´ve got there!Now go out and shoot some more, those Jupiters really feel fine in the dark winter nights with 1600 asa film 🙂

Sadly I´ve not been so lucky with the J3´s as my two lenses (1951 and 1981) are somewhat badly decentered 🙁 ....

As for shimming the lenses:
First the optical elements need to be screwed out of the focus mount (just unscrew with your hands...grab the lens on the focus mount and in front of the app. ring and turn anti-clockwise) then you see the metal shim wich is ether to thick (sanding down is in order) or too thin (i cut paper shims and sandwich them on the metall ring...works for me)
You need a ground glas on the tripod mount camera body and a good contrasty focus target (I use a needle pinned into a lamp-shade..lamp turned on) ..also use a lens (the shorter the focal lengh the better) as magnifier on the ground glas.
First I take out the metal ring and screw the optical element back in 1 turn then align the cameras rangefinder with the forus target at 1,5m (by turning the lens´s focus unit as if you would be focusing) and afterwards screw in the optical element for perfect focus (ground glas) on the target. (note the full turns you screw it into the focus mount) ..If you reach perfect focus you can mark the position of the aparture engravings on the focus mount and unscrew the optical element (again...note how many turns you screw it out)
After all that you can add shims or sand down the original shim so the optical element screws as much into the lens mount as noted and the markings of aperture align with your mark on the focus mount. ...finito!
this worked very well with my two Jupiter-3 and my J8 lenses and works on all distances. pity is that the aperture markings can be all over the place (and so not bee seen anymore)

For better explanations in far better english you can contact Brian Sweeny! he is probably the most experienced person with those Jupiters.

Anyone an Idea how to center the lens elements?!? can this be done?!?
here´s some of my faves with J3:

 

[Range Loser]

Great shots Thafred, good to see that your handywork has paid off. Andy..

 

[Xmas]

Thafred

If the lens glass is the problem then rotating it in the metal mount to the best compromise position might help. If the metal mount is skewed and the lens true then this would not help and you would need a wedge spacer ring. The wedge would increase lens separation and would alter the focal length and degrade correction, but might be a better compromise.

This is something that would need a rig similar to a 'lens bench' and time, not easy.

Buying a new lens might be simpler, e.g. a lens similar mechanically and optically, same year and manufacturer, but with damaged glass and swapping all the glass.

I believe it is called Russian Roulette, i.e. the new lens might be worse mechanically. The main problem is the tolerances on skew on the triplet are 'tight' that is one of the reasons why people use the Planar (double Gauss) design like the Helios, Zeiss used the triplets before they had practical coating, with coating they are superb optics, but the Planar is easier to make.

Noel

 

[lushd]

Hello Comrades - got a Jupiter 3 myself this week and went out shooting today. I am really impressed by this lens. Here's a sample (and there's two more in my gallery):

 

[raid]

In this old thread of mine on comparing several 50mm lenses, the J-3 did quite wellin the views of many people here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20666&page=3

I am curently testing fiftenn 50mm lenses, and I would not be surprised if the J-3can hold itself well compared to more expensive lenses.

Raid