Funky Lens on Fleabay

awbphotog

awbphotog

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The seller is listing it as a Jupiter 8. Item # 151015591698. It looks to my untrained eyes like a Industar 61 focusing helicoid has been smashed together with the front element(s?) of a Jupiter 8M in Kiev/Contax mount. Seller states it's an M39 mount lens, but I hardly believe this custom looking job would focus correctly. Can anyone fill me in, and perhaps more daringly, buy it and try it out?! :D

Andy

LINK for the less inclined
 
It might work fine on a Sony Nex, but it is hard to believe that it would also work correctly on a Barnack...

But it does look kinda cool indeed!
 
From reading about Brian Sweeney's franken-lens Industar 61 in Contax-mount, the optical blocks for the Jupiter 8 and Industar 61 are the same thread and size. They are, therefore, physically interchangeable. The BUT here is that the spacer (shim) is of a very different thickness. Brian had to machine one for the franken-lens. That suggests that this lens will not focus properly at all on a LTM-type RF body. Certainly no use to us FSU and LTM film-body users! Hard to know if it can be focussed on a digital but the seller implies it can be. With regular Jupiter 8s being not exactly rare, it does beg the question: why bother?
 
The only reason I can think of would be for the click stops?
At the price that's being asked--$34 USD--I can't imagine very much time was spent putting this together...
Rob
wolves3012 said:
From reading about Brian Sweeney's franken-lens Industar 61 in Contax-mount, the optical blocks for the Jupiter 8 and Industar 61 are the same thread and size. They are, therefore, physically interchangeable. The BUT here is that the spacer (shim) is of a very different thickness. Brian had to machine one for the franken-lens. That suggests that this lens will not focus properly at all on a LTM-type RF body. Certainly no use to us FSU and LTM film-body users! Hard to know if it can be focussed on a digital but the seller implies it can be. With regular Jupiter 8s being not exactly rare, it does beg the question: why bother?
Click to expand...
 
rbiemer said:
The only reason I can think of would be for the click stops?
At the price that's being asked--$34 USD--I can't imagine very much time was spent putting this together...
Rob
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. The click stops would be nice, but I can't trust the craftsmanship. I just want a Jupiter 8 :rolleyes:
 
Too bad the Helios 103 lens is never found jimmy-rigged in this fashion.

Maybe it is also impossible to make it focus right in an I-61 focus module.
 
The seller is being more honest than being given credit for. Notice the listing says "Seldom used."

I was going to buy it, but noticed that it is not listed as rare. That was the deal buster for me.
 
Actually I have built 2 of these and after a bit of trial and error I was able to get them both to properly focus on my Leicas both at infinity and near focus.

A lot of time goes into making shims of different thickness in order to get proper alignment.

This one does look well made but may or may not work since there is no explaination as to how it was done..

I traded them and both users like them a lot..
 
Suggestion: if the seller is left with parts of busted lenses that are not to be sold otherwise, cobbling this together might have taken some time and still be worth his effort: USD 34 might go a long way when converted to rubles or other currencies...

Colyn, interesting that you built two of those yourself! As said above, the Jupiter-8 is easily found and cheap so the question remains, why did you bother? :D
 
buzzardkid said:
Suggestion: if the seller is left with parts of busted lenses that are not to be sold otherwise, cobbling this together might have taken some time and still be worth his effort: USD 34 might go a long way when converted to rubles or other currencies...

Colyn, interesting that you built two of those yourself! As said above, the Jupiter-8 is easily found and cheap so the question remains, why did you bother? :D
Click to expand...

Aperture clicks perhaps? I would LOVE to have a J8 with a click stops!
 
buzzardkid said:
Colyn, interesting that you built two of those yourself! As said above, the Jupiter-8 is easily found and cheap so the question remains, why did you bother? :D
Click to expand...

I had seen it done on a website so I decided to give it a try. At the time I had several 61's in LTM and j-8's in Kiev mount and since they had been bought cheap I went for it..
 
He seems to have two of these Indupiter (Jupistar?) lenses for sale. I wonder if he makes them himself or if there is someone in Russia cranking them out. It looks like the second one at least has the aperture ring lined up properly. The "original" box is nonsense, of course.

This may be a good way of refitting the very well made Kiev mount J3's if it is done carefully. I don't know that the Industar mount is the best choice, though- it tends to have lots of play.

Cheers,
Dez
 
Look at the 5th photo down. I think he stamped in the #2. The I
61 is a 2.8 lens which is shown on the distance scale. This seller is a scammer in my book.
 
It's clear that this is a J8 optical block stuck in an I61 mount. I think the aperture ring belongs to the J8. The box and any suggestion that this is an original lens are of course total BS.
I have been corresponding with the seller to try to learn where it came from but there are communications problems. He may be using a machine translator from Russian. I think he said that the aperture ring does not have clickstops, which is strange for a J8M.

Cheers,
Dez
 
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