How about starting a 50mm/1.5 lens test?

William,

It is like roulette when buying a J3. I paid as much to Alex-Photo [I think] but got burned.


The lenses that will be re-tested:
Two CZJ and CZJ
J-3 93 and J-3 90 and J-3 88
Nikkor 45 and Nikkor T 12
 
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raid said:
Roland,
What is an R-Sonnar? What does the letter R stand for?
Click to expand...

Raid, according to Roland and others, the R means that the lens was used to make x-ray images in the years following WW2, as part of a tuberculosis screening program in Germany. According to information I have been provided by kind RFF members, my lens was originally produced in 1942 in Contax mount, and later remounted in LTM after the war.
 
dexdog said:
Raid, according to Roland and others, the R means that the lens was used to make x-ray images in the years following WW2, as part of a tuberculosis screening program in Germany. According to information I have been provided by kind RFF members, my lens was originally produced in 1942 in Contax mount, and later remounted in LTM after the war.
Click to expand...

Mark,

I was unaware of this fact. Your lens is rare based on this inormation, isn't it? Do you know whether this particular lens differs optically from the regular Sonnar?
 
I have just completed an additional roll on seven lenses that did not do well in the last flare session posted above by Roland. They were three J-3, two CZJ, two Nikkors,and as a control lens I used the CV Nokton [not the Summilux but a CV].
I did not shoot into a bare bulb light again, but this time I had four lit candles.

I had a piece of paper taped close to the target point with lens information for each negative. The four candles were placed behind each other at a small distance. I want to see the candle light as OOF.

I hope that the test comes out well.

Aperture settings were: 1.5-2.8-4.0-5.6 at speeds between 1/15-1/2 of a second.
 
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Here is one test image for taste; it comes from the follow-up test on the seven lenses that showed some excess flare in the last batch of images shown by Roland [above].

The focus point is the cross hair that is sketched on the sheet of paper.
The candle on the left should be also in focus. The rest of the candles were placed behind the focus point.
At one stage, I had tomove the nice vase away from a candle since it was getting smoke on it.

Lens: J-3 with last two digits being 93.
Exposure at f 2.8.

roll3image.jpg
 
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Thanks, Raid !

They do behave differently with candles than with a 60Hz light-bulb, don't they ! (rather pretty and less flare if you ask me).

Roland.
 
Interesting results- similar on flare, close in resolution, although the CV is clearly the best. Thanks Raid and Roland!
 
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I like the results better based on this last test. There was no fan turned on [and I was sweating], but the candle light sure is unstable.
 
I will mail out all lenses this Monday.
Please email me or pm me regarding the amount of insurance coverage that you would like your parcel(s) to be covered with. You can pay me back later.



Thanks.
 
ferider said:
Thanks, Raid !

They do behave differently with candles than with a 60Hz light-bulb, don't they ! (rather pretty and less flare if you ask me).

Roland.
Click to expand...

If you focus on the candle on the left part of the images, you see that the Zeiss and the Ultron has a smaller area of halo around the candle light as compared to the halo area for the J-3 lenses.
 
It seems that I complicated the lens test by using a low heat bulb in the flare test. With candles, things are clearer.

I will soon go through a "lens withdrawal" phase that can be painful!
No more lens tests for the next six months or so.

I now have plenty of images to post gradually in separate threads here.
 
Here are a few LTM/M lenses at 2.8:

1. Canon 50mm 1.5:
0Canon50mm15at28.jpg


2. J-3 Nr. 90 at 2.8:

0J-3Nr90at28.jpg


3. Here is the Zeiss ZM at 2.8:
0ZeissZMat28.jpg




4. Lastly, here is the Summilux image at 2.8:
0Summiluxat28.jpg
 
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I find the Nr.90 J-3 to be an excellent example. This shows that finding the right J-3 can result in a wonderful and fast lens at an affordable cost. I don't know why the Canon 1.5 looks soft.
 
This is Robin's J-3. I handed it back to him 90 minutes ago. The production year may not be the single factor in choosing a J-3 since my 1957 J-3 is not as clean and William's 1957 J-3.

Back to your question; the Nr. 90 J-3 was made in 1973. I used the last two digits to keep the 30 lenses apart.
 
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