Introduction.....and questions.

[LazyHammock]

Hello,
I am an English ex-pat living in Phoenix (via Minnesota and El Paso). I've been shooting for a while but I am fairly new to rangefinders – brief spell with a FED-2 before moving on to a Bessa R and Industar 61 L/D. I won't be giving up my F3 and 50/1.8 or DSLR anytime soon but I am loving the manual range finder.

I lost the thrill of photography at some point with all my automated EOS gear (even though I always shot on manual mode). I bought the Nikon F3, and having total control over the shots helped revive my love for photography. The Bessa is taking that a step further. I have been hovering around this forum for a while (I was one of the guests on your record day!). Now to the questions:

1.I am looking for a portrait lens. I am undecided between 75mm and 90mm. I would rather not spend the money on a new Voigtlander (new Leitz is out of the question) until I can figure out which I would prefer. Can anyone recommend a cheaper alternative? I like the look of the 90mm Elmar but have not found one without internal haze, does it collapse all the way into a Bessa R body (without any screeching sound!)?

2.I hear many different opinions on the Jupiter 9, would I need it calibrated to focus correctly with the Bessa? What time range should I look for?

3.Any recommendations for an LTM 35mm. I like the color skopar but how does the 35mm summaron compare?

Cheers,
Nick

 

[rover]

Welcome Nick.

I am sure you will get a lot of responses about those J9s and other suggestions.

I will say, No the Elmar will not collapse into a Bessa, I have heard some good things about it though. If you are looking to stay less expensive than the CV lenses, then the 90mm CL and CLE lenses are not the right choice as they would be about the same. You can look for a Canon lenses, 100/4 or 3.5 which should be in the focusing range of the Bessa.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The rigid version of the 9cm F4 Elmar is a good choice. Do not rule out the non-coated version. I paid under $50 for mine, and it is a fine performer. The collapsible Elmar was made for M-Mount. They go for 2~3 times what the rigid, coated Elmar 9cm F4 in LTM goes for. I have an M-Mount coated Elmar, it is free of haze and I use it a good bit. Haze can be cleaned out of a lens for ~$50 or so. A Coated Elmar in user condition runs ~$100.

Uncoated Elmar, 9cm F4.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2082/size/big/sort/1/cat/539

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2083/sort/1/size/big/cat/539/page/

Another with the Elmar on the Canon 7:

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Other relatively inexpensive, older lenses to look for in LTM are the Steinheil Culminar 85mm F2.8 and Canon 100mm F3.5 or F4. The Steinheil will better match the VF lines of the Bessa.

The Jupiter-9 can be a fine performer, but must be calibrated for the Leica standard 51.6mm RF rather than the Contax/Kiev/Fed 52.3mm standard. Mine was, and the focus did not go all the way to infinity. That had the effect of moving it from a film a little bit to correct the focus. Mine worked well even wide-open and close-up. It was luck getting one that had been modified, and I would not buy one without the seller having tested it on a Leica-standard camera. Otherwise plan to use it at F4 and carry the extra weight.

 

[wilt]

The Jupiter-9 can be a fine performer, but must be calibrated for the Leica standard 51.6mm RF rather than the Contax/Kiev/Fed 52.3mm standard.

I'm looking for information on that recalibration. How is it done? Is there a camera repair firm that does it?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

A description of the Problem:

http://www.dantestella.com/technical/compat.html

Closest that I could google on adjusting a J-9 was here on RFF. It is for the Contax RF mount version. I adjusted a Nikon RF to focus "better" with Contax RF lenses by adding an additional 0.5mm to the shims. The same need to be done with the J9, but this can be done by backing off the focus by ~0.5mm.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2468

 

[Antonio Shalder]

Hi!
Try the Jupiter-9. It's not easy to buy one in mint condition, but if you are lucky, this is a very fine lens. And cheap.

 

[peter_n]

A description of the Problem:

http://www.dantestella.com/technical/compat.html

Very interesting article, Brian. Thanks for the link! At the end of it he says the best Soviet lenses are 1958-1962 and both of mine fall between those years and they are very good.

 

[LazyHammock]

Thank you all for the welcome and advice. I had no idea it was that cheap to clean haze from a lens, I was assuming $200 minimum (Thanks Brian). Does anyone have any recommendations of repair shops? The 90mm Elmar I have my eye on is a rigid version and the optics seem really nice aside from the internal haze. I also really like the look/feel and images from the summaron 35/3.5 so I may go crazy and get both and get them cleaned.
Cheers,
Nick