J-9: History repeats itself - or return of the amazing russian lens!

Krosya

Krosya

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A while back I used to own a black LTM Jupiter 9 - 85mm/2 lens. After a minor adjustment it was a very nice performer. Due to it's long focus throw I sold it and shortly started missing it. It got to the point where I just missed it so much so I ordered another one from Russia via ebay. This one is a silver one, older and pretty clean for it's age. Took a while for it to cross the big blue ocean, but it finally made it to it's new home. At first it didnt focus correct - had a serious back focus:

EPSN5415.jpg


After a quick re-shimming here is what this lens is capable of:

EPSN5567.jpg


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All shots are wide open at f2 on RD1S.

Amazing lens if you ask me!
 
A nice performing well rounded lens, aren't they? I have one in Kiev mount so no shimming was needed.

Bob
 
At first my "models" did Ok with me testing my new J-9 on them:

EPSN5591.jpg


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Than I started getting "bored" look:
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And finally - that " if you dont stop - you and your new lens will go out of the window" look 😉 :
EPSN5525.jpg


So see - J-9 has it's dangerous sides too 😉
 
Yeah, I think so. It does need a shade though - when you shoot into the sun it flares some:

EPSN5606.jpg


yet all in all not too bad:
EPSN5601.jpg
 
Here is the lens:
silverj9a.jpg


and after shimming (just added extra shim) it's F-stop mark ended up on a side so I had to make a new one and re-set the f-stop ring to a new position to adjust for that:
silverj9b.jpg


I suppose I was lucky - all it needed was to unscrew the front section - entire optical part and shim it to be a bit further from a film plane (I happened to have a right size shim handy from some other lens I used to do some work on) and focusing part actually does focus correctly - I didnt need to take that apart - thats the more complicated work. I have done that on my previous J-9 and while it's not too hard - takes some time to do right. So, in this case adjustment was very simple.
 
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Well, I'm baffled. I've tried with several experts to get my LTM Jupiter 9 to focus on my Leicas, but it won't focus both infinity and 1.15 meters. I dearly wish it would. I know that Brian Sweeney, who should know, tried mightily to get one to focus over the full range and found it could not be done. Perhaps it is somehow a matter of variances in individual examples, but I'm not sure how that could be, although focal lengths do vary. Does anyone really know?
 
I don't think you can

I don't think you can

🙁 I don't think you actually can get a screwmount J9 to focus correctly at both ends on a Leica or Canon by simple shimming. The reason for this, I was told, is that the J9 focusing mount is designed to work on a Russian LTM camera, which itself has a RF designed for a 52mm lens, rather than a 50mm one as is the case in a Leica or Canon. The 50mm indication on most FSU 50mm lenses is marketing rather than science. The J9 contains a cam which translates the amount of extension needed to focus its longer focal length to the extension needed for a 52mm lens and applies that to the RF cam. The RF, of course does not know what focal length it is working with. This small discrepancy is enough to make a difference with a fast longer lens like the J9, and isn't great for the J3 either. so you can reshim to focus bang-on at only one distance.
I have heard some of the braver contributors to this list talk about taking the lens completely apart and re-machining some inner bits to slightly change the focal length, which is supposed to do the job, but I don't remember how to do this. No doubt someone who remembers how will show up.

Cheers,
Dez
 
http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/checking lens working distance.html

here is directions on how to shim ur jupiter 9 ... so to make it easier to cut the shims... I just placed one of the shims on a piece of duct tape so it sticks to the ring.. then take a razor and cut it carefully around the shim... this thickens the shim.... Mine had 3 shims... so if i did need to make it shorter i could have taken out a ring and added the thickness to the remaining 2 shims..

great shots!!
 
Dez said:
🙁 I don't think you actually can get a screwmount J9 to focus correctly at both ends on a Leica or Canon by simple shimming. The reason for this, I was told, is that the J9 focusing mount is designed to work on a Russian LTM camera, which itself has a RF designed for a 52mm lens, rather than a 50mm one as is the case in a Leica or Canon. The 50mm indication on most FSU 50mm lenses is marketing rather than science. The J9 contains a cam which translates the amount of extension needed to focus its longer focal length to the extension needed for a 52mm lens and applies that to the RF cam. The RF, of course does not know what focal length it is working with. This small discrepancy is enough to make a difference with a fast longer lens like the J9, and isn't great for the J3 either. so you can reshim to focus bang-on at only one distance.
I have heard some of the braver contributors to this list talk about taking the lens completely apart and re-machining some inner bits to slightly change the focal length, which is supposed to do the job, but I don't remember how to do this. No doubt someone who remembers how will show up.

Cheers,
Dez
Click to expand...

Well, maybe. Or maybe not. I heard that there are different versions of this lens. I used to have a later, black one that was from late seventies (if I recall correctly). That one I did have to take completely apart and put together differently so it would focus correct. That process does take a while, but doable.
With this lens, I'm guessing, it's focusing and optical parts/sections were already put together correctly and all it needed just to shim it. I could be wrong, of course. I have not had time to check it at every possible distance, etc, but it seems to work at close, medium, medium-far and very very far(infinity) just fine. Or at least as far as I can tell from the pics. There is of course always a focus error with such a lens when wide open, but I can tell you that so far - it's not just me getting lucky with focusing it, but pretty consistant with at least 90% or more hit rate and any distance I have tried so far. There may be some focus difference at some point, but either not enough for me to see it it it's so small - it's covered by DOF even at f2. To compare - I have about the same hit rate or worse with Nikkor LTM 10.5cm/2.5. So, it seems to me - it performs pretty good - J9 that is. 😉
 
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Yeah I have a black one from the mid 80's all it really needed was some shims... I've checked it with a focusing chart at 3, 6, and 9, feet and checked infinity... seems to be spot on... time will tell ....
 
Krosya said:
...

And finally - that " if you dont stop - you and your new lens will go out of the window" look 😉 :
EPSN5525.jpg


So see - J-9 has it's dangerous sides too 😉
Click to expand...

Has your wife talked to my wife or something? Although in my case it was something like over the deck railing. 😀 😀

The J-9 is a nice lens. I have it in Kiev/Contax mount as mentioned above, so no problems.
 
Well, I finally got around to developing and scanning some film. While all of the above pics were from RD1S and J-9 - here is how this lens looks on film. I used Bessa R3M 250 Jahre camera and Kodak B&W film. Home developed and scanned (sorry for some dust and water spots), but this lens keeps amazing me - I think I'll be selling most of my long lenses soon, as this one is just one awsome lens. Well, see if you agree:

Scan315.jpg


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I have a J9 as well, it was not accurate in focussing so it made it's way to the back of the drawer for over a year.

However, not I have a GF-1 I don't care about the inaccurate RF cam coupling - perhaps with the m4/3 cameras there will be more of these coming out of cupboards.
 
Easy

Easy

Hi, great lens, i´ve wondering about an elmarit but your beautiful and sharp shots have made me change my mind!

I had problems focusing a j8, no reshimming but had to make elements closer, that was major surgery or better said butchery, at last it performs very well!
it´s easy to do it with a digital m mount camera!

Bye, excellent photos and results!
 
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