BB52
Member
I was wondering what some of the "seasoned" RF users think of the Jupiter 1.5. I have the Industar 61LD on my Canon P and also the rigid Canon 1.8.
dexdog
Veteran
The J-3 is a copy of the Zeiss 50/1.5 Sonnar. Famous lens with a lot of fans here at RFF. A good J-3 is a beauty of a lens.
ferider
Veteran
You have to find a good one ... and keep it 
But since you have a Canon P, do yourself a favor and try to find a Canon 50/1.5. Same design, but built like a Swiss watch.
Best,
Roland.
But since you have a Canon P, do yourself a favor and try to find a Canon 50/1.5. Same design, but built like a Swiss watch.
Best,
Roland.
funkaoshi
Well-known
I love my J3, it's a great lens. It's very soft and crazy looking wide open, and extremely sharp stopped down. I've heard the Canon version is just as nice, and better built. I think the Canon version is also a fair bit more expensive.
I have a bunch of examples from the lens on Flickr.
I have a bunch of examples from the lens on Flickr.
raid
Dad Photographer
The OOF for the J-3 looks to my eyes different from the OOF of a pre-war 5cm uncoated Zeiss lens.
jmkelly
rangefinder user
Raid - your first good J-3 is now living a happy life down-under.
Roland is right about the build quality of the Canon 50mm/f1.5 - the J-3 isn't even in the same league. Also there is a much better chance that any Canon you might find will focus properly on your P. When you buy a J-3 it's a bit of a roll of the dice and chances are that the lens will need to be re-shimmed to perform on par with the Canon.
My own preference is to use the Canon for color and the J-3 (and other older Sonnars) for B/W. It might just be my particular examples of these lenses, but the J-3 gives slightly smoother OOF, while the field curvature is better-corrected in the Canon.
Roland is right about the build quality of the Canon 50mm/f1.5 - the J-3 isn't even in the same league. Also there is a much better chance that any Canon you might find will focus properly on your P. When you buy a J-3 it's a bit of a roll of the dice and chances are that the lens will need to be re-shimmed to perform on par with the Canon.
My own preference is to use the Canon for color and the J-3 (and other older Sonnars) for B/W. It might just be my particular examples of these lenses, but the J-3 gives slightly smoother OOF, while the field curvature is better-corrected in the Canon.
raid
Dad Photographer
John,
Did Keith get it? That J-3 was very sharp.
Anyways, I am quite happy with my Zeiss 5cm 1.5 and 2.0 Sonnar uncoated LTM lenses. The 1.5 is very sharp.
I like using color with the uncoated Zeiss Sonnar. With Reala, the outcomes look like pastel.
BB52
Member
Serenar 1.5
Serenar 1.5
What $$ range are the rigid 1.5 Serenar`s?
Serenar 1.5
What $$ range are the rigid 1.5 Serenar`s?
ferider
Veteran
januaryman
"Flim? You want flim?"
IF you can find one....
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
I'm waiting for a Heliar Classic (50/2) to arrive and haven't decided what to do with my J-3, which Kim Coxon kindly fixed for me. Maybe I shall keep it for its different "look", specially at wide apertures; but then I don't do enough film work to justify two normals.
brainwood
Registered Film User
I am a bit of a fan of the humble J3. If you can find a cheap one its worth getting it CLA'd by a reputable company such as FEDKA as this will involve the vital collimation which seems to be bit of gamble with theses lenses.
A good sharp one though has a nice quality too it . The 61LD has a reputation for sharpness but the strength of the J3 is not its sharpness but rather its Bokeh which can be pleasently creamy. I have a few 50mm lenses for the various cameras I have but none have the 'feel' of the J3.
Chris
A good sharp one though has a nice quality too it . The 61LD has a reputation for sharpness but the strength of the J3 is not its sharpness but rather its Bokeh which can be pleasently creamy. I have a few 50mm lenses for the various cameras I have but none have the 'feel' of the J3.
Chris
jmkelly
rangefinder user
They don't seem to show up at auction very often, do they? Around the middle of last year there were four or five in a row, and I was outbid at the last second on every one. Seen very few since. I went to Kevin Li for one. I just checked his site and it looks like his stock of the chrome 50/1.5 lenses is really depleted (click Canon RF>lenses> and pages 12 and 18).
Wahoo
Washing on Siegfried Line
I must confess that I have a few of these but I've yet to see a single image from one, I suspect that I'm not alone and I have dozens of unused 50mm lens and do consider that some may be quite good.
capitalK
Warrior Poet :P
I borrowed one last Summer/Fall off a fellow RFF member and quite enjoyed my time with it.
jmkelly
rangefinder user
Feel free to check a few shots I have posted here. This particular J-3 arrived from Ukraine good to go. I am partial to these earlier lenses from the Zagorsk factory. Others prefer the black lenses form the final production runs in the mid- to late 1980's. YPYMAYTYC.
Wahoo
Washing on Siegfried Line
John, I know and appreciate what you're saying and I do intend using some of these lenses but it's the sameo, sameo story, just too many lens and not enough time / interest.
NB maybe three or more dozen FSU 50mm's - sad.
ferider
Veteran
Here is an apparently nice one coming up: 110343266887
Including what looks like a rare original 40mm filter.
pesphoto
Veteran
I must confess that I have a few of these but I've yet to see a single image from one, I suspect that I'm not alone and I have dozens of unused 50mm lens and do consider that some may be quite good.
uh...hows about selling a couple of them j-3's to those whom might get use outta them?