Ron (Netherlands)
Well-known
1953 KMZ J-3, wide-open on the M8.
Stopped Down, F4.
Thanks Brian, lovely pictures, indeed quite sharp. Other question, could you direct us to a table with some serialnumbers of J-3's indicating the years of manufacture. thanks (btw was looking at nr. 5600367, guess it is from about 1956)
With few exceptions, the first two digits are the year of manufacture, and the serial number of the lens follows. The various manufacturers kept the format: first two digits indicate the year, and numbers in sequence for each of the manufactuers. I have overlapping SN sequences from KMZ Trapezoid and ZOMZ Triplet.
Brian Legge
Veteran
That 1956 GOMZ is gorgeous. That really jumps out at me - exactly the type of behavior I'd wish for in one of these lenses.
uhoh7
Veteran
Relieved to hear that, since I just bought a black j-8, but have not seen it yet
@millis1974 very nice subject for your 50 tests.....striking the the tighter DOF with the 1.1 vs Canon 1.2 LTM. The nokton could use a click bewteen 1.1 & 1.4, hehe
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kawabata
Newbie
I am quite happy with the 1984 Valdai optical block I mounted on my J3. It is one of these new old stock blocks on ebay. Brian we chatted about this on ziforums.
Recently I made some tests on close distance by mounting the J3 on a Canon 5D DSLR. Here is a 1:1 crop wide open. It certainly is very sharp in the center. I did a similar test for my 1963 Lytkarino J-9 which was less impressive.
Recently I made some tests on close distance by mounting the J3 on a Canon 5D DSLR. Here is a 1:1 crop wide open. It certainly is very sharp in the center. I did a similar test for my 1963 Lytkarino J-9 which was less impressive.
Attachments
I have found wider variation in the later J-3's than earlier ones, with some exceptions. It seems that some of the manufacturing switch-overs had some hiccups. I have a 1956 and 1957 Triplet-Logo (GOMZ/ZOMZ) that are not as good as those that followed, and no where near as good as the '53~'56 KMZ's. I've sampled ~100 J-3's over the years. Certainly not enough to be statistically significant- just enough to form a bias.
ampguy
Veteran
Never used a black J3. Love the Sweeney modded '70s chrome/aluminum. Taken with the NEX at ISO 6400:
Here's the J3 at ISO 12,800:
Here's the J3 at ISO 12,800:
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