Jupiter lenses

[Sonnar Brian]

Thankyou. My personal experience is that the 1950s J-3's are the best. The trick, as with any 50+year old piece of equipment, is finding one on good condition.

One more, from a 1955 KMZ J-3, wide-open on the Contax II. Focus is on the blade cutting across the center.

"Jupiter Glow".

 

[Benjamin]

I can't quite beleive that I am asking this, but does anyone have any pictures taken with a J8 wide open? I pretty much solely shoot mine at f/8, perhaps f/4 max. and it works pretty well.

Cheers, Benjamin

 

[zuikologist]

Gorgeous photo - great light.

Thankyou. My personal experience is that the 1950s J-3's are the best. The trick, as with any 50+year old piece of equipment, is finding one on good condition.

One more, from a 1955 KMZ J-3, wide-open on the Contax II. Focus is on the blade cutting across the center.

"Jupiter Glow".

 

[RichA]

Jupter 85mm f2.0 a horrible lens

Jupter 85mm f2.0 a horrible lens

Hello everyone,

I'm freshly new to rangefinder cameras and I don't event have a lens for my Bessa R2 yet (I've ordered one, still waiting for the delivery though...).

By reading the forum, I learned about Jupiter lenses' existence. Some of you seem to appreciate these lenses. So apparently these lenses were manufactured in different plants in the USSR (KMZ, MMZ, Arsenal/Kiev, ...)

My main concern was if these lenses were still produced ? If not, when did the production stop ?
Does one lens' quality may vary whether it has been produced by KMZ or by another secondary plant ? Does the plants and companies still exist ?

And will they fit in my Bessa R2 ? I heard some of them might hurt the shutter.

Anyway, I find the history of thoses lenses is quite interesting as it is tightly related to USSR history ^^

This was an SLR lens that I had recently. I don't mind some spherical aberration wide open, but this was crazy. The images were so inferior to a Nikon 85mm f1.8 it wasn't funny. I would doubt it had 1/2 the resolution of the Nikon.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

1955 J-8, wide-open on the Zorki 3M.

A color shot, wide-open, 1955 J-8 on the Canon IVSB.

J-9's can vary widely, as can J-3's and other FSu lenses. The J-8's have been most consistent in my experience.

The J-9 that I have now is "decent". I need to try a mid-50s J-9.

 

[Florian1234]

Jupiter-8 wide open - f/2, on XP2 400.

😀 sorry for the dust spots.

 

[jparriott]

Brian - Am I crazy to work the lens without a shim?

Brian - Am I crazy to work the lens without a shim?

I have a Jupiter 3 that's pretty terrific wide open. No focus error at all and swirly, wonderful bokeh. Just love the character (although it is prone to lens flare).

My Jupiter 8 is another story. Black barrel - so it's a newer version. My back focus isn't extreme - around an inch - and I've been able to adjust with about 80% accuracy.

Is it worth it to tear the lens apart? I'm happy with the rendering of this lens and don't want to screw it up. I don't even know where to get the shim. Brian, do you still work on Jupiters? Do you know anyone in Los Angeles who does?

Thanks for any help or advice -- Jim

 

[paradoxbox]

brian doesn't post here anymore, i guess he got angry or something and decided to quit

opening jupiters is simple stuff. you just rotate the aperture ring until it opens up (rotate it towards wider aperture while holding the focus ring or non-rotating part of the lens barrel, be careful not to bend the soft aluminum, it's quite easy to bend it)
once the lens is opened up you can usually find a kind of washer sitting between the aperture section and the rest of the lens barrel, but sometimes there's no washer. anyway with a 1" backfocus you probably only need to make a shim or two out of aluminum foil or even paper.

just trace a circle the same size as the aperture barrel then cut it out with an exacto knife, then cut out the center so all you're left with is a thin washer. check your focus both at close and far distances to see if it's accurate (either using a digital rangefinder or using some scotch tape over the film gate and a loupe to examine focus.

one caveat, if you adjust the focus distance by using shims, the aperture ring will not line up correctly anymore - you'll have to re-index it. there is a tutorial you can find here on the forum if you google for it, i think brian sweeney actually wrote that.