Kiev lenses on a Nikon RF

[Dez]

The subtle difference between Contax and Nikon RF is probably the commonest thread on this page, but I haven't been able to find what I'm looking for, so here comes the question.

The Kiev lenses were presumably made for the Contax mount rather than the Nikon one, and I have some good results out of my Jupiters on my Contax, as they seem to be ones that were made on the day the quality control guy was sober. I just bought a Nikon S2, and would like to use the lenses on it. I know about the focus difference, but can anybody tell me the correction factor that I could use with the 85 and 135 Jupiter lenses? I presume that the difference is too small to matter with the 35mm one.

It would be inconvenient to have to correct the focus every time, but it would be a whole lot more inconvenient for me to have to shell out the price of the proper Nikkor versions.

Thanks,
Dez

 

[rbsinto]

You can buy the Cosina Voigtlander versions of a number of lenses in Nikon S mount very reasonably, and you'll get excellent results with them. True, they were only produced in a rather ordinary range of speeds as compared to the wonderful and seemingly endless array of high-speed lenses they're producing for the Leicavolk, but that's another story.
Steven Gandy at Cameraquest sells the CV lenses for Nikon. Look him up at www.cameraquest.com

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Nikon helical rotates 260 degrees going from 3ft to infinity, the Contax/Kiev helical rotates 270 degrees. So if you want to make a correction scale, like on an aux lens, print out a 260 degree distance scale and align it at infinity. Focus using the RF, get the distance from the 260degree scale, and set the distance uses the lens' regular scale. I think that will work. You will also need to check that the Jupiter's are accurate in the first place. My J-9 was way off, needed 0.5mm of shim added to make it work on the Contax. What a pain.

You could shim the lens to agree at some distance, I chose 8ft. I shimmed a Nikon S2 to go with a CZO Sonnar.

CZO 50/1.5, wide-open on a modified Nikon S2.

I can use a Contax mount 13.5cm F3.5 with good results, out to 30ft or so. I moved the helical out 0.5mm and then calibrated the RF to agree with the Sonnar. But I have four other S2's to use with Nikon lenses, and this particular S2 was missing one of its three shims. On the Nikon cameras, small washers sit under the screws that hold the lens mount onto the camera.