Lenses by Jupiter!

[desmo]

Someone please tell me if those Rusky Jupiter lenses are good.

I'm after a 75mm or perhaps a 90mm for my screw mount Voigtlander and don't have the bucks spare for a megadollar leica.

are they sharp?
are they built well?
will i become the victim of a Russian Mafia scam if I order online?
Did Mad King Georges' father trade with the Ruskies too?

all these questions and more need your answers please.

 

[wamjam]

they are very good lenses. i got a jupiter 85mm. very sharp. try getting them on ebay.

 

[desmo]

i've seen lots on ebay from the former soviet republics but wasn't sure they'd be any good and have this paranoid delusion that the seller's gonnna scam my credit card or purge my bank account.

tell me i'm being ridiculous

 

[Dracotype]

Jupiter-9 85mm f2. But there are many knowledgeable people who know more than I do about its performance.

Drew

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Not likely...but someone here most likely has one or four that they're not using...there's always posting a WTB.

 

[desmo]

should i have said magadang umanga po?

(i lived in makati for a while)

 

[wamjam]

should i have said magadang umanga po?

(i lived in makati for a while)

to which question or comment are you replying with this statement? and that's magandang umaga po. 🙂

i'm a filipino....and i'm in makati as i write this reply. 😛

 

[desmo]

yes, it was to you and please excuse my spelling: i only ever said it but didn't write it.

I used to live of Rohas Blvd and frequented the bars near what was then Giraffe.

i left not long after Erap was elected

to which question or comment are you replying with this statement? and that's magandang umaga po. 🙂

i'm a filipino....and i'm in makati as i write this reply. 😛

 

[desmo]

Thanks Daniel

 

[wamjam]

hahahaha! wow! that was a long time ago. were you an expat?

and did you get to visit 'hidalgo'?...that street downtown with stores selling new and vintage cameras? i might go there this weekend.

anyway, going back to the jupiter 9, i got mine on ebay last year for about $50 taxes and shipping to the philippines included...from ukraine. no paypal here so i'm using bidpay. i bought 2 lenses, 2 cameras, 2 books, vintage timex watches from ebay and i could say it is fairly safe. just make sure the seller has a high number beside his name...those funny icons beside the number that says "power seller", etc. would mean that it is safer to purchase from that seller.

hope this helps. 🙂

 

[Kim Coxon]

The Jupiters are a bit of a lottery. When they are set up correctly, they are very good lenses for the money. The problem is getting one that is set up.

Kim

 

[desmo]

1998 is a long time ago?
it seems like yesterday

nah, i only heard about that place after i left! I used tyo go looking for cheap software in Virra Mall and of course as an expat played Kiwi rugby at the Cricket club outside town.

Makati and Manila being what they are though, I used to cycle around town on my mountainbike doing tricks on it outside Glorietta Mall. I also took lots of photos; the most noteable being the crucifixions and stuff at Easter time (can't even remember the name of the town).

The Philippines was so cheap to live in and we enjoyed it greatly. We even managed to save a lot of money from our income.

I was also a Hash House Harrier (if you know what that is) and used to run from bar to bar with a beer in hand. I also used to keep my pockets full of sweets to throw out to the kids as we went past them. They called me lollyman.

;-)

Thanks for your help

hahahaha! wow! that was a long time ago. were you an expat?

and did you get to visit 'hidalgo'?...that street downtown with stores selling new and vintage cameras? i might go there this weekend.

anyway, going back to the jupiter 9, i got mine on ebay last year for about $50 taxes and shipping to the philippines included...from ukraine. no paypal here so i'm using bidpay. i bought 2 lenses, 2 cameras, 2 books, vintage timex watches from ebay and i could say it is fairly safe. just make sure the seller has a high number beside his name...those funny icons beside the number that says "power seller", etc. would mean that it is safer to purchase from that seller.

hope this helps. 🙂

 

[desmo]

Whats to set up Kim?
Are they somehow adjustable?

The Jupiters are a bit of a lottery. When they are set up correctly, they are very good lenses for the money. The problem is getting one that is set up.

Kim

 

[wamjam]

hash house harrier? with that description, i see myself in you! hehehehe. that town is called pampanga by the way.

perhaps we've seen each other if you used to watch bands here. i used to play for the band called Indio I.

 

[desmo]

"perhaps we've seen each other if you used to watch bands here. i used to play for the band called Indio I."

At Giraffe in 1998/9? If so then I probably did.
Lots of action in that place!

Pampanga: I remember a big stone church, the crucifixion mound and three crosses, men with whips and stones/glass tied to the end whipping themselves until they bled and fainted. It was a couple of hours drive from Makati I think.

We also climbed Pinutubo; my wife got dengue and had to spend 2 weeks in hospital.

hash house harrier? with that description, i see myself in you! hehehehe. that town is called pampanga by the way.

perhaps we've seen each other if you used to watch bands here. i used to play for the band called Indio I.

 

[RML]

I bought my chrome J-9 on a whim on eBay from one of the reputable dealers (can't remember which one though), It's been perfect from day 1. It focuses correctly, I love the colour rendition (quite similar to the J-8 50/2) and while it's sharp it has creamy smooth bokeh. I only had problems with flare, which were solved by screwing on a 4.5cm long Heliopan tube shaped hood. Only at f2-f2.8 it shows some vignetting.

 

[Kim Coxon]

Hi,
There is a multitude of ways to put the 3 helixs on the focus unit of the J9 together and only one is right. There is a multitude of threads on the forum of people who have had problems with the focus and some are caused because it has not been put together correctly after a re-libe. As far as the lens unit is concerned, there are 2 sets of shims that can be adjusted. One affects the exact focal length and will determine if the the klens focuses correctly throughout the range and the other sets the infinity focus.

Kim

Whats to set up Kim?
Are they somehow adjustable?

 

[childers-jk]

Just a quick note if you want to buy from someone in the US try www.fedka.com. I picked up a really nice black J-8 last year. Selection is spotty, but I think the quality is better than ebay.

Jeff C.

 

[doubs43]

Here's a link to a thread about the Jupiter-9 on a Leica. It was only a few days ago that it ran and there are multiple examples of pictures taken with J-9's.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17058

Walker

 

[ZorkiKat]

should i have said magadang umanga po?

(i lived in makati for a while)

Desmo

Magandang umaga rin!

Re Soviet lenses- I'd say they're very good. You get, for the most part, a Zeiss-designed optic with a lot of improvements thrown in by Soviet designers. Soviet optical engineers are not exactly to be looked down at- though their comrade-colleagues were not the first to make colour television, they certainly were the first to send man to outerspace (that's to paraphrase a Nixon-Khrushchev conversation).

And if you're getting them in LTM-39, you'd have essentially what people 50 or so years ago (maybe some still do so today) could only dream of- Zeiss glass in Leitz packaging. Many of these lenses still retain their good qualities. I wouldnt say that they're better quantitively (say in terms of resolution or other numerical attributes)- the newer glass are likely slightly better in this regard.

But there is much more than MTF or resolution figures when lenses are concerned. Personally, I'd be more concerned about how the lenses make images. Its the 'look' they create. Soviet lenses tend to do things differently- and wonderfully at that. The really old ones create the look associated with vintage images. The newer ones create wonders in rendition of tones, hues, and even bokeh which the modern Japanese glasses don't seem to do at all.

I often use Soviet glass in digital photography. Industars and Jupiters work fine on the new media. If only I could afford the Epson RD-1, the lenses from my FED and Zorki would be engaged in tasks their designers did not even dream of! 🙂

Then there is the cost factor- a collapsible, elmar-looking Industar 22 or 50 can be used on a Leica and be expected to do as well as the German lens for much less. The Industar-61 L/D is among the best 50mm lenses made. You could probably get 20 of these for the price of one new Elmar 50, but why would you need 20 Industars?

The only fly in the ointment is iffy quality control. The J-9, as wonderful as it could be, is the lens which I found to be most problematic. Despite of this, I liked it so much that there was a time I had 14 of them...now I'm down to 12. See here for some comments:

http://www.jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page336.htm

And regarding you fears about buying on eBay from the former Soviet Union, I'd say that most if not all, are honest and could be trusted. I've had worse experiences with sellers from America. A week ago, I got a 'non-payment' strike from a US based seller after a week he confirmed receiving the payment. Seller never communicated back, did not act on the strike, took my money and I don't know if the lens I bought from him will ever arrive.

Jay