Loving this J3 - with help from Mr. Sweeney

[LeicaFoReVer]

So creemy....which film did you use with J-3?

Well, not before at least one shot in color and wide-open...

My 1953 J-3, closest focus and wide-open at F1.5. On the Bessa R2.

Go for the 1952 J-3.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I think the above shot is with Kodacolor Gold 200.

 

[tbarker13]

Another shot with my 1953 J3.
M8, ISO 640, shot wide open.

 

[stompyq]

My best J-3's have been the KMZ 1950's J-3's. The second best are those from GOmZ through about 1960. The worst have been from the 1980s.

http://ziforums.com/album.php?albumid=97

How can you find this out? from the serial number??

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

How can you find this out? from the serial number??

The first two numbers on the serial number denote the production year.

 

[stompyq]

The first two numbers on the serial number denote the production year.

Thanks!!!!!!!

 

[jmkelly]

As we have discovered how easy this lens is to work on and how good it can be, auction prices are going up. The days of getting these gems for less than $100 seem to be behind us.

 

[raid]

$125 is a good price these days for a J-3.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I picked up another 1953 J-3, ran $140 with shipping. Described as having some light marks on it, we'll see when it gets here. Th SN is lower than my current two, and I want to find out when some of the internal differences came into play.

 

[jmkelly]

I thnk I mentioned to Brian that the last LTM J-3 I bought for $125 arrived with a good mount and two front elements, but instead of a rear triplet it came with three random uncemented lenses and a ridiculous hand-made spacer. It looked like something cobbed up from bottom-of-the-drawer scrapings. I would have sent it back except that I just needed it for parts. My concern is that we may be approaching the point where we need to buy two $125 J-3's to get the parts to create one good lens. Not that that's not do-able, and fun, and probably worth it from the standpoint of image quality 😉. Just saying.

 

[raid]

I nearly bought a 1957 J-3 last night, but let it go for under $90 because it looked rough to my eyes. I am now preferring the "pretty looking" J-3 lenses. Maybe they are less scavanged from parts.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I've run into some J-3's that required a lot of work. The last 1953 J-3 was in that category, the helical was misassembled, was missing 2 of 3 set screws for the focus ring, the focus action was horrible, and the front element was shot. Replaced the front with a new one and rebuilt the mount.

Wide-open, with the new front element.

Stopped down F4;

I have several j-3's with bad front elements and good rear modules. So the front element is the tough one. Raid had the same problem with a CZJ Sonnar from KEH- the rear module was "just wrong". I put in a rear module from a J-8.