My first Jupiter-8 session

[minoltist7]

My camera has RF out-of-alignment, lens is quite old and beaten-up, and film developer was expired and not reliable.
I had no chances to have sharp photos, but this was unexpectable.
Mostl shots wide open F/2.0 , some F/2.8. Ilford HP5 400, developed in Negafort , 8min 30sec (I had no instruction to this developer, so I guessed the time)

full link:
http://awaken77.livejournal.com/37352.html#cutid1

 

[Marsopa]

Nice shots

 

[payasam]

Quite reasonable pictures, though perhaps contrast is too low. I see that the J-8 is your only lens for such conditions. You might like to set right the R/F.

 

[minoltist7]

More Jupiter shots in my member gallery.
It becoming my main lens for street shooting, and occasionally for portraits.
Interesting thing is that it focuses on my Bessa exactly to the point , unlike my native CV lenses.

at F/8 or so
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=80897&ppuser=18148
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=80900&ppuser=18148

at F/2.0 - it's OK to focus wide open properly
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=80894&ppuser=18148

the only negative thing about is it's ergonomics. metal focusing ring is stiff, have very long throw and mediocre grip. It takes 2 times slower to focus than my Cosina lenses. But "long" distance scale has some advantages for scale focusing

 

[nzeeman]

it seems that it is not out of alignment... i think focus is good on all of them.

 

[minoltist7]

it seems that it is not out of alignment... i think focus is good on all of them.

with this lens is perfectly OK, but Cosina's are off.
It seems my RF is aligned to FSU standards 🙂

 

[tedwhite]

"It seems my RF is aligned to FSU standards." That's funny. Anyway, I can't figure out why it would be OK only with the J8.

My J8 I hardly use due, as you say, to ergonomics. It's a Kiev/Contax mount, but the aperture ring is clunky and so stiff you have to lock the lens on infinity in order to move it. I much prefer the Helios 103, which is as smooth as silk.

Having said that, the few times I used the J8 it took pretty sharp pictures.

 

[januaryman]

the only negative thing about is it's ergonomics. metal focusing ring is stiff, have very long throw and mediocre grip.

Mine was very, very stiff but only in the cold. I had a CLA done and it now turns smoothly - very nice look to the lens. There's a thread out there from a while back on how to relube this lens, if you're handy, which I am NOT.

 

[wyk_penguin]

"It seems my RF is aligned to FSU standards." That's funny. Anyway, I can't figure out why it would be OK only with the J8.

My J8 I hardly use due, as you say, to ergonomics. It's a Kiev/Contax mount, but the aperture ring is clunky and so stiff you have to lock the lens on infinity in order to move it. I much prefer the Helios 103, which is as smooth as silk.

Having said that, the few times I used the J8 it took pretty sharp pictures.

No FSU len is stiff. 😀 They just need so CLA (possibly some elbow grease and a fine grit sand paper😱 ), but that is the truth.

 

[former member]

The J-8's tend to focus a little behind what most Bessa's would indicate. I received two J-8's in the last week- one was spot-on with the Bessa, the other back-focussed. The lens that was spot-on had obviously been adjusted before because the optics module was fixed in place. No amount of force could unscrew the optics block without destroying the lens. Either glued in, or an extra set screw was added somewhere in the lens. The one that back-focussed now has German optics in it. Both were descibed as "many cleaning marks and scratches".

Just to add- I have another J-8 that requires very stiff grease for the helicals. There is enough play in the helicals to throw the focus off when a light lube is used. As in focus the lens from min to max focus, and have a test target shift from 5m to 7m. Thick lube- fixed it up, and get repeatable results.