OK, this is totally not fair

Ko.Fe. said:
Last tests pictures are totally awesome 🙂 I used to have kind of similar bookshelf which I used for test of lenses.
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Books by French author Guy de Maupassant? I do not know any Russian, but based on rough transliteration this is what I came up with. I studied Russian cyrillic alphabet before my 2009 trip to Moscow so I could read Metro stops and street signs. Came in really handy trying to navigate around a strange city.
 
santino said:
Isn‘t the f2 Sonnar‘s front element softer than the 1,5‘s?
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That is true of the 1930s pre-WW2 lenses. The post-WW2 lenses from Zeiss-Opton and Carl Zeiss are made from more durable glass with coatings that are not as easily damaged.
 
"Brian-Level Lens"... I just like to optimize any lens I get hold of, try to get the best out of it. It's tedious, but not hard. Same approach as I take to writing code.

There are not many lenses that I do not like. Some- I've transplanted all the glass into donor barrels, even mixed and matched lens groups for improvements.
The J-3+: sample to sample issues, I think Lomography cherry picked the best, both of mine are from them. The left-overs, made there way to Ebay and other outlets.
 
Sonnar Brian said:
"Brian-Level Lens"... I just like to optimize any lens I get hold of, try to get the best out of it. It's tedious, but not hard. Same approach as I take to writing code.

There are not many lenses that I do not like. Some- I've transplanted all the glass into donor barrels, even mixed and matched lens groups for improvements.
The J-3+: sample to sample issues, I think Lomography cherry picked the best, both of mine are from them. The left-overs, made there way to Ebay and other outlets.
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I think that Lomography x Zenit sorted them with a fairy dust detector.😉
 
My favorite BLL, a 1950 Jupiter 3 rehabbed by Skyllaney in 2023. Wide open at one meter. Higher resolution is available by clicking on photo and typing RFF for password. This lens was originally a 272 series CZJ Sonnar, but I think it beats out every other 272 series I own. Yeah, I put the rifle rounds back this morning, in case anyone was wondering
 
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I am thinking of doing a test of all of the various interations of the CZJ 272 lenses that I have. Should be interesting, if somewhat boring. If I get around to it, I would likely post it in a new thread under the Sonnar Brian forum.
 
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wlewisiii said:
I know I got one hella fantastic uncoated Zeiss 50/2 collapsible Sonnar from him awhile back. To me that's a BLL and possibly my absolute favorite lens.
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Yeah, Sonnar B transferred an uncoated collapsible 50/2 Sonnar into a tabbed J-8 mount for me. It is a definately a BLL
 
I'm not good at tests, like ya'all are. Over at the Pentax place I hang at, though, they asked about guilty pleasures last night and this was my response...

"I haven't been a Pentaxian long enough to have a guilty pleasure here yet.

But let me tell you a story... I have an uncoated 1937 Zeiss Sonnar 50/2 in a collapsible mount that was originally made for the Zeiss Contax II rangefinder. This pre-World War II lens was the middle of the road lens - not as fast and expensive as the Sonnar 50/1.5 but still a step up from the Tessar 50/3.5 and could be collapsed into the body to make it easier to carry around. Zeiss was, of course, the primary competitor to Leica and their rangefinders.

After the war, Nikon started making their S series of rangefinders. In many ways they took what they saw as the best ideas from both Zeiss and Leica and combined them in one camera. When I bought a S2 rangefinder, a friend of mine offered to sell me that Sonnar 50/2 tweaked to work on the Nikon standard.

Sometime later my S2 developed trouble and while waiting for it to be repaired, I bought an Amedeo Adaptor to be able to use my Nikon S mount lenses on Leica M mount cameras.

SO - I can take a lens made in 1937 for a Zeiss camera, modified to work on a post war Japanese camera and use it on a 2012 made German Digital Camera, my Leica M 240, with results like this:
22.jpg

That's my way of testing things 😉
 
dexdog said:
My favorite BLL, a 1950 Jupiter 3 rehabbed by Skyllaney in 2023. Wide open at one meter. Higher resolution is available by clicking on photo and typing RFF for password. This lens was originally a 272 series CZJ Sonnar, but I think it beats out every other 272 series I own. Yeah, I put the rifle rounds back this morning, in case anyone was wondering
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A very obvious curve in that lens. I do like the bullets, tho. Are they intended (as a warning only, to be sure!) for anybody here in RFF? 🙀

This to me shows that with Jupiters one has to accept the luck of the draw. And in this case you drew lucky.
 
wlewisiii said:
I'm not good at tests, like ya'all are. Over at the Pentax place I hang at, though, they asked about guilty pleasures last night and this was my response...

"I haven't been a Pentaxian long enough to have a guilty pleasure here yet.

But let me tell you a story... I have an uncoated 1937 Zeiss Sonnar 50/2 in a collapsible mount that was originally made for the Zeiss Contax II rangefinder. This pre-World War II lens was the middle of the road lens - not as fast and expensive as the Sonnar 50/1.5 but still a step up from the Tessar 50/3.5 and could be collapsed into the body to make it easier to carry around. Zeiss was, of course, the primary competitor to Leica and their rangefinders.

After the war, Nikon started making their S series of rangefinders. In many ways they took what they saw as the best ideas from both Zeiss and Leica and combined them in one camera. When I bought a S2 rangefinder, a friend of mine offered to sell me that Sonnar 50/2 tweaked to work on the Nikon standard.

Sometime later my S2 developed trouble and while waiting for it to be repaired, I bought an Amedeo Adaptor to be able to use my Nikon S mount lenses on Leica M mount cameras.

SO - I can take a lens made in 1937 for a Zeiss camera, modified to work on a post war Japanese camera and use it on a 2012 made German Digital Camera, my Leica M 240, with results like this:
View attachment 4862382

That's my way of testing things 😉
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I'm with you. I am grateful that many members of the forum take the time to test lots of samples of these lenses and I certainly bear their collective wisdom in mind when I am looking for a vintage lens but I've never been one for test charts. Like Sonnar Brian I usually take pictures of things that I have used before to decide if a newly acquired lens deserves to stay or go back. So far I haven't really had a clinker although a couple of them needed cleaning to work properly.
 
That's a substantial range of rifle cartridges. Brass and steel case. One over to the right looks a bit more pistol to me.
Funny that living in the Western US all my life means that it doesn't seem very odd to see a line of cartridges on a bookshelf. While in other countries I suspect that would be more of a "head turner". I would almost not notice at all... I have friends from other lands who would certainly notice. Maybe even more than that.
Cultural differences are interesting. And no, not a "gun nut", they're just not uncommon in my part of the world.
What is uncommon? -- Decent RF lenses. I used to even see them in thrift stores. Even the occasional pre war Contax. No more ☹️. There's a "vintage store" in a nearby town that has taken to offering old film cameras, including RF. Prices are....um... modern.
 
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