What type of Jupiter 8 do you have?

[Scarpia]

I have a black one with stencilled numbers like the one on the right of Laika's picture. I got it last summer with a Zorki 4 on Ebay from the Ukraine for $41.00 including shipping. All I can say is that I love it. It is a little soft and dreamy wide open and tack sharp at f8.
Kurt M.

 

[tedwhite]

I just got a Kiev 4AM in the mail today. The lens is a Jupiter 8 but 53/2. My other Jupiters as 50/2 but are in M39 mount. Didn't know 53/2 existed. It's silver and looks brand new. Good to hear others like it.

I've got some ISO400 Fuji Superia in and am anxious to see the results.

Ted

 

[JoeFriday]

I've got a black J8, circa 1985 with green stenciled numbers.. haven't got a body for it yet, so I can't comment on the performance but I'm impressed with the build quality

 

[kuvvy]

Brett if you want a body...take mine.....my Zorki 4 that is!

It's an excellent example fully working and with it's case. PM if interested and we'll discuss price.

Paul

 

[vladhed]

I just got a Kiev 4AM in the mail today. The lens is a Jupiter 8 but 53/2. My other Jupiters as 50/2 but are in M39 mount. Didn't know 53/2 existed.

I think it is just that the Kiev version is more honest than the LTM version. Sticking Russian LTM lenses on Leica/CV bodies is sometimes problematic with close focussing because the Russians didn't want to make two slightly different versions of these lenses for Contax and LTM. So they made them to Contax spec and so the focal length on LTM bodies is slightly off.

Dante Stella has a rather lengthy analysis of all this

 

[JoeFriday]

Brett if you want a body...take mine.....my Zorki 4 that is!

It's an excellent example fully working and with it's case. PM if interested and we'll discuss price.

Paul

thanks for the great offer, Paul.. Richard Black already offered to send me one of his spare Zorki 6's, tho.. I'm touched by the generosity of RFF members.. either that or their eagerness to get rid of Zorkis 😉

 

[2maneekameras]

Brett I would recommend the Zorki 4 especially if it is an early one over the Z6. I say this based on having used both and had them side by side.

 

[JoeFriday]

well then.. I'll stop looking gift horses in the mouth.. anybody who wants to send me a Zorki, or any other rangefinder, feel free to do so

 

[sockeyed]

I've got 2 silvers (62 and 68) and one black (77). The 68 looks great but has pretty rough cleaning marks. My favourite user is the black one with a vented thread-in lens hood that I just got from eBay seller Heavystar. Looks great on my Bessa R and performs very well.

 

[peter_n]

I've got a silver one from 1959. It is a really nice lens although I'm not using it that much at the moment. Sharp in the middle and with wonderful OOF rendition. Just a perfect people lens! 🙂

 

[Jon Goodman]

I have silver from 1956, 1965 and 1967. The one from 1956 seems to be the best.
Jon

 

[kiev4a]

I have several J8s. The silver 1955 example on my Zorki 3C seems the best -- and it is excellent. I haven't tried the black 1977 on got recently on a Z4K. I previously ha a black one that performed well. I prefer the silver ones where the front element doesn't rotate during focusing, however. I have always heard that the pre 1960 J8s were the best.

 

[tedwhite]

I have a black '75 that came on a FED 2. Has white and green lettering. I have a silver '80 that came on a Kiev 4AM. Both lenses seem to be in very good shape and work well.

However, when I compare their "sharpness" with my Bessa cv lenses, or my Super-Takumar Pentax Spotmatic lenses, they don't seem to come off too well.

What I do like about them, and this has been mentioned by others, is that sort of "old time" look to the images.

Kiev4A: I like your police officer's comment. I once was a detective sergeant on the California/ Mexico border. One day I was having coffee in the Imperial County Jail, chatting it up with the desk sergeant and the chief jailor. "How many you got in here now?" I asked the chief jailor. "148," he answered. "I wonder what they're all in for," I said, in a sort of idle wonder. "All for the same thing," he answered. Surprised, I said, "What? You mean 148 guys in here for burglary? I find that hard to believe." "No, not all in here for burglary," he said. "All in here for not being smart."

 

[kiev4a]

I like the overall "look" the J8 give--a little softer than modern lenses. Frankly, I've never liked the I-61 L/D -- too darn contrasty for my tastes. I've had several and always ended up trading the away.

tedwhite: in regard to the cop's observation, I have found it applies to a lot of people besides criminals -- in fact, it applies to me a lot of the time -- like during the phase when I had 42 Zorki 1s!

 

[pangkievrange]

Make sure the lens is collimated at infinity. I have recently checked lens at infinity with a 2-camera method. It took me several days to master this technique. I bought a glass cutter and a big piece of glass. I then cut the glass slightly bigger than film gate (24x25). With ruler, I drew a cross across the four corners with a magic marker. The physical thickness of the cross should be taken account too by sitting marked area on the inner rails. The glass is on the film gate with using tape. Additional rubber pad is beside the shoe for bracket. I use kiev 88cm with sonnar 300/4 to view the cross image at infinity. The light source is a halogen table light. The cross should be luminated at angle to avoid flare. So far I've finished checking 2 kiev 4a (79, 76), 2 kiev 4am (80, 81), 1 kiev 4 (74), 2 helios 94 for kiev 5 (the above cameras/lens combo are good) and adjusted helios 94 for kiev 4am (81, I changed film plane) and jupiter 3 (71, a tough case). I collimated the jupiter 3 on kiev 4 (74) and rechecked it on kiev 4a (79) (found no problem).

pangkievrange

I have a black '75 that came on a FED 2. Has white and green lettering. I have a silver '80 that came on a Kiev 4AM. Both lenses seem to be in very good shape and work well.

However, when I compare their "sharpness" with my Bessa cv lenses, or my Super-Takumar Pentax Spotmatic lenses, they don't seem to come off too well.

What I do like about them, and this has been mentioned by others, is that sort of "old time" look to the images.

Kiev4A: I like your police officer's comment. I once was a detective sergeant on the California/ Mexico border. One day I was having coffee in the Imperial County Jail, chatting it up with the desk sergeant and the chief jailor. "How many you got in here now?" I asked the chief jailor. "148," he answered. "I wonder what they're all in for," I said, in a sort of idle wonder. "All for the same thing," he answered. Surprised, I said, "What? You mean 148 guys in here for burglary? I find that hard to believe." "No, not all in here for burglary," he said. "All in here for not being smart."

 

[tedwhite]

Does anyone know about the lens quality of a silver FED 50/3.5 collapsible?

The Zorki 4A I bought from Tom O'meara just arrived, and the only extra M39 Russian lens I have is the FED. Looks nice on the Zorki, give the camera that old time Leica look.

Ted

 

[pangkievrange]

Update on collimating lens on kiev. I put a collimated lens on kiev 4am (81 with a new film plane from another camera) and found the new film plane out of specs. I changed back to the original rough film plane and collimated helios again. I checked kiev 4 (76), kiev 2 (51) and kiev 4 (73). The lenses were off for kiev 2(51) and kiev 4 (76). I checked 4 jupiter 12 (2 silvers, 2 blacks). One black jupiter 12 was on while the other black was kind of on. One silver was close while the other silver was way off.

pangkievrange

 

[pshinkaw]

Ted:

It may depend on how old the Fed lens is. Some of the pre-war (uncoated lenses) may not focus properly on a post-war body. If it fits on the mount, give it a try.

Common collapsible lenses for the Zorki were the Industar-22 and Industar 50. Either can usually be obtained for arounf $25. They are both excellent lenses if they were manufactured properly and are in good condition.

-Paul

 

[Roman]

Brett I would recommend the Zorki 4 especially if it is an early one over the Z6. I say this based on having used both and had them side by side.

Well, tastes differ...
I have also used both, and prefer the Z6 very much over the Z4... In my opinion, the Z6 is the best of all the Russian LTM RFs - wide RF base, hinged back, relatively good finder, lever wind, good ergonomics (the worst part about the Z4) - a very good street-camera. OK, the Z4 has a few speeds more, but lacks in all other aspects.

Roman

 

[kiev4a]

Well, tastes differ...
I have also used both, and prefer the Z6 very much over the Z4... In my opinion, the Z6 is the best of all the Russian LTM RFs - wide RF base, hinged back, relatively good finder, lever wind, good ergonomics (the worst part about the Z4) - a very good street-camera. OK, the Z4 has a few speeds more, but lacks in all other aspects.

Roman

Agreed. The Z6 is more compact, too. As for the lack of some shutter speeds, most folks never use those at the low end anyway, especially if you are hand holding out on the street.