Where have all the Good Jupiters Gone... Gone to RFF every one?

[aizan]

I've been finding lots of goodies on Avito.ru, OLX.pl, Aukro.cz, Allegro.pl.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I've been finding lots of goodies on Avito.ru, OLX.pl, Aukro.cz, Allegro.pl.

My only J-3 is from IzRukVRuki.ru and Max Aleshin went to pick it up, send to me. Clean lens, I'm not hording on any other J-3, just because I could put better use of them.

But I got some other FSU RF lenses out of curiosity, made them work and sold without profit.
To be honest all Jupiters and other FSUs, like Helios 44 are just better than nothing.
Then Soviet was gone many people were trothing them into the garbage with cameras attached.

 

[ZivcoPhoto]

I bought a J-8 (1958) on Ebay two months ago, came with bent rim and multiple surfaces scratches, a California seller.

Several weeks ago, I bought a J-8M (1978) from a large USA camera store I have bought and sold many used cameras and lenses with. The lens is perfect, glass, mechanics, really outstanding results on Z6 or M9 or Contax IIIA.

So they are out there, at least the Contax mount versions….good and bad ones.

 

[rfaspen]

Well, my favorite Jupiter is a "Sonnar Brian Special". Hands down. I find that when I can get my act together and use it properly, I get magic. I take the J-3 out fairly often.

My other Jupiters are a J-8 and a J-12. I guess I should take them out for a spin. If I remember right, they both work just fine. The J-12 is a 1972 vintage and I think I got lucky with that one because its clean and works as advertised. I just don't take it out because I have other lenses in front of it on the shelf. Same with the J-8, which I think is a 1962.

Oh, and I have a J-8M. Don't remember its vintage but that one works very well. Too bad I can only use it on the Kievs. I definitely don't use my Kievs because I just cannot do the Contax hold. Believe me I've tried and tried. I don't know if the 8M is special enough to warrant purchase of an adapter.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I might have more Jupiters.....need to rummage the cupboard and see.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The J8M - the formula was changed around 1968 or so. The Middle Triplet was revised from the published formula of the original late 1950s release. The original design, the surfaces between the 2nd and 3rd element of the middle triplet were flat, and the diameter of the third element is smaller than the surface it is supposed to align to. I suspect this made centering the elements difficult. The revised version- looks much closer to the original Sonnar and J-8 design. I have the V2 in Leica mount, someone used a Canon 50mm F1.8 focus mount for the conversion. It is very good. The older J8M I had in Kiev mount was very soft. The optics of the J8M have larger diameters than the J8.

 

[css9450]

I have J-8, J-9 and J-12 all in LTM, which all came from Fedka. Nice lenses, no complaints here.

I have a really ugly and beat up J-12 in Contax mount, which makes nice pictures but focuses really stiff. I am sure it has yak wax lube in it.... I love the J-12 size and feel on my Nikon RFs so I was happy to upgrade to a much newer J-12 which I got from Ebay. I filed down the rear ring so it wouldn't scratch my camera but unfortunately it has some lens issue which gives me soft areas on one side of the photo. I've since found an even newer J-12 so hopefully once I swap over the rear ring all will be well with it.

 

[titrisol]

Not a purchase, but my mom found a few cleaning my grandma's estate
I have a Jupiter 3 -9 and -12 from 1952-55-56 with the KMZ universal turret that I believe belonged to one of my uncles and a Sonnar 5cm.1,5 from 1932 that belonged to my grandfather.
No camera found though.

 

[rfaspen]

What a find! LTM or Kiev mount?

 

[css9450]

If you want to know where all the Jupiters have gone, jump over to YouTube and visit the channels of various beardy hipsters who started out in photography with a phone, bought a used film Leica six months ago when they decided to "get serious," and now share their noob revelations with hundreds of thousands of fawning subscribers.

LOL There is one guy I was watching who collected all these various normal film cameras, and eventually decided to "get serious" so he sold almost all of his cameras and bought an M6. Turns out, the camera needed new shutter curtains (it had pinhole burn marks) but he's so enthralled about having a Leica apparently he's not even going to get it fixed. He's just going to keep shooting it with the burn holes! Hopefully the Nikon F3 he sold has gone to a more appreciative owner.

 

[titrisol]

What a find! LTM or Kiev mount?

All Contax mount, my grandfather bought a Contax I in 1937 from one of the many Jewish refugees that came to our town
My uncle still has the camera, even though it hasnt been operational since the early 40s.
I sent the lens to be serviced by Henry Scherer and is a beaut!
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5cm/1.5 v1 ( 1932)


My other uncle bought a Kiev and a few Jupiters when he flirted with communism in the early 60s
The lenses were left at my grandmas and my mom was going to trash them
Jupiter-9-1955
Jupiter-12-1956
Jupiter3 on a Kiev 4A (from KEH)

And the KMZ turret finder
KMZ Universal Viewfinder

 

[raid]

Beautiful find! Enjoy these lenses.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I am glad you rescued these!

The KMZ Jupiters are top notch, and the Sonnar 5cm F1.5 is from the first batch of 100 made.

 

[hap]

I am glad you rescued these!

The KMZ Jupiters are top notch, and the Sonnar 5cm F1.5 is from the first batch of 100 made.

If I am not mistaken this is a KMZ Jupiter 3? It has light blue coating. Perhaps you can tell me if newer made lens?

 

[hap]

My mistake the logo is ZOMZ. This logo is from earlier output but I do not know from the serial number of date produced. Has a coating suggesting it is somewhat later .

 

[dexdog]

I think that the lens is legitimate, the 58 part of the serial number is the year of production and the purply-blue color of the coating is appropriate. Also the ZOMZ logo is consistent with the 1958 time frame. I think the ZOMZ logo changed to the stylized eye with an arrow in 1962. The only thing that suggests that the lens is newer than 1958 is the lens barrel, which looks almost pristine. Ya never know it could have been only lightly used in the past, or recently discovered new old stock.

 

[titrisol]

I knew the lens was prewar but Rauber and Henry Shcerer helped set the record straight. Henry also told me that the original rear cap it cam with could be worth over $500!
I like vintage gear but not that much

I am glad you rescued these!

The KMZ Jupiters are top notch, and the Sonnar 5cm F1.5 is from the first batch of 100 made.

The Jupiters are very nice indeed.
But I don;t see myself taking pictures with this system.

 

[boojum]

Are non-KMZ Jupiter 3's worth buying?

 

[TenEleven]

Are non-KMZ Jupiter 3's worth buying?

It really depends on the price, I'd definitely pay less than for a ZOMZ lens than a KMZ lens of equal condition.
I'd probably pass on the late Valdai ones all together.

And yeah good 50ies KMZ lenses are now thin on the ground and what little is there seems to be hacked together stuff, or sold from people passing on their (known good) gear and priced as such.

 

[dexdog]

Are non-KMZ Jupiter 3's worth buying?

Based on my experience, the early ZOMZ lenses are generally quite good, provided that you get an unmolested example. I have 3 such lenses made in 1957, 1959 and 1961 and I think that they are as good as the KMZ version of the J-3.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It turns out there are two distinct versions of the KMZ lens, and these ran in production concurrently in production starting in 1954. You can tell by the fixture for the rear triplet, those with threads towards the aperture are German glass. These typically are better than the V2 and ZOMZ lenses. I have several ZOMZ J-3's, and the one from 1975 is a stand-out. Most are very good, but not quite as good as the v1 KMZ. The V2 KMZ is not as good as the v1. This is comparing very clean examples of each. The biggest difference is field curvature and edge-to-edge performance.

This is with a 1980s Valdai, but it needed lots of work repositioning the helical in the mount and the optics are the sharpest of 12 that I went through.

L1007938-Edit by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr