Zorki 3 & Jupiter 8 50mm f2

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sinisaostojic

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I've got an old Zorki 3, which I cannot remove the lens from. The lens is Jupiter 8 and I am pretty sure it is an LTM mount.

Is it just an old camera and the fact that it might have ceased???

Can anyone please offer a suggestions as to how I could remove the lens.

Thanks in advance.
 
Yes, it is LTM, though of the Russian version. There is always the possibility that the threads were damaged when the lens was put on. See if you can work it back and forth a bit. Also, lock the shutter open on B, and look inside the camera to see if the rangefinder follower is jammed.

PF
 
A Zorki 3 will indeed have a screw-mount. Set the lens on closest focus, use something like a rubber glove to grip the lens tightly and turn counter-clockwise. If it's been attached to the camera for a long time, the thread could well be lightly seized. If you can unscrew it a fraction, tighten it back up lightly, then unscrew a bit further and so on until it frees up, as suggested by fairlymac above.
 
Thanky you both very much. The lens has come off, it just required a force which I have thought to be excessive. I have also checked the rangefinder follower as suggested, but it appeared fine to me. Anyhow, once the force was applied, the lens unscrewed smoothly. I also focused to closest distance, which must have provided better grip. Very happy, thanks again guys.
 
Someone was over jealous tightening it up or it just hasn't been removed for too long. It only needs to be tight enough to prevent the focus adjustments unscrewing it.
 
May have been overly tightened so the marks would line up. Never know about these russian lenses. Probably just from being on the camera for so long.
 
It wouldn't hurt to run a needle or pin along the threads of both the lens and camera, to loosen any particles of dirt that may have been smashed in there. Maybe even a scrubbing with a fine brass brush. The two threads are of dissimilar materials (brass on the camera, usually aluminum on the lens), so corrosion could always build-up over long time periods. Get some caps for the body and lens rear so you don't need to store them together.

PF
 
Rather than needle - use a toothbrush to clean the thread on the lens. Needles can further scratch the soft alloy and make it bind again. Lightly smear the thread with a light grease and run it through the threads of the camera multiple times. The alloy in the lens will oxidize and "bind" otherwise. It is a very common problem with the old Univex cameras - which suffered from having the thread cut in the alloy of the mount - AND on the focusing helical. Pure use of brute force is the only way to get the helical freed up!
The Jupiters are actually quite good lenses - somewhat prone to sample variations - but if you get a good one, they give a respectable performance .
 
Just running a test:

Black Jupiter-8 against a Black Summicron, F/2,0-50mm. Only up from 24x30,5cm enlargements you can see the differences. J-8 in a good condition and probably a good type manufacturing. Bought for EUR. 40 in mint condition. The Summicron was almost new in box for EUR. 550,- when Odin, the Leica dealer in Holland went in bankruptcy 10 years ago.
 
Fotohuis said:
Just running a test:

Black Jupiter-8 against a Black Summicron, F/2,0-50mm. Only up from 24x30,5cm enlargements you can see the differences. J-8 in a good condition and probably a good type manufacturing. Bought for EUR. 40 in mint condition. The Summicron was almost new in box for EUR. 550,- when Odin, the Leica dealer in Holland went in bankruptcy 10 years ago.
Click to expand...

Can you post the results? On my side I've done a comparison between a J12 and a Summaron 2.8, the J12 was more contrasty but we are always talking about 50 years old lenses.
 
Thank you all for your comments.
I will make sure I try a toothbrush to clean the threads. In the mean time I got the ltm to M adapter and mounted it on my M6 to test it out. Once mounted, I noticed that centre of the depth of field scale on the lens does not align with vertical centre of the lens mount. The scale is about 5mm to the right when viewed from above. I wonder if the lens is not wound all the way, or perhaps it is wound 5mm too much.
 
Hi,

In rough/general terms, it happens and not just with mixes of ex-USSR and Leica stuff. I've several Barnack bodies with screw thread lenses and the over shoot is normal/common. Same with FED/Zorki/Jupiter lenses and M bodies and genuine and copy adapters. I'd say that only bayonet lenses and bayonet bodies (meaning M series) line up properly.

My best advice is check the focus with the lens wide open and at short range and normal and then forget about it.

Regards, David
 
In glad you got the lens off. I think the Zorki 3 is a cracking camera, let alone one of the best FSUs.

Personally I think the viewfinder is one of the largest and clearest I've found on an FSU.

As others have commented there a lot of variance between jupiter samples and newer isn't necessarily better. I foolishly sold a kiev 4A with an outstanding J8, only to replace with a Fed 2 and less than stellar LTM J8 example.

If your J8 proves less than great they're cheap enough that you can find another.

Have fun!
 
Thanks David.

After developing a roll of film, I can confirm that lens performs very well. The focus at wide aperture and closest distance is in front by approximately 1 inch. As someone noted earlier, if you focus on the nose, the eyes will be in focus. If you stop it down by 2 stops DOF will take care of the error.

I am very glad that I managed to get the lens off the Zorki, as the camera had shutter speed problems, and it wasn't useful. Now on M6, it is reborn, and it is a lens with a rather unique character that I will enjoy shooting from time to time.

Thank you all.
Sinisa
 
From my testing, my J8 focus shifts about 15mm at 1m from F2 to F2.8, and the same again to F4 (this is ok on my Fed which focuses accurately at F2 as the change in depth of field roughly covers it). In your case, this would be pretty helpful if yours front focuses at F2.

Did you test it with that roll on your M? It looks like mine back focuses at F2 on my M4-2 and effectively front focuses at infinity (the lens reaches infinity before the rangefinder does). The latter isn't a problem due to depth of field, but the former is... With focus shift making it worse.
 
Last edited:
CamB said:
From my testing, my J8 focus shifts about 15mm at 1m from F2 to F2.8, and the same again to F4 (this is ok on my Fed which focuses accurately at F2 as the change in depth of field roughly covers it). In your case, this would be pretty helpful if yours front focuses at F2.

Did you test it with that roll on your M? It looks like mine back focuses at F2 on my M4-2 and effectively front focuses at infinity (the lens reaches infinity before the rangefinder does). The latter isn't a problem due to depth of field, but the former is... With focus shift making it worse.
Click to expand...

Cam, my observations are from a test roll on the M. I did not test it on Zorki.
 
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