Zorki-4K with Nikkor 85mm/2.0

[ampguy]

Hi Roland

Hi Roland

I think you are probably right, but I did a test myself a month or two back with a CL on a tripod, and 4 russian 50's: a J8, I-22, and I-50 collapsibles, and an I-61 rigid non L/D, wide open at 1m, with items 3/6/9" in front, and behind. Only the I-50 was off on focus, but it's certainly possible the 3 that were in focus were at some point modified by previous owners. However, the J8 and I-22 were also sharp at 1m on a Zorki 4K ??!! (I didn't test the I-50 or I-61 at 1m).

There was probably some slop in my measuring tape, but at least 2 of those 50's seemed to work on FSU and the CL body. Soon I'll be testing a J12 and maybe a J9 on a Hexar RF, and soon an M4P. If they're off on the M body and RF, I'll probably leave them for the Zorki or sell them and keep looking for M lenses. I still can't understand why the CL worked with those 50mm FSU lenses at 1m though.

Raid, I used this lens on my M3 and it generated very sharp photos. I also sent you email with some pointers.

You can easily check RF/lens match by putting the camera on a tripod, setting the lens at 2m or less, and moving the tripod
back and forth until the RF patch is "in focus" for a given object (I take a door frame, typically). Then you take a
measurement tape and measure distance between object and film plane and compare to what the lens says.
The Nikkor distance scales are very accurate, with my M3 this setup was only a quarter to half inch off or so.

Just my 2 cents, without wanting to create trouble: having gone through many Jupiter lenses, and being aware that there
were also a quality issues, I am convinced that Russian LTM RFs are adjusted differently (to the contax standard). This must be
visible with an 85/2 close-up and wide-open. Same as using a J-3 or J-9 (not adjusted by Brian or Kim) on a Leica.

Nice pictures though. I like the sepia tone and the ones where only part of the face is shown.

Roland.

 

[ampguy]

Thanks Roland

Thanks Roland

I re-read the dantestella article, and you're correct, the key thing is I was using slower lenses, only the J8 was f2, the others were 2.8 - 3.5 wide open. Thanks.

Hi Ted,

with 50/f2 and slower you won't notice much difference, the focusing range is deep enough, even close up.
The error is only a few inches between 1 and 2 meters. It gets better the more focusing distance you have.
Brian would recollimate J3 lenses to be more accurate at close-up, but usable at f4 and slower at infinity
(in most cases). The J9 has two shims and you can actually change the focal length, not only the
infinity adjustment by changing the smaller of the two. Still the distance scale will typically be off.

Somebody else a while ago (don't remember the thread) had adjusted his Bessa R to fit his J9 lens.

That's why so many J8s and J12s are used on Leicas successfully, IMO. Also, I had once an email conversation
with somebody selling Contax/M adapters, he suggested using 50/2 and slower ... 50/1.5 and 85/2 is another story.

Check out

http://www.dantestella.com/technical/compat.html

that about summarizes it.

Cheers,

Roland.