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Jupiter 3 useable on M8?


plasticman

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Thinking about extending my fast 50 collection to some of the more esoteric lenses - wondering whether anyone has any experience of the Jupiter 3 on the M8? Does it work to simply screw on a thread-mount to M adapter, or does the lens need special conversion?

 

I've searched and read about what people seem to think - but it appears to be a mixed bag.

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Thanks Rich - supremely informative as usual (I have your site to thank for originally buying the RD1s).

 

The fix sounds a bit ambitious for me to do myself, if it proves necessary. It looks like these lenses gor for around 100 to 150 dollars - which is incredibly cheap - and then add on around 50 bucks for the adapter.

 

The problem in Sweden would be labor costs if any adjustments need to be made - I could easily see the fix you're talking about tripling the original cost (or more) - so possibly I ought to hold off until I find one to actually try on the camera. Hardly the sort of lens that turns up in mint condition around these parts though, so I may have to be patient. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks again.

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I can recommend somebody over here who would not be expensive at all...

 

Well, if your person can adjust lenses to the M8 at a reasonable price then maybe I can take the risk. I'm not an eager ebayer, I must say - never actually bought anything on the bay, in fact.

 

Thanks Jaap, I'll give it a few hours thought.

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Great thanks Jaap

 

Well I just bought the J3 I'd seen on ebay - 160 dollars so pretty cheap. Now I just have to dig up the old details for a PayPal account I'd actually completely forgotten existed, attached to an email address that's long changed and using a password that appears to be different to any password I've ever remembered using... I knew there was a reason I hated PayPal - and this must be it!

 

Mani

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It is very interesting and usable lens

I like it for portraits. It's better to buy it not from ebay, but actually test it before you buy it. I bought mine in Kiev for $100 but I was able to test it right there. I really like bokeh it produces

 

here is a sample image

 

045257f79e42e5f15b11222f5482af5c_large.jpg

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It is very interesting and usable lens

I like it for portraits. It's better to buy it not from ebay, but actually test it before you buy it. I bought mine in Kiev for $100 but I was able to test it right there. I really like bokeh it produces

 

here is a sample image

 

045257f79e42e5f15b11222f5482af5c_large.jpg

 

Hi Jev

 

Nice image! I look forward to getting my lens (I somehow managed to remember that long-forgotten password).

Naturally I would have preferred to try the lens before buying it, but I don't think I've ever seen a Jupiter-3 for sale in Sweden, so the bay seemed the only choice. I probably wouldn't buy a Summilux 50 like this, but the price is really the equivalent of ten lunches or so - maybe worth the risk this time.

Hope it's not a massive disappointment when (if?) the package arrives.

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Just as a brief update - I ordered the Voightländer adapter from Robert White and it arrived as amazingly promptly as usual from that excellent company. I was rather surprised to see that the adapter apparently attaches to the camera and not the lens. Is that correct? Any way of attaching it more permanently to the lens itself?

 

In any case, as I haven't heard a thing from the seller - with an ebay store incidentally, and thousands of previous sales - the lens may never arrive anyway. :rolleyes:

 

Anyway, the quest for all the 50s under f2 goes on...

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Screw it onto the lens first - when it arrives. The adapter will (usually) stay on the lens when removing the lens + bayonet from the camera.

 

PS: there's no need to screw the adapter onto the lens with all strength - "just nipped up" will do just fine!

 

Ah thanks Rich!

 

btw - here's an idea for you: put together all the information you've accumulated and disseminated on digital rangefinders over the years, format it as a Blurb book, and make it a Blurb-bestseller!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are a couple of shots with the M8 and the J3. I like them

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One more for good measure. I just figured out how to upload images. I did adjust the lens for the M8 myself using Brian Sweeney's "How-To" instructions. You can find it here.

http://www.ziforums.com/showthread.php?t=97

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What little faith I had! The lens arrived today, perfectly packed and definitely no brick in the box.

 

In fact, the glass is in better condition than described - the ad stated that there were some cleaning marks on the front element - but I can't see these, at all. When I went back to the seller's ebay shop I see that he seems to always make this statement - so I guess it maybe just to cover himself in case of disappointed customers.

 

What was way more surprising was that it seems to close-focus perfectly (or possibly very slightly back-focusses). I'll attach a (boring) test shot where I focussed on the spine of John Maeda's 'Design By Numbers' - but it's definitely softer than any other lens I've used. And also there may be some slight curvature at the edges (visible in the book-case?).

 

It'll be interesting to try the lens at infinity, and also see how the bokeh stands up to higher contrast.

 

I must say, I'm very relieved it focusses spot-on anyway - so far I've been lucky that all my lenses focus perfectly - I definitely wouldn't have been capable of Brian Sweeney's fix.

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Just one more crop - in case anyone's interested in the way the lens draws and focusses.

I think the close-focussing is okay - this is a 100% crop including the leaf towards top right that was the focus point. There seems to be enough dof to forgive user error, and the softness makes it difficult to judge (compared to the Summicron 90 or Noctilux at least).

 

But I think I like this lens and the soft-focus, low-contrast charm it has.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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