Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/31

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Subject: Re: [Leica] What Russian/east German len
From: jeremy.kime@bbc.co.uk
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 10:28:00 +0000

Following on from this post...

>>>>>>>>>>>
2. In Moscow, she will no doubt visit the enormous flea market at
Ismailovsky Park.  Have her look for 20mm f5.6, 50mm f2 "Jupiter-8", 85mm
f2, and 135mm f4.  Everyone tells me the 50mm f1.5 "Jupiter-3" is great,
but I've never seen one in working order.  Give your sister a lesson on how
to properly inspect a lens - simple stuff.
<<<<<<<<<<<

It occurred to me that there could be a relatively simle way of testing some 
of these erratic quality lenses and avoiding duds like Tom A's 20mm Russar 
problem.
Take along a (Leica) screw mount focussing screen, these were made by a 
variety of manufacturers, and a magnifying device, a 8-10x lupe would do. 
Then you can check for correct image and focussing on the groundglass at 
both infinity and close focusing distance.
I had a 35/2.8 lens once that was hopelessly out, nothing could be made to 
come into focus, though extenally it looked pristine...
Caveat Emptor. Always a little trickier for a rangefinder camera buyer 
though!

Jem