Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I agree with you on the Jupiter. I should add parenthetically that I've also had good experience with the humble Industar 50/3.5, but the Jupiter 3 is a favorite. I've never used one of the black finishd ones, but have experience with the "white metal" ones. A great bargain. The basic Zeiss Sonnar is a favorite lens of mine. I really regret sellling a wartime coated one that had been cleaned and collimated by Henry Scherer, but I have, in Contax mount, a very early postwar CZJ one and a Zeiss Opton one. All are superior to a not very clean Summarit that I once had, and to some other oddities of the 50s, like a Tokyo Optical Simlar 50/1.5 in LTM that graces a Leotax I own. But I'm a huge fan of Zeiss glass. My dream is to find a reasonably priced adapter that will allow me to mount my Contax 21mm lens on a Leica -- non-rangefinder coupled will do. But it is hardly a hardship for me to use it on one of my pre and postwar Contaxes. Mark On 6/16/05, Marc James Small <msmall@aya.yale.edu> wrote: > > There is a book in this tale. > > The Jupiter-3 lens design is that of the Prewar Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar as > continued, Postwar, in production by the Communist CZJ works, though > slightly different from the western Zeiss-Opton or Carl Zeiss lenses. > > Early Jupiter-3 lenses were almost certainly produced at Jena in Germany > from Zeiss parts. Quality control on the Jupiter-3 line was always tighter > than that on many of the other Soviet lenses. > > It has been my experience that the finest and most consistent lenses of > this breed are those produced by the ZOMZ works, these being relatively > late lenses finished in flat-black paint. Look for serial numbers > beginning with 83.. or 84.. or the like, up to 94.. or so. > > A solid Jupiter-3 is a magnificent lens: the design dates from 1932 and > was one only equalled by Leitz with its second version of the 50mm > Summilux. A good Jupiter-3 will certainly overwhelm a Summarit in all > optical parameters, stalwart though the Summarit may be. > > Marc > > msmall@aya.yale.edu > Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! > > NEW FAX NUMBER: +540-343-8505 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >