Jupiter 12

I recently bought a Jupiter 12 35mm 2.8 lens. Anyone have experience with it? I haven't had time to shoot with it yet.

I like it on film. It's reputedly not good on digital due to the extreme angle at which edge rays strike the sensor.

 

It will not physically fit any crop sensor camera that I'm aware of, nor will it fit on a fair few film rangefinders (Canon, Leica CL and M5?), so check carefully.

I seldom use it but no problems with any of my FSU M-39 cameras. It's a bit "clumsy" setting the f stops. Aloha, Bill

I've used it on the Leica M8 and M9. No problem with the CCD cameras, either fitting or using.

 

I had to shim the lens for proper focus on the Leica.

I haven't tried it with a converter on my actual Leica M3, but the Jupiter-12 worked fine on my Soviet M39 cameras. I haven't tried it yet on my Canon VL2 LTM (I'm not sure if it will clear the shutter).

 

I also have the lens in Contax-Kiev mount and it worked fine on a Nikon S2 with stopping down to kick in depth of field to compensate for the Nikon variance from the Contax standard.

 

Like so many products of the workers' paradise, it is much underrated, to the advantage in the past of people like me who like 'cheap'

 

Mine is from 1952, and has the SN for a Zeiss Biogon stamped in the rear fixture, It is very good.

The rear fixture changed through the years, some have a metal collar on the rear- which can be a problem. I had one that did not clear the light baffles on the Canon P and Canon 7.

Mine is a later production Kiev (Contax) mount, I find it a good 'reportage' lens on the Kiev, small size and no real need for a lens hood are significant advantages.

 

On the downside, the aperture is fiddly to set, less of an issue on a rangefinder though, as you can pretty much 'set and forget'.

 

I tried with an adaptor on Fuji and micro 4/3, in neither case will it mount, as the rear element fouls the shutter housing.

 

I forgot about the M8 being a crop sensor in my statement above, never been fortunate enough to handle one, but I suspect it has more in common with full frame cameras than other crop sensors?

 

Definitely worth a try, but mount with caution!

It mounts okay on an M3. The distance scale is in meters, which will require mental conversions.

The distance scale is in meters, which will require mental conversions.

 

No mental 'conversions' are necessary. that way lies error and confusion.

 

Just think "metric" or "English" as necessary. Do the "code switching" in your mind.

 

Science in the US and world-wide uses metric. I've never found that it took more than a few days for students used to units like miles or versts to make the transition. :D

39.37" per meter. Or just call it yards and add 10% if in a hurry.

 

I had a Physics Teacher that accepted 3 as the value of Pi for mental computations. 3.14159265 is what I always used in my SR-56 Calculator.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Brian

I had a Physics Teacher that accepted 3 as the value of Pi for mental computations.

 

Perhaps your physics teacher believed in inerrancy. 1 Kings 7:23

 

March 14 (3.14) is, of course, pi day.

.. but do you need to do any conversions, after spending all that money on a *rangefinder* camera?

.. but do you need to do any conversions, after spending all that money on a *rangefinder* camera?

Rangefinders are for amateurs. Real photographers guesstimate.