Arnold in the rain at dusk (Jupiter 8 50mm f2 vintage lens)
On Tuesday I found a Jupiter 8 50mm f2 vintage lens, a Russian classic, in black at Oxfam in Mapperley, Nottingham.
I already have a copy of the lens, but it didn't focus accurately, somebody had dismantled it and put it back together incorrectly. It's a long story, I got my neighbour to 3D print a couple of spacers, but that just meant it had a minuscule focus range ...about 12-14 feet.
So the new one was a welcome addition to my collection. It's in mint condition. The serial numbers usually give you the year of manufacture, but my new one starts with a 'Zero' which from research suggestions it's a pre production model, quite rare and usually of superior quality. I think it may be from 1968 when the lens went from silver to painted black ! It's from the KMZ factory near Moscow as opposed to the Arsenal factory in Ukraine. The characters on the lens are not Cyrillic, which means it was built for export.
So after that lengthy, geeky write up, how does the lens perform ?
Very nicely, I think. The lens was adapted to my Sony A6000 for this image, shot in the rain, while I was walking Elsie at about 16.45 yesterday. Converted to mono in Darktable.
If you are still reading this, thank you ...and phewwwwww !
It's a wonderful image! And your narrative is very interesting. I love reading about your experiments with vintage lenses and usually, the quality of the end result is fabulous!
I drink tea every morning and my favorite is what we call here English Breakfast tea :-) I like it rather strong, without milk or sugar.
Et you were thrilled! Do all these old lenses fit in your camera? Have all lenses have the same fitting? You can tell I know nothing about lenses these days! This is a fantastic shot.
I drink tea every morning and my favorite is what we call here English Breakfast tea :-) I like it rather strong, without milk or sugar.