My new (old) lens

A little birdy sold me his Russian Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 lens for my Bessa. It has a really nice old-timey look in colour and black and white, even on modern film. All photos on Ilford XP2 film processed at Wal-Mart (against my better judgement) and scanned by me on an Epson 4180 scanner..

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Good work Ken.

I'm not sure I made a great choice in the 35mm Biogon. It's a great lens and shots look great, especially in colour. I really like how this Jupiter-3 looks in B&W though. The 3rd shot especially show the imperfections in the lens in a really pleasing way to me. The Biogon is too perfect, too modern for me.

You'll want both! That's why I have a 'modern' kit and a 'classic' kit. I'd keep the 35mm Biogon in case the J3 falls apart!

In my informal lens testing, I found that the J3 performed extremely well even compared to the DR Summicron. It renders photographs in such a lovely way. The 50mm Sonnar was the standard for 50mm until the Leica released the Summicron.

I have a 35mm f/2.8 Jupiter-12, which is a Soviet copy of the original, pre-war Zeiss 35mm Biogon. Unfortunately, it won'tl work with your Bessa because the rear element will hit the shutter. I can only use it on my IIIf, Zorki and M3. It his the shutter of my Bessa-T and on the MP, it interferes with the meter. It would be interesting to compare it with the modern version.

I knew I could get you to write more

LOVE THAT LENS!!! What a great feel to these photos.

#2 is awesome. I keep waiting for that train to roll on by! Just enough detail left in the sky, superb! Great detail and contrast too.

Colin,

I can definitely picture you with a classic Zeiss-Ikon Contax II rangefinder adorned with a 50f1.5 Sonnar.

The classic Zeiss 50 f1.5 Sonnar was so good that everybody copied it after the WWII when German patents were declared void. The Soviet Jupiter-3 copy was actually made with Zeiss equipment and at first, with Zeiss parts. The Soviets dismantled Zeiss' Jena factory and literally transported it to Kiev (including some of the employees). In Japan, the 50 f1.5 Nikkor was almost a direct copy. Nippon Kogaku (Nikon) then modified the design slightly and came out with the 50 f1.4 Nikkor but still very much a Sonnar. The Canon 50 f1.5 Serenar is very desirable as it has the Sonnar optics but in a barrel similar to that of the Leica 50 f1.5 Summarit. Like the Summarit, the Canon barrel is made heavy brass and chrome and not the flimsier aluminum like the other Sonnars. HCB obtained a Zeiss 50f1.5 Sonnar in Leica m39 mount during or shortly after the war and used it for a very long time. The Sonnar's signature at larger apertures that one can often pick out the photos HCB took with it.

Recently Zeiss came out with a modern version of their classic Sonnar; the 50mm f1.5 Sonnar-C ZM in Leica M-mount that retails for around $1,500USD. It gives the Sonnar look but with the best in modern coatings, construction and quality control. Surprisingly, a well-adjusted Jupiter-3 can hold its own against it:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46141
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31006

When it comes to the photos Ken presented here, I like the DOF the best. Looks like Ken took these around f/5.6. The softness works well with the train in the 2nd shot and the houses in the 3rd shot.

Yah f/5.6 is about right, hard to say because there's no click stops and it tends to drift on me. All of a sudden I'm getting 1/4th shutter speeds because it slipped to f/16

I knew that when I bought it though... it was a great buy and I really appreciate it.

On an camera equipped with a meter, no click-stops can sometimes be nice. I also ran into the same problem you are experiencing.

Rangefinder lenses usually reach their maximum performance at f/5.6 and sometimes f/4 unlike SLR lenses that see their maximum performance at f/8 or f/16. I pretty much shoot at around f4 - f/5.6 or wide-open. I don't usually go with a smaller aperture than f/5.6 unless its too bright or if I'm scale focusing.

By the way Ken, you ought to try developing XP2 in Rodinal using stand-development instead of taking the rolls to Walmart. Take a look at this:

http://www.1point4photography.com/blog/ilford-xp2-stand-developed-in-rodinal/

I currently have a roll of XP2 in Spotty and will be trying this out. If it works well, I'm going to try other C41 films that I have. BW400CN next and then Fuji Superia 100 and 400.

Nando wrote:By the way Ken, you ought to try developing XP2 in Rodinal using stand-development instead of taking the rolls to Walmart. Take a look at this:

http://www.1point4photography.com/blog/ilford-xp2-stand-developed-in-rodinal/

I currently have a roll of XP2 in Spotty and will be trying this out. If it works well, I'm going to try other C41 films that I have. BW400CN next and then Fuji Superia 100 and 400.

I've been meaning to... I mentioned that blog post about the XP2 in Rodinal at our last coffee meet. Matt helped me a lot with deciding on the Biogon (for better or for worse) and I did a print swap with him late last year

Sorry, I had a brain fart there. I didn't remember that it was you who refered me to that blog.

Haha that's OK. I just figured you never listen to me

Nice photos. They look like they were taken decades ago. Nice work!

Rusty Shackleford
photographer