Cheap M, Or adoptable to M mount lenses.

seanE · Dec 23, 2015

Hi, do any of you have a recommended lens for a Leica m2, 35 to 50mm,
I saw this on the bay and thought it looked interesting http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Jupiter-3-50...619113?hash=item567fc22be9:g:tywAAOSwYaFWcpdV
And are there good and bad, Cheap and expensive adopters, I like to work with shallow depth of field, And I'm a bit worried about adopting lenses to a RF camera. what adopter would you recomend.

frank · Dec 23, 2015

The lens in that eBay listing is a Contax/Kiev mount. They are also available in ltm, which is simpler and cheaper to adapt to M mount.

frank · Dec 23, 2015

Canon made RF lenses in ltm. Check them out too.

summicron1 · Dec 23, 2015

Canon made a very nice 50mm f 1.4 lens in a leica thread mount that is easily adapted to an M2. It is a very good lens. Won't be as cheap as a kiev, but you know it wasn't made by some drunk guy on an assembly line trying to make his quote for the month on a Monday after a bender.

(No, seriously, back in the day Russians/Soviets knew to check what day of the week an item was made - stuff made on Monday and Friday was assembled either by someone still hung over from the weekend, or someone getting ready for the coming weekend. See Hedrick Smith's "The Russians," for much more.)

I have a generally very low opinion of Soviet gear, can you tell? Sad experience.

LTM to M adaptors are cheap and easily available.

bdial · Dec 23, 2015

There are also Nikkors in LTM that are very nice. Like the Canon lenses, cheap compared to Leica M optics but expensive compared to Jupiters and Industars.

seanE · Dec 23, 2015

il look into some of the canons, alto a lot of them seem to be close to Leica prices,
Is there any backing to Russian stuff is crap talk, I'm not expecting them to be Leica quality because there dirt cheap, you wouldn't expect a cheap fuji compact to match a Leica, not because the japs or thi people are all drunks, I see a lot of people slating the Russians, and any thing they make, But i have a sneaking suspicion it's because there the last people its ok to be racist against.
Im not Russian by the way, I just hear it a lot, And wonder what its about.
No offence ether, It would just take me to long to put it in a more savoury manner.

frank · Dec 23, 2015

I think there's enough collective experience to accurately say that FSU quality control is spotty. FSU lenses, when adjusted/shimmed properly are very good.

blockend · Dec 23, 2015

As a rough guide, older is better for Soviet lenses. A good example can be lovely but opening one up can be an eye opener. The Industar 61 LD is one of the better newer lenses optically, internally they can be rough.

frank · Dec 23, 2015

Jupiter 3 is 50mm f1.5 This is a difficult lens to find in good working condition because if focus is off, it's noticeable with it's wide aperture.

J8 is 50mm f2

J12 is 35mm f2.8 (or 3.5?)

cuthbert · Dec 23, 2015

J-3s aren't cheap anymore, they are almost as expensive as a Summarit (tough they might better than that Leica lens) but one of those in good condition is a fabolous lens.

Open wide:

Stepped down:

Small dots and various imperfections are a result of my bad home developing, I still have to learn one thing or two about it.

elekm · Dec 24, 2015

After the Germans left the Soviets to their own devices, some believe that quality went downhill.

seanE · Dec 24, 2015

What film did you use? I'm getting into processing my own film, What mistakes did you make? I always think its best to learn from mistakes, Than try to copy a master.

cuthbert · Dec 24, 2015

seanE said:
What film did you use? I'm getting into processing my own film, What mistakes did you make? I always think its best to learn from mistakes, Than try to copy a master.

The film is Tmax100...for me it's pretty hard to load the film in total darkness, plus where I live the water is quite hard.

seanE · Dec 24, 2015

il use distilled then, if you don't mind me asking, what did you scan with?, my flat bed scanner doesn't work at all,

cuthbert · Dec 25, 2015

seanE said:
il use distilled then, if you don't mind me asking, what did you scan with?, my flat bed scanner doesn't work at all,

I don't have a pro scanner at the moment so I go to my local lab, they scan my negatives and put them on CD for 1.

Ko.Fe. · Dec 25, 2015

J-3 isn't cheap lens. On M2 it will looks nice. But. most likely you would have to shim it to get what this lend could do wide open and on large apertures. And it is not easy because screws are very-very small and easy to break.
If you need it cheap, but very nice and still good optically and in very good physical condition look at J-8 white with focusing collar, tab. You would have to check it for focus accuracy as well. Also very good lens for bw.
If you want lens for color, better find something modern.
For 35 J-12 is cheap as well, you could get it in white, but you would have to spend about $70 for LTM/M Leitz adapter. MiC will works as well, but lens might not sit as it should on camera.
Both lenses have 40.5 mm filter, which is not expensive size and available new. It is important to use contrast filters for bw on Jupiters. And hood. Not the vented one (useless crap), but one without holes in it. MiC are fine.
Old cheap Japanese might have same problems as old Leitz. Fungus and weird filter sizes.

Let me know if you want to see what correctly aligned J-3, 8 could do on bw prints.

Cheapest, no surprises 35 lens for M mount is Color Skopar 35 2.5 PII M lens.
It will do colors well and OK for bw.

chrchr · Dec 25, 2015

Seconding the 35mm Color Skopar. Excellent, compact, inexpensive, and you won't be dealing with a cranky 40 year old product like the Jupiters and the Canons.

seanE · Dec 25, 2015

Some sample would be grate, ''only if you have them close to hand'' I'm going to be shooting B/W for some time so colour isn't a huge problem,
Would you pay more for a lens that is supposedly adjusted and tested on a M, Or would you save some bucks, And adjust it your self or get some on else to.

Xmas · Dec 25, 2015

Setting up a fast M lens or an M for a fast lens is not easy.

Do you need to use wide apertures?

If you are on a budget a Canon P or VI and Canon 5cm /1.8, are effective tools.
If you want to spend less a J8.

An M is faster to swap lenses but slower to unload and load a film.

Ko.Fe. · Dec 25, 2015

seanE said:
Some sample would be grate, ''only if you have them close to hand'' I'm going to be shooting B/W for some time so colour isn't a huge problem,
Would you pay more for a lens that is supposedly adjusted and tested on a M, Or would you save some bucks, And adjust it your self or get some on else to.

I've sold my shimmed J-8 for same price as they sell them as is on-ebay. Instructions are available on-line. All you have to do is to get right amount of shims (paper rings) and re-position focus and aperture rings. On-ebay it was offering for this service, but not anymore...

My apologies, I don't have good scans of prints. Here are just negs scans.

J-3 (shimmed, wide open) on M4-2.

This is same J-3 on same M4-2 before I get it shimmed. It was first "blind" film after I received J-3.

This is J-8 on M4-2.

Again, I apologize for showing scans instead of prints. But on prints it is great. I was surprised how good it was on prints from J-8 and J-3.

Xmas · Dec 26, 2015

seanE said:
il use distilled then, if you don't mind me asking, what did you scan with?, my flat bed scanner doesn't work at all,

I get white specs from faucet turbulence.
But I can use powder developers, and powder fix ok, the only problem is drying without white marks.
I need to OD with surfant and use a film squeegee.

Note ilford does recommend squeegee, it needs cleaning before each film.

seanE · Dec 31, 2015

What do you guys think of the leica lls? Most screw mount jupiter lenses should fit? So if i can't afford two or three m mount lenses and an m2, Would I be better off getting a nice condition llc and screw mounts. rather than adopting?.

Ko.Fe. · Dec 31, 2015

M is superior to LTM in terms of taking the picture.
And Jupiter (FSU) will still have same compatibility issues.

Cheap M, Or adoptable to M mount lenses.

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