Antique 1953 Soviet Lens

[Neddog]

This is my new old 1953 Soviet Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 Leica mount lens. Being one of the early 1950's chrome models, it is supposedly made with Carl Zeiss parts after whole factories were disassembled in Germany and reassembled in Russia.

[Neddog]

Here are a few samples from the lens, shooting some other random antiques laying around the house...




All images shot at f/2.8 and ISO800 on an Olympus E-PL2 Digital PEN (the lens is pictured in the first post on an Olympus E-P1 Digital PEN), using ambient light.

[Kaitou Ace]

Heh, cool stuff. How did you get the lens onto your oly? Just a leica adapter for the micro 4/3rds? Do you lose infinity focus that way? Also really curious where you got your hands on one of those, I am a sucker for old glass.

Lens looks really cool too, I'd love to see some wide open shots.

[Neddog]

Heh, cool stuff. How did you get the lens onto your oly? Just a leica adapter for the micro 4/3rds? Do you lose infinity focus that way? Also really curious where you got your hands on one of those, I am a sucker for old glass.

Lens looks really cool too, I'd love to see some wide open shots.

The Olympus I'm using is a mirrorless Micro Four-Thirds body so it uses a much shorter flange distance than even rangefinders, cine lenses, and PEN F single-frame lenses. That means all these lenses can now be adapted with the full focus range, right up to infinity focus... and also no issues with the couplings on rangefinder lenses.

Because of that, all that was required was a simple screw mount adapter from Leica M39 to Micro Four-Thirds. Found on eBay for $15. On hindsight though, I wish I had gone for a PIXCO or Fotodiox adapter which I now know (just found this out the day mine came in!) that these ones are two piece adapters and can be adjusted to turn the lens on the mount. The adapter I got formed out of one solid piece of metal (from Rainbow Imaging in the US) places the aperture and distance markings on the right side of the lens instead of the top. The unfortunate thing about these adapters is although they're cheap and plentiful on eBay and Amazon, they are not found in local retailers and you can't seem to get them without ordering online. Sucks when you live in Canada, as the wait for mail is painful.

This lens I obtained by trading a brand new lens for it, from a Micro Four-Thirds forum user in Ontario (I'm in Alberta). Market value wise he got the better of the trade, but for me I got the best deal as this is a lens I enjoy putting on the camera and using, whereas the one I traded him was doing nothing but sitting in the bottom of a bag. The fact that he got me an old 1953 copy of the lens is the best part, since the early models are the most desired and considered the best.

Right now I'm waiting on an OM Zuiko 75-150mm f/4 which is also in the mail on the way to me. This was the first zoom lens made by Olympus, and will be exciting to try. This was also another forum trade. I will get the Four-Thirds adapter for this one, so I can mount it on my full-sized Four-Thirds bodies as well as Micro Four-Thirds via Four-Thirds adapter.

I want to try to get some wide open shots today, and if I can get some decent ones I'll post them. The lens is certainly soft wide open, as expected. It's difficult for me to find focus because I'm so used to super-sharp Zuiko Digital glass, which is just as sharp wide open, lol. I keep wondering if I got the focus right or not, or if I'm too close to my subject to get focus (the lens does have a pretty long close-focus range). It seems to have a very nice character though, which I think will work beautifully for some soft-focus portraits.... if only I can get a nice still model to practice on.

[Kaitou Ace]

Heh fun stuff indeed. I am hoping the rumors about Canon working on a mirror-less camera are correct, and if so, I'll be playing with some of that in the future, I love the properties of older glass.

My best trade ever was a Canon 70-300 DO lens that I hated for a 70-200 2.8L [non is older version] that I love.

[~ shino ~]

wow looks so old but co0o0ol xD

[Neddog]

Here's a few more samples from this lens... It actually is quite a sharp lens in good light.

[Neddog]

Here is another new toy for me... A Kiron manufactured Vivitar 100mm f/2.8 macro lens. This is a sweet, legendary lens, and in immaculate condition.



And another new toy, the OM Zuiko 75-150mm f/4, which was the first zoom lens made for the OM system (there were two made prior for the Pen F system)...



Hope to get some sample images from these lenses soon. Well, I do have one sample from the Kiron lens, and that is yet another lens of mine, lol. The classic Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5, the lens that came with the first Olympus E-System DSLR (the E-1), and still my favorite all-around compact fast zoom.