Finally got the adapters. Some bad news. May need help.

[Pedro Claro]

Today I finally got the remaining packages still in transit: one with the Industar, another with the Jupiter, and the last one with the two AF-Confirm adapters (OM -> EOS and M42 -> EOS).

The adapters were an excellent buy. I paid for them 3 days ago, they were sent 2 days ago and in less than 48 hours they made their way from England to Portugal! Excellent service! The adapters feel very solid and seem very well machined, and the chip is firmly attached to the adapter. They report an f/2 lens to the camera but I don't know the focal length, because I have not seen the EXIF of the few photos I took. The seller - which I recommend without reservations - is (if publicity is allowed) Photobits42.

I didn't have much time to play with my new toys, but I attached all the lenses to my 40D and tried them out a little inside home, just to see how they handled and to see how they worked. And this is where the problems started.

Both the Olympus 50/1.8 and the Industar (so tiny!) seem to work flawlessly, but the same is not true for the two other lenses.

The blades of the Kiron 28/2 simply don't work - I can't stop it down, so I'm stuck at f/2... Now what? I have this lens for over two months, so no returns. Can I try to repair it (zero experience; almost zero ability to do such a thing; don't know if it can be done - or what must be done) or is it better to sell 'as is'? It cost me around 25€, so no big loss, but I'm a little disappointed as a 28mm lens with such a large aperture doesn't show for this price often.

Next bad news: the Jupiter-9. It seems a very good example: clean glass, nearly unmarked body, original (I think) caps and original case, but there are some oddities about this lens. One, the aperture ring doesn't go up to the smaller apertures (it stops between f/11 and f/16, in spite of the markings going down to f/22); and two, the aperture ring works the opposite way (the iris opens as I 'stop down', and as I get closer to the maximum aperture the iris closes!) I presume this is not the common behavior of this lens... I guess the lens still functions correctly (at least it is possible to open completely the iris and shoot at f/2, and it can be stopped down at least until f/11) and the only practical problem is knowing exactly which aperture is being used if not completely open. Any thoughts? [This part of the text was edited, to be better understood]

I hope to test the lenses better during the weekend and I'll post the results here.

Best regards

[Attila]

[sichko]

Hi Pedro.

How many aperture rings does your Jupiter 9 have ? Mine has two. There is an outer ring on the front with a scale on it : 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11 & 16. This sets the minimum aperture. There is a second, inner, ring immediately behind it which allows you to vary the aperture between the minimum (preset) value and wide open (f=2). So you might want to open it up to focus, and then stop it down (to the preset value) to take the shot. On my example, if the aperture is stopped down using the second ring its difficult (impossible ?) to open up the aperture using the first.

Best Wishes.

[maddog10]

Does the Kiron have an Auto and Manual switch (A and M)? If so, put it on Manual and you will have to turn the aperture ring to the correct setting. If it is an automatic lens, it may be that it needs a flanged adapter.

The Jupiter sounds like a preset lens. These are the exact questions I asked a month ago about my Helios 44-2, which turned out to be a preset lens.

Hopefully some more experienced users will offer some advice.

[Pedro Claro]

Thank you Attila, John, and Michael.

I've played a little more with these lenses this morning and here's some more data.

The Kiron doesn't have any A/M switch, so it seems to be an automatic lens. I'm not sure if my OM -> EOS adapter is a flanged one, but there's a little screw on it that activates a lever in the lens which, as far as I can tell, is related to the aperture ring. On the other hand, my Olympus 50/1.8 doesn't have any A/M switch either and it works very well with the adapter. In spite of a carefull examination and moving all the levers and buttons the Kiron has, I can't change the lens aperture, so it appears to have stuck blades... I'll try to shoot it wide open and see if it's worth searching someone who can fix it.

Regarding the Jupiter, it is indeed a preset lens. It has a second ring with apertures but it was rather stuck (it is still very hard to rotate) and I thought it didn't move. Now that I figured it out, it seems to be operating accordingly, but the lens itself 'unscrews' some parts when I need to apply a little more strength to turn the preset aperture ring. I suspect it was opened, cleaned and lubrified and afterwards not tightly screwed into place. It unscrews at least in two different sections, which is rather annoying...

Now I'll need some time to adapt myself to manual focusing and stop down metering...

Best regards,
Pedro

[F16SUNSHINE]

Pedro
You can test the kiron aperture blades with the lens off the camera. Remove the rear cap and stop the lens down all the way. Now press in the pin on the mount of the lens with a fingertip. If the blades stop down as the pin is depressed you have proper function. In this case you will need one of two things. Easiest is a flanged adapter that will push in the pin full time. The other way is for you to make some sort of modification to the pin. Some will use a bit of tape, others glue. Obviously glue can be un-reversable. If you do not plan to use the lens on a M42 film camera or sell it go for glue. Good luck I hope you sort it all out.

[peterqd]

And with the J9 you don't really need to touch the preset ring (the front ring). Just set it at f16 and forget it and use the stepless inner stop-down ring to adjust the aperture. In Av mode the camera will meter and give the correct exposure and the stop-down ring becomes more or less a depth-of-field control.

[rick_oleson]

I didn't see what mount your Kiron lens is, and it's impossible to give a good answer to your question without that information.

If the lens is an OM mount, there will be no A/M switch, and failing to stop down means that the lens needs repair and would not work on an Olympus film camera either.

If the lens is an M42 mount, and has no A/M switch, then there is not necessarily anything wrong with the lens. M42 lenses lacking the A/M switch cannot stop down unless they're on a camera fitted with the auto diaphragm coupling mechanism. There is a pin at the rear of the lens that must be depressed to stop down the blades.... The easiest fix is an M42 adapter with a flange at the back that depresses the pin as you screw the lens in, but they have drawbacks: some lenses may bottom out on the flange and fail to reach infinity focus, some may not depress the pin far enough for the smallest apertures, and some faster lenses may not fit through the reduced opening in the flange and fail to reach infinity for that reason.

If you plan to use an auto-only M42 lens ONLY on the DSLR, you can depress the pin and glue it in; in some lenses you can stick it down with tape (like the plastic Dymo label tape which is fairly stiff) for a reversible fix.

If the lens is neither OM nor M42 mount, then the answer may be something different again.


On the Jupiter-9, it sounds like someone has disassembled the lens and put the blades back in backwards. I've never seen this in aperture blades, but I know you can reassemble leaf shutter blades backwards and make the shutter reverse its operation.

[Pedro Claro]

Again, thank you very much for the useful information.

Rick: the Kiron is an OM mount lens - I didn't make a reference to it, but it is clear in my signature. This would mean a malfunction on the lens, and I'm pretty sure you are absolutely right. It's a pity, but I can live with that. Now I have to think what to do with this lens... Regarding the Jupiter, I also agree with you: the lens smells a lot like some kind of grease and I unscrew the frontmost part of it and the barrel has lots of what seems a greasy lubricant. Add to that the fact the elements are pristine and the lens seems almost like new and it's not difficult to imagine a recent disassemble for repair/cleaning/lubricating and an error on the reassembling. Nevertheless, I decided to keep the lens because of its pristine condition, the case and the price (which was not a bargain, but a good deal).

Peter: thank you for the tip. I'm doing exactly what you suggested and it's working fine for me!

F16: unfortunately the lens is OM mount and, as Rick has explained, there is a problem with it. But thank you for your post.

Best regards.

[peterqd]

[Pedro Claro]