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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 5:02 am Post subject: Jupiter 11A f/4 135mm M42 |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Hi folks
Picked this up on ebay for about 15 quid (I forget exactly) and it;s well used but optically good, came in the bakelite keeper. The aperture moves freely, focus was a wee bit stiif but after being used a bit it fred up, if it gets stiffer I'll have to do a relube.
Seems pretty sharp and I like the colours, all these shots are wide open.
The bokeh is not bad but nothing special, I quite like this lens, it's a little awkward to handle and is a bit dim to look through with my EOS 5D viewfinder but I like the pics it takes.
100% crop, this is why I think it's quite sharp, see that spiral of fibre on the left of the branch?
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Laurentiu Cristofor
Joined: 23 Oct 2010 Posts: 524 Location: WA, USA
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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Laurentiu Cristofor wrote:
If the aperture moves freely, it's because you have f/22 selected. Move the ring to stop down the lens fully, then pull it towards the mount, turn it, and release it in front of a stop mark - this way you can limit the movement of the ring so you can flick quickly between wide open and the f-stop you selected with this method.
The shots you posted are mostly misfocused, so it's hard to appreciate how good your copy is, but this is supposed to be a very nice lens. Here are a couple of shots from my copy:
My lens has suffered some bad shock during shipping and got the hood stuck on it. I had to bang it on cement floow to get the hood off, to be able to use it at all. The hood screw ring has remained stuck on the filter ring:
It's amazing how solid this lens is. After banging it a couple dozen times, to get the hood off, it still worked as shown earlier. This is what military grade build is about. _________________ http://www.ipernity.com/home/2419272
https://laurphoto.blogspot.com/ |
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danikatia
Joined: 13 Nov 2009 Posts: 653 Location: Cernobbio Italy
Expire: 2013-10-26
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:46 pm Post subject: |
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danikatia wrote:
I agree .... the bokeh is not the best but the sharpness is very good ... (and the price is even better)
2 samples
_________________ Daniele |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:56 am Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Very nice sampels guys.
I definitely need to improve my focusiing skills before I start to see the true IQ of this lens.
You're dead right about the build quality, funny you should mention it as I currently sport a broken tow on my right foot from dropping my Jupiter 11 on it this afternoon, I guess they carved these things out of old T-34 tanks!
I only dropped it because I was trying to screw on the lens hood and the thread is mangled, it slipped out of my hand and landed on the middle toes of my foot and I was only wearing socks. Despite the fact I was sat down so it didn't fall far it hurt like hell and one toe is huge and purple and the pain is throbbing. |
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Laurentiu Cristofor
Joined: 23 Oct 2010 Posts: 524 Location: WA, USA
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 6:04 am Post subject: |
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Laurentiu Cristofor wrote:
iangreenhalgh1 wrote: |
You're dead right about the build quality, funny you should mention it as I currently sport a broken tow on my right foot from dropping my Jupiter 11 on it this afternoon, I guess they carved these things out of old T-34 tanks!
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Sorry to hear about your toe, but on the bright side, you don't have to worry about a broken lens.
Yes, I was wondering sometimes if they could quickly switch production and make artillery shells out of those barrels. The Jupiter 21M is even shaped appropriately.
I wish you a fast toe recovery! _________________ http://www.ipernity.com/home/2419272
https://laurphoto.blogspot.com/ |
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Bogie
Joined: 22 Jan 2011 Posts: 173 Location: Houten, The Netherlands
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:19 am Post subject: |
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Bogie wrote:
The Jupiter 11A is indeed a very sharp lens. Personally I have all the different 135mm m42-versions of Jupiter (11, 11A and 37A) and all are tack-sharp wide-open. Here are two examples taken with the 11A at f4 (the second one is a 50% crop):
_________________ 35mm, 120mm & digital camera-user |
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martyn_bannister
Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 1151
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:30 am Post subject: |
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martyn_bannister wrote:
Cracking shot of the BIF! Well done and thx for sharing. |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:56 am Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Wow, tack sharp is right.
I need to get out and about with my J-11A again, hoping the weather is sunnier today. Won't be going far on my sore toe but luckily I live in a place where there is lots of pretty things to point a lens at. I obviously need to nail the focus before we can judge whether I have a good copy or not.
On the overall construction quality of this lens, it is a big step up in solidity from the Helios 44s I'm used to and those are pretty tough. The feel of the J-11A does say 'military' and it feels more like a hand grenade with it's size and weight than a modern plastic lens.
Good to hear other Jupiters are similarly tank-like. I'm aiming to build a collection of Russian glass because I consider it a good investment as it is built to last and I can probably still be using it in another 30 years with an adapter to fit whatever sort of digicams we have then! They will only increase in value too.
Shame the J-11A won't focus close enough otherwise I'd use it to take a pic of the damage it did to my toesie-woesies! lol
Is there much difference between the various Russian 135s? |
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Bogie
Joined: 22 Jan 2011 Posts: 173 Location: Houten, The Netherlands
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:15 am Post subject: |
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Bogie wrote:
iangreenhalgh1 wrote: |
..........................Is there much difference between the various Russian 135s? |
The difference between the J11 and J11A is mainly the fact that the J11 is a presetlens. The J37A has aperture 3.5 instead of 4 and has a different coating and is wide open maybe a little bit softer. My personal favourite at the moment is my Tair 11-2 (see picture).
_________________ 35mm, 120mm & digital camera-user |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:23 am Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Thankyou for that info, sounds to me like I only need the 11A out of the three Jupiters.
That Tair looks lovely, how many blades is that? looks like more than the J-11A, I take it this gives it good bokeh?
Have you ever used the Pentacon 135 they call the bokeh monster?
How would you say the Tair compares to that lens because I see a lot of Pentacon and Carl Zeiss 135s going for less than a Tair would cost me unless I spotted a cheap one like I did with the J-11A. |
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Bogie
Joined: 22 Jan 2011 Posts: 173 Location: Houten, The Netherlands
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:59 am Post subject: |
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Bogie wrote:
iangreenhalgh1 wrote: |
...........That Tair looks lovely, how many blades is that? looks like more than the J-11A, I take it this gives it good bokeh?
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20 blades, and it does have a nica bokeh; picture taken at f2.8.
iangreenhalgh1 wrote: |
Have you ever used the Pentacon 135 they call the bokeh monster?
How would you say the Tair compares to that lens because I see a lot of Pentacon and Carl Zeiss 135s going for less than a Tair would cost me unless I spotted a cheap one like I did with the J-11A. |
Being an incurable LBA-patient I have the Meyer-Görlitz Orestor 2.8/135 (the predecessor of the Pentacon 135) as well.
I.m.o. the differences between the Tair and its East-German counterpart are not enough to explain the big difference in selling-prices (luckily I got mine cheap!). Maybe it is caused by the fact that the Tair is much heavier. In other words: It is also a nice lens (see picture below, shot wide-open, 50% crop):
_________________ 35mm, 120mm & digital camera-user
Last edited by Bogie on Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:18 am Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Hmm, sounds to me like I would be fine with the Jupiter-11A, a Pentacon or Meyer 135 and maybe a fast Japanese 2.8 135 and that would have the bases covered for 135s for a while until my LBA kicks in again.
I see a lot of the Pentacon and late model Zeiss 135s going for around 20ukp inc shipping on ebay, Meyer 135s tend to go for a bit more, I never understood why the meyer seemd to be worth more than the later Pentacon version as I doubt there is much difference in performance. The older Meyer has that nice zebra look of course but to me the Pentacons are nice enough and I prefer the way they feel as the rubber grips are pretty rugged, both of my Pentacons feel really nice to handle despite being pretty old now. |
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Bogie
Joined: 22 Jan 2011 Posts: 173 Location: Houten, The Netherlands
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:05 am Post subject: |
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Bogie wrote:
By the way: both the Jupiter-11 and the Tair are also nice lenses to use for macrowork. Here are two examples while using extensiontubes (photo 1 with the Jupiter-11 and photo 2 with the Tair 11-2).
1.
2.
_________________ 35mm, 120mm & digital camera-user |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Those are both beautiful shots. I think it will take me a while to improve my focussing skills to that level. Nice work. |
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woodrim
Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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woodrim wrote:
I became interested in comparing some 135mm lenses to the Jupiter 11 I have after seeing the resolution data. I have taken some pictures to compare the Jupiter with two others of my favorites. Should I post them here, on their own post, or not at all? _________________ Regards,
Woodrim |
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martyn_bannister
Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 1151
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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martyn_bannister wrote:
woodrim wrote: |
I became interested in comparing some 135mm lenses to the Jupiter 11 I have after seeing the resolution data. I have taken some pictures to compare the Jupiter with two others of my favorites. Should I post them here, on their own post, or not at all? |
Post separately - why not? |
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nixland
Joined: 30 Jan 2011 Posts: 577
Expire: 2012-07-29
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:21 am Post subject: |
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nixland wrote:
What a great lens ...
woodrim wrote: |
I became interested in comparing some 135mm lenses to the Jupiter 11 I have after seeing the resolution data. I have taken some pictures to compare the Jupiter with two others of my favorites. Should I post them here, on their own post, or not at all? |
Please do (in separate post), I want to know the character differences between Jupiter-11A, Tair 11-2 & Tair 11a _________________ Carl Zeiss Jena: Biotar 58/2 1Q, DDR Pancolar 80/1.8 MC, Biotar 75/1.5, Biotar 10cm/2, DDR Sonnar 135/3.5 MC
Carl Zeiss C/Y: Planar 50/1.4 T*, Planar 85/1.4 T*, Planar 100/2 T*, Sonnar 135/2.8 T*
Leica: Summicron-R 35/2 v1, Summicron-R 50/2, Summilux-R 80/1.4, Summicron-R 90/2
Pentax: A 50/1.2
Minolta: Rokkor MC 58/1.2, Rokkor MC 85/1.7, Rokkor MC 100/2, MD 200/2.8
Olympus: Zuiko MC Auto-W 21/2, Zuiko 50/1.2, Zuiko MC Auto-T 85/2, Zuiko Auto-T 100/2
Nikon: Nikkor 28/2.8 Ais, Nikkor 85/1.8, Nikkor 105/1.8, 300/2.8 ED (Ais)
Canon: FD 50/1.2 L, FD 85/1.2 L
Sony: 135/2.8 STF
Jupiter: 85/2 Alu
Cyclop: 85/1.5
Meyer-Optic: Trioplan 100/2.8, Orestor 100/2.8, Primotar 135/3.5
Samyang: 8/3.5 FE, 14/2.8, 85/1.4, 85/1.4 UMC
FOR SALE
Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 10cm/2 || Carl Zeiss ZE Distagon 28/2 || Minolta Rokkor MD 35/1.8 || Rokkor-X MC 85/1.7 || Rokkor MD 85/1.7 || Olympus Zuiko MC Auto-W 21/2 || Olympus 100/2 || Nikon Nikkor 35/1.4 || Canon: FD 55/1.2 || Vivitar 90/2.5 Series 1 VMC || Tamron: 90/2.5 SP
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adityap
Joined: 11 Aug 2010 Posts: 51 Location: Pune, India
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:13 am Post subject: |
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adityap wrote:
Very much interested in the results of that comparision! |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:22 am Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
I'm having real difficulty focussing this J11A, the viewfinder on my cam is of no use at all for focusing, only for framing, what you see in the viewfinder bears no relation to image focus it would seem. The distances marked on the barre are off to so I reckon this lens isn't sitting the right distance from the sensor, probably due to the adapter.
Took a ton of macro shots yesterday with a 3cm extension tube on the J11A, these are the only ones that were close to being in focus.
The bokeh on the rose shots is a bit strange. It seems sharp judging by the wine bottle where it had resolved the specks of dust on top of the bottle. The clothes peg pic was shot into the sunlight at f8, one of those looks pretty sharp too.
So I think this is a good lens but it's a right bastard to try to get to focus on my EOS, not at all suited to the task, maybe on a different camera it would be much easier to use?
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Cistron
Joined: 25 Feb 2011 Posts: 238 Location: London/Vienna
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:57 am Post subject: |
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Cistron wrote:
I have one sitting on the shelf as well. Just waiting for my damn adapters *grrr*
Btw, iangreenhalgh1, your sensor needs a clean very badly. |
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woodrim
Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:34 pm Post subject: |
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woodrim wrote:
Ian: I suspect you are using auto exposure instead of manual mode. Try underexposing by one stop, won't improve your focusing, but the pictures will look better. Manual lenses stopped down often cause auto exposure difficulty. _________________ Regards,
Woodrim |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
I noticed the dust too, discovered it was on the back element of the J11A, not the sensor, I've blown it clean now.
Yes, I'm using AE mode, I have been having a lot of exposure problems and as you say, stopped down they tend to overespose, I wondered why, these shots are all wide open because the others stopepd down were all too overexposed.
I'll go shoot some shots in manual and try to underexpose a bit.
I do realise my lens tests would be better if my photography skills were to improve. Bear with me, I'm trying my best! |
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woodrim
Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:40 pm Post subject: |
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woodrim wrote:
Ian: When you use manual exposure, you'll find it more accurate, but still, I underexpose by up to a stop unless I'm using an aperture smaller than f/8 (11,16,22), then it might underexpose, so I'll set the exposure as the needle prescribes. You'll have to play some to get to know your own equipment. And by the way, not all lenses behave the same with exposure. If you're using an auto-confirm for focus, it should be reasonably accurate (in a spot mode), but again, I have found more success just going by my eye after much practice. _________________ Regards,
Woodrim |
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iangreenhalgh1
Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 15679
Expire: 2014-01-07
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
That's good advice woodrim. It;s a bright, sunny afternoon here so I went for a walk with the J11A and this time set the camera in manual mode.
Immediately I found it 10x easier to work with and my shots are a hell of a lot better in IQ imho. I'm quickly getting the hang of focusing with the J11A now that I have figured out that it focuses past infinity.
Using manual I can stop down as far as I want to control the exposure or depth of field.
I left the shutter speed on 1/100 sec and used the aperture to control exposure. Most of these were pretty spot on exposure wise, some were a little underexposed so needed a tad of PP but apart from that these are as they came out of the camera apart from a little cropping on some.
I think the IQ has drastically improved since my first set of test shots and I'm seeing how sharp this lens is when focused right. The shot of the car I took at f22 just to see how the lens handled reflections and glare and it seems to do so rather well as the shot is contrasty. The shot down the street impressed me with how much detail is captured.
I really like this lens for just walking about, it's small and unimpressive looking so people don't notice it and don't realise how long it is so perfect for taking casual snaps of people without them realising. It's long enough to pick out details and handles nicely so I really like it.
The shot of the tree branch with the buds forming shows this lens has nice bokeh, I can't remember if that shot was at f/5.6 or f/8 but I was really pleased with it and got lucky with the focus., Took 8 shots of that branch and that was the best by far and was the first.
I'm very glad I bought this lens now, it's sharp and contrasty and the bokeh can be very pretty so I'm happy with the IQ. Even better, it feels more like a hand grenade than a lens so should last many years today, it was made the year I was born and will probably outlast me!
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