135mm Jupiter-9

[scsambrook]

I have a rather shabby 135mm Jupiter-9 in Zorki/Fed mount which has been sitting unused for a long time because it won't couple correctly to my Leica rangefinder. Having recently bought a Lumix G1 and a Leica adapter, I thought I'd get it out and have a go.

The out-of-camera jpegs seem to lack contrast to me, so rather than struggle with the unfamiliar Silkypix software (i.e. I'm too lazy to bother), I simply put the results through Picasa . . . "Two-click fixing" - !

This shot is handheld, from 2.5 metres (closest focus distance -!!!) at full aperture of f4.


This is a crop from it.


I just missed focusing on the centre of the flower - moral "Use Your Tripod, Dummy!" Even breathing can move the camera off the mark. The focusing magnifier of the Lumix is an eye-opener to me, even if the viewfinder display is along way from perfect. I simply couldn't do so well with a 135 on my Pentax K10 at that range, nor probably with the Leica either.

As for the lens . . . it's a sad scruffy little thing with a rough focus movement and a dent in the filter ring but it certainly seems still to do the business.

[martinsmith99]

Nice result.

The J11 is a pretty good lens; I only use on FED/Zorki, so no idea how it would look on digital. I have seen some very sharp images on this forum though.

[scsambrook]

Thanks, Martin. I have another one in M42 which is very sharp indeed. From what I've seen so far, I think they're both sharper at close range than at far distances, but I need to look more carefully at the results.

[mo]

As we know on the outside sad scruffy little lenses look ugly.... but it's all about the glass on the inside... The combination of camera and lens has captured the lovely reds on that flower.

You are not alone in the not using tripods when you should department...