Camera Labs

This is a Russian built lens on an m42 pentax mount. Its a copy of a Carl Zeiss T plannar designed before WW2 but newer ones such as mine are multicoated and fairly modern. (many of these can be found on ebay and are easily adaptable to all DSLRs) I found this lens on ebay after a long search for a good fast cheap portrait lens. Review i found online showed it having good bokeh as well as being crazy sharp at f4 while a bit soft a f2.0 (not necessarily bad for portraits). It came pretty much new for about 110$. The focus ring is fairly tight (sticky?) apparently its oiled with tank grease, but i'm not sure if thats true....

First impression are that it is well built, being fairly heavy for its size, but that probably comes from the large amount of glass. Obviously being an m42 lens its all manual but i don't seem to have much problem finding focus. (find a af confirm adapter if your worried about focus). The lens has a preset aperture meaning that you set the aperture then there is a third ring that you can open up to full or back down to your preset aperture to allow for focusing with full aperture (yeah sounds funky but it works well). Also the aperture is (i think) 15 blades soo possibility for amazing bokeh.

Another review stated that it has flare problems so i got a lens hood for it but i have yet to see any problematic flaring.
Good shot of the adapter below:


Sooo some samples from my first test shoot (ducks cause they were at the nearby park, will do some portraits later) ALL AT F4.0
1.


100% Crop of above


2.


100% Crop of above (no i don't know why its sideways)


3.


Keep in mind that the lighting was fairly harsh (mid day summer day sun) and i still haven't quite gotten the focusing down, so they will get sharper. I'll post some from f2.0 later when i take some portraits.

So in conclusion do i like this lens... YES, if you don't mind manual focus and aperture control then m42 mount lenses are great (and so apparently are some Russian lenses) (no i'm not a spokesperson for people selling these lenses either i'm just very excited by this find.)

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Sony A300 // Sony DT 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 Kit // Sony DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 // Minolta 50mm F1.7 // Vivitar 28mm F2.5 M42 Mount // Jupiter 9 85mm F2.0 M42 Mount

Wishlist: Sigma 10-20mm or Alternative Wide Angle

Flickr

Hi Clive,

As there are lots of images from (and not of) the lens I think the thread lives quite happily in the Lens Gallery so I've removed the invitation to move it from your post. I've also removed the "m42 mount" bit in the thread title as we have one thread per lens, irrespective of the camera used.

The thread has been added to the index. Thanks for sharing.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

I use the Jupiter 9 with my Olympus E-30. It's a fine lens, but so far I haven't found a real use for it. On Olympus, it is an equivalent to an 170mm lens - too far for portraits, but not long enough for wildlife shots. Mine is a M42 version too. If you plan to buy this lens, check for the serial number engraved on the front of the lens - the first two digits mark the year the lens was produced.

I think I have to experiment more with this lens. Check out this gallery on flickr from a friend of mine who uses the Jupiter 9 with great results.


Two shots I did:





Hope you like them!

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Olympus E-30, ZD 9-18mm 4.0-5.6, ZD 50mm Makro 2.0, ZD 14-54mm 2.8-3.5, ZD 70-300 4.0-5.6

Light travel equipment:
Olympus EP-2, µZD 14-42mm , Panasonic 20mm 1.7 pancake.

Cullmann Trento IT Daypack

I like these Especially the 1st duck, crisp and clean.

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Sony A77, Sony A580, Sony18-55,Minolta AF28-85,Minolta AF 75-300,Minolta AF 50mm f2.8 Macro,Minolta MD 50mm f1.7,Minolta MD 135mm f2.8,Image MD 28mm f2.8,Minolta MD 50mm1.2
http://s1131.photobucket.com/home/bundy58/index
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67754225@N05/