Hello Hiveians and welcome back!
Today I wanted to share with you a little glimpse of a lens I've had for quite a few years now, but hardly ever used until recently. Also, I never really talk much about gear or technique or process in my posts, is that something you'd like to see more of? Let me know in the comments if so!
This is the Jupiter-8, a Soviet made clone of the Zeiss Sonnar 50mm F2. They had received the optical designs and formula after WWII from Germany. There were a few different versions of this lens made, with varying coatings and from different factories. This copy is one of the earliest copies from what was regarded as one of the best factories. Because even though they had the instructions, the manufacturing wasn't necessarily on par with Zeiss.
I came to acquire this lens while looking on eBay for another Zeiss clone, the Helios 44-2 lens, a clone of the Zeiss Biotar. I heard of its swirly bokeh and wanted to see it for myself, so I kept an eye out for a good deal. One day eBay had a deal that if I spent a certain amount, I'd get like 30$ off. So I found a good deal on the Helios, and then needed something to spend enough to get the discount. I looked around eBay and found this Jupiter-8, didn't know much about it, besides that it looked cool with its aluminum barrel. With the deal, I pretty much got this lens for free.
At the time I got this lens, I was shooting with the Sony A6000, a crop camera. I thought I could somehow get this m42 mount to adapt to my FD speedbooster, but using 2 adapters didn't work, meaning this lens would be more like a 75mm lens on my camera, and it pretty much sat in my drawer for years, until last year I upgraded to the full frame Sony A7ii, but even still it would be another year before I dug this lens out.
I hate to say, but what made me remember this lens, was the horrible war that is happening in the Ukraine, as this is where this lens came from. Most vintage Soviet era camera gear comes from Ukraine, and I recall seeing posts about Ukrainian sellers on eBay apologizing for late shipments to buyers because they were being bombed, and asking if they wanted a refund, truly heartbreaking. And I still remember getting the package with all the colorful and beautiful stamps on it from Ukraine. So when the war started, it made me think about the people that sold me these lenses and what a horribly terrible time they're most likely going through now. And it was that which made me desire to dig this lens out and appreciate it.
Another very appealing thing about this lens to me is its size, it's very small for a full frame lens, which appeals to my minimal lightweight style. After digging it out, I realized it as very stiff, so I had to relubricate it, and found a YouTube video from a Ukrainian repair shop on just how to do so.
So F2 isn't the fastest aperture, especially compared to my 58mm F1.2 lens, but it's decently fast, and again, it's maybe 1/4 the size and weight of that lens. It also has I believe 9 aperture blades, which gives it a round aperture for constantly smooth bokeh.
Now before I forget, I'll mention my LEAST favorite aspect of this lens, which really makes it hard for me to make it my all purpose 50mm lens, 1 meter minimum focus distance. It's not the worst thing in the world, but being able to get close to subjects is big for me and 1 meter is pretty far for me.
So with all that said, now I'll share some samples of this lens I've shot recently. None of these are purposeful shooting I set out for, but just casual shooting and playing around with this lens and testing. Also, pretty sure that every shot is wide open at F2. Enjoy, and scroll to the end for my summary of this lens so far.
So my brief summary of this lens is, it's quite sharp in the center even wide open, but then gets pretty soft on the edges, even getting a bit of a halo on edges pretty quickly wide open. And I love flares, but this lens doesn't have very pleasing flares, and at certain angles, the flare destroys the entire image. You can see an idea of a bad flare in the last photo. If you're look for razor sharp corner to corner, this lens isn't for you, but if you're look for a moody lens with a lot of character and film like qualities, this lens does fantastic in those aspects.
All in all, it's a very unique and pleasing lens, and even though it doesn't hit all the check marks to make it my end all be all 50mm, it's so small and light that I can take it along anyways. And if you're looking for more samples from this lens, I'll be posting soon just some casual photos I took in Florida recently, and quite a few of those are with this lens too.
What do you think of this lens? Have you or do you shoot with vintage lenses? And again, let me know if you're interested in more gear/technique/process posts like this going forward and I can write up more about all the vintage lenses I use and my thoughts about them.
Till next time,
-Sean