| Author: | | New Member Registered: February, 2012 Posts: 9 | | Review Date: January 7, 2024 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, size, handling, bokeh, minimum focusing distance | | Cons: | Ghosting, maybe handling (long focus path) | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 3
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K10D, Canon 5D, Olympus E-M5
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Compact sized tele, fits in trouser pocket if the weight isn't an issue for you. Stunning sharpness from f/4, stunning bokeh. The focusing path is quite long, this can be a good thing or a bad thing - I think it's a good thing but well. The aperture ring is clickless. The aperture stays perfectly round till f/22, with 12 aperture blades.
The biggest issue of this lens is the lack of contrast so if you're considering buying a copy, I'm recommending to get one with the original hood. The original hood is long, straight (not tapering), non-reflective coated inside, and can be attached backwards too, for easier transport.
And this needs to be mentioned, but the lenses of this era from USSR usually have a certain kind of smell. It's the grease, I think. It hasn't bothered though.
I think this is a sleeper that's not too much talked about. Maybe because it's not f/2.8. But I can assure you f/4 is plenty enough for portrait photos and it keeps the size compact. I've managed to get two copies for very cheap price but I think it's ok to spend double or triple the price I payed, to get this.
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2017 Location: Vladimir Posts: 4 | | Review Date: January 4, 2023 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: N/A |
| Pros: | cheap, truly Sonnar, bokeh | | Cons: | poor flare resistance, f4 wide open | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Nikon Z6
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Great portrait lens. Impressive gentle bokeh, truly Sonnar. But poor flare resistance, good to use without any sun. F4 wide open - is not attractive today.
Cheap.
Overall, highly recommended retro lens.
 | | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2018 Posts: 1
1 user found this helpful
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2019 Posts: 15 | | Review Date: August 30, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Best image quality I have ever seen | | Cons: | Difficult to service, keep clean and clean out. Weird pre-set aperture ring | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K2 ME Super
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A featureless heavy long metal tube. Mine only cost $30 so I'm happy. Maybe this lens is worth more than $50 used and secondhand, but many rip-off "trendy" hipster merchants will push you for a fortune for what are often badly abused and worn-out lenses. Look for guarantees if you buy one.
It is a gorgeous performer from f5.6 to F11. F4 is a muddle as it has three different aperture affects as the pre-set aperture ring (very strange how so many people who have one don't mention this) and images do suffer at that end if you are trying to photograph anything further than 3 yards away. Image quality also tails off at the higher numbers of f16 and f22.
Colours are beautiful. Multicoating works well, but use a lens hood. The original one also acts as a reversible protection case.
Dreadful getting the front element off and a lot of dirt and grit accumulates as the rear-end is open, exposing the focus mechanism and grease to dust and dirt. Lots of other dust and dirt traps, too. Certainly not "weatherproof" so often found with years of muck and fungus affecting everything. Again, seek guarantees.
I use mine on on two film cameras, so my review does not get confused with the influences of a digital processor, sensor and software; all of which are designed these days to improve picture quality and influence variables in lens designs and functions. And it is still a superb lens!
| | | | | | | | | | Review Date: April 1, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Amazing sharpness even at f4 | | Cons: | Robust design not pretty but thats a good thing. | | Sharpness: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Sony Nex-7
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Got this lens with a Zenith B camera poorly labels as Zenit B with 11a lens for £21 including postage on eBay.
From early on I have been impressed by the sharpness of the images from various situations.
It is a M42 thread but on a T2 mount so can be changed over to a K mount for my Pentax film cameras.
Good bokeh and proving to be very good for portraits. Only had it for a week so not fully tested yet.  | | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2019 Location: Ontario Posts: 15 | | Review Date: March 19, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $56.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | extremely sharp, excellent micro-contrast, natural colour rendition, easy to focus, little to no lateral CA, 12 aperture blades, sturdy and durable, easy to repair, good value, impeccable performance on APS-C, lightweight and compact, single-ring preset a | | Cons: | slight axial CA, flare-prone, coating problems | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Sony a6300
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My copy of the lens is well-worn. I can see why though...
My copy of the lens is mind-bogglingly sharp in the centre. In fact, this lens is easily pixel-sharp on my Sony a6300 wide open. This is easily my sharpest 135mm lens. CA is well controlled, I cannot see any lateral CA, only slight axial CA. There is some purple fringing, but that is easily correctable, though JPEG shooters should still be happy with this lens. Focusing of this lens is easy, due to its ludicrous sharpness. Focus Peaking works very well even at 11.7X magnification, and that's with peaking set to low. Resolution-wise, this lens did not blow my mind, it sliced it, diced it, then vaporized it.
This lens is very well-made, focusing is buttery smooth. The lens hood is very deep, and very well blackened on the inside. The only problem with this lens is the coatings. Although this lens is the only single-coated Soviet lens with a coated front element, (all the other ones have uncoated front elements, which makes them a lot more resistant to scratches) the coatings on my lens are not perfectly smooth, and that causes some really colourful and plentiful flaring. The flaring is pretty artistic, though, and the deep lens hood should keep them at bay unless you let strong lights enter the frame.
When compared with the excellent Zeiss Sonnar 135mm and Jupiter-37a, this lens has better resolution all around: It is a smidge sharper but has much less axial CA and much better micro-contrast. Colours are punchy but not overly so, with good, but not excellent, contrast (as is with most Soviet lenses). Bokeh is nice and creamy, as expected from Sonnar-based optics. If ever you need to stop down this lens (maybe to clear up some flaring), the 12 aperture blades ensure a nice bokeh. Sweet.
Overall, if you avoid bright lights in the frame, this lens is very hard to beat.
P.S. This lens is a tad TOO sharp for normal portraiture, you'll traumatize the subject under certain lighting conditions (I did).
Sample shots (Shots done in AdobeRGB, please view in a colour-managed browser. Chrome isn't good with colours):
Wide open sharpness test (unsharpened). Awww, my eyes! This is the full image, so you could rick click and view image in a new tab for pixel peeping.
Flaring issues
Soo pretty!
| | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2017 Posts: 19 | | Review Date: January 19, 2018 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
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I've got a worn copy of this lens and it's clearly been in heavy use - well as it is such a nice performer it's easy to understand. Most of the black paint has peeled off making the lens look more vintage, or rustic. Just beautiful!
My warm recommendations 
 | | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2016 Posts: 1 | | Review Date: April 18, 2016 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | large focus dial rotation, sharpness and contrast, solid construction. | | Cons: | flaring | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: nex5t, a3000, k30
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I like this lens for its contrasrty color rendering and sharpness.
However it flares and eats away cntradt even with slight sky light directly falling on lens thru hood, Difficult for backlit subjects.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: November, 2012 Location: North Wales Posts: 2,869
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 25, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | IQ, long focus throw (accurate), bokeh, hood, preset aperture, better value than Tair 11A | | Cons: | long focus throw (tedious), find myself wishing for FF field of view... | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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My Jupiter 11A was a fortuitous purchase, the item described as merely "camera lens". Recognising the lens for what it is, I put in a modest bid and won. Not so pleased on arrival, a mystery rainbow (visible in my pic above) under the objective proved to be possible incipient separation of the second/third elements, not something that could be cleaned off. However I cannot detect any effect on IQ, so . . Arrived with original caps and custom screw-on hood. I provided the updated description and pics above based on this example. I can mention that although I stated infinity focus was fine after swapping the M42 for PK, with more use I think am very slightly short of infinity focus - fixable in 20 mins in the garage but in practice it's not really a problem.
With some pics in hand I am obliged to join this little chorus of appreciation. The lens seems to have an affinity actually for the light during these dull winter days. Particularly impressed with this wide open - only marginally softer, lovely bokeh from the very round aperture produced by the 12 blade iris, very good contrast. You can compare the first pic with pics taken with Panagor and CZJ 135's on my review of the Panagor. In any case there are really detailed comparisons of sonnars and 135's elsewhere see for example:
135mm sonnar lenses tested (including 11A)
East bloc 135mm Sonnars comparison
The noticeable thing for me is the Jupiters' slightly warmer/greener tone, all else is pretty equal between the CZJ and the Jupiter.
Particularly recommended for Nikonistas who would otherwise be stuck either short of infinity focus or with an optical adapter with a fixed mount M42 like the CZJ. I was going to offer an 8 just to leaven the ten-parade with a bit more objectivity... but 9 will do.
f4, Pentax K-r, 100% crop.
Mostly f4, resized jpg's
crop
 | | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2013 Posts: 6 | | Review Date: December 7, 2013 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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unbelievable lens.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2011 Location: Lost in translation ... Posts: 18,076 | | Review Date: October 6, 2013 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Built like a tank ... | | Cons: | Ugly as a tank ... | |
Bonjour,
Arrived yesterday ... a cheap French fleabay purchase ... roughly treated, but good glass ... probably the filthiest lens I have ever bought, but I will clean it up and will hopefully have some fun with its 12 blades ... images and further evaluations to come later.
Salut, J
 | | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2012 Location: Leicester Posts: 6 | | Review Date: January 3, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $110.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Colours; sharp; | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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What a great lens, a hidden gem. I saw a positive review on another website and picked one up on ebay. For the price it is an excellent manual focus lens. It is so crisp and clean, no CA when wide open. I have not needed to use the lens hood (yet), so very little flare if any. The only downside is the weight, but then it's all metal and glass. No plastic apart from the lens cap. It just oozes quality.
If you see one, get it. You won't be disappointed, in fact you will be ecstatic.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenlouth/8341895083/in/photostream
| | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2012 Location: Belo Horizonte Posts: 17 | | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2011 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 31 | | Review Date: May 15, 2012 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp, good colors, pre-set aperture, all-metal and lightweight | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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I used this lens for many years with Zenit 3M (with DIY M39-mount) and was very happy with the IQ on B&W film.
Below are links to images taken with Pentax K7 and Jupiter 11a 135mm F4, and Takumar 200mm F4. The same pipe, the same lighting conditions and vantage point, Aperture on both lenses was 1/8, ISO 100:
Jupiter 11a 135mm F4
Takumar 200mm F4
...oh, yes, the black paint comes off (the exterior of) this lens in sticky flakes. Under the paint there is a shiny gun metal.
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