[stevebrot]

Not sure if serious.
There's really not much difference between 50 and 55 or even 58mm.

between a 50mm and a 58mm? There is to me (on a 1.5X crop). Its like looking through a 75mm lens vs. an 90mm lens.

Shooting film, or full frame, I would agree there is less of a difference but the crop exacerbates the discrepancy in focal lengths between the varieties of "normal" lenses.

I am with Joel. On film the difference between 43mm and 58mm is visible (the extremes of 35mm "normal" lenses) and is pretty obvious even from 50 to 58. On APS-C the reduction in FOV is even more severe at the long end than with 35mm film. I was pretty amazed when I first put the Helios-44M on the camera.



Steve

[stevebrot]

...usually M with Soviet lenses means it had a switch...

Perhaps that is the case with the Jupiter 37, but definitely not the case with the Helios-44M-x. The only Helios-44 variant that has an A/M switch is the Helios-44M.


Steve

[xjjohnno]

Steve,, the original Helios 44 is a preset lens, comes in silver so looks quite sweet, pretty much like the Biotar 58 it is meant to be a copy of.

[fiveseven]

Perhaps that is the case with the Jupiter 37, but definitely not the case with the Helios-44M-x. The only Helios-44 variant that has an A/M switch is the Helios-44M.


Steve

That's the case with other Soviet lenses (Jupiter 21-Industar- Mir 20 & 24- etc). It's number and an M no other numbers afterwards, Helios 44M- 4/5/6/7 are all based on original 44M minus the switch. This is just my opinion and in no way I'm an expert on the subject.

[Pablom]

I believe the M stands for M42 mount, nothing less, nothing more

[fiveseven]

^
Look at Helios 44-2/3, Jupiter 37, Jupiter 6-2, Jupiter 9, Helios 40-2, Tair 3S, Industar 50-2 & 61l/z, Volna 9 etc etc.....None of them marked M but all of them are in M42 mount.
I know all of them are pre-set so another theory is that M could just simply means automatic aperture but in M42 (except for Tair 3S)
A= Interchangeable mount.
N= Nikon
M= Automatic aperture but in M42
K= Obviously PK-Pentax
V= Kiev 88 Salut
B= Pentacon 6/Kiev 60

One weird that stands out is Mir 1B (actually it's V in Russian), I have no idea what V means with that lens and it's not wide angle as it would have been Ш

[vanyagor]

^

One weird that stands out is Mir 1B (actually it's V in Russian), I have no idea what V means with that lens and it's not wide angle as it would have been Ш

V (in russian "B") stands for Vologda, where it was produced at VOMZ (branch of KMZ). "Ш" stands for "школьный" pronounced: "Shkolny" which means for schools. The reason for "Ш" was that the factory produced some lenses were intended for organizations (n this case schools I guess) rather than individual resale, to protect state property from being stolen and resold, these lenses were rebranded with different letters (depending on factory where they were produced), this way Mir 1B became Mir 1Ш

[fiveseven]

I thought Ш stood for Wide (широкий).

Zenitar 16





Helios 44-2
f2

[stevebrot]

I believe the M stands for M42 mount, nothing less, nothing more

It was my understanding that on the Helios 44 series, M indicates auto-aperture. The earlier Helios-44 was M39 Zenit mount (rarely M42) with a preset aperture. The Helios-44-2 and Helios-44-3 are M42 with preset aperture. The Helios-44M and all Helios-44M-x are auto-aperture, but only the Helios-44M has the A/M switch.

As for the other FSU lenses, I have two Jupiter-8M in Kiev/Contax mount and both (like all rangefinder lenses) have fully manual apertures.


Steve

[vanyagor]

I thought Ш stood for Wide (широкий).

not in case of Mir 1 though, if we believe the story on kmz official website.

[rupi]

3 photos from my second russian lens - Jupiter 9 85mm f2.
I had an Helios 44M back ago, but not it was in very good shape and the results weren't up to the expectations. The Jupiter 9 is another story, I haven't used it that much yet, but for the moment I am very pleased with the results.
These were taken between f2,8 - f4. I' think that f2,8 is already very sharp in this lens, if DOF is enough I leave it there.
The 2nd and 3rd are K20D BW mode, I had never tried it before, but it seems to make a nice conversion.
(nothing planned, just playing around with camera and flash settings, taken in av mode with Metz 48 flash bounced in the ceiling)

[joelR]

Great pictures! That rooster has a got a bit of nice 3D pop to it and the B/W mode does look pretty good . . .

[jezza323]

nice J9 shots!

I find mine to be very sharp by f2.8. f2.0 is not all that bad either to be honest. Edges just have a sort of soft glow about them...

Mine is a very old version though with single coating, so is very prone to flare.

[rupi]

Great pictures! That rooster has a got a bit of nice 3D pop to it and the B/W mode does look pretty good . . .

nice J9 shots!

I find mine to be very sharp by f2.8. f2.0 is not all that bad either to be honest. Edges just have a sort of soft glow about them...

Mine is a very old version though with single coating, so is very prone to flare.

Thanks!
I'm just starting with this lens, I didn't notice flare in mine but I also used a hood. I agree that at f2 is not bad.
The only negative thing about my copy of the J9 is the focusing ring, it is so hard to turn, it really makes focusing a lot more difficult than it should be. I bought mine in mint condition, but this seems to be a common problem with this lenses.

[fiveseven]

Industar 50-2
(was so impressed by my neglected one that I got a few more, them being so cheap it was almost a steal).

Wide open @ 3.5


VarioZenitar 25-45mm
Made in 2003
This lens is amazingly sharp, I'd say it's overly sharp.
45mm @ 2,8
Cropped 50% or so and re-sized and Very slight contrast adjustment. Contrast on this lens is about equal to Pentax DAl 18-55mm (kit lens).




Will test it outdoors later when I get a chance......