The coating color of J3

[optikhit]

Right now I have two J3 lens at hand. One lens has colorful reflections under the lamp light, however with some small scratchs (rubbed by soemthing I think) at the center of the rear element. The other lens only has some small scratch lines on the front elements. The coating color is a little bit different from the former one. The reflected color by a lamp is not as purple as the first one, the color is light red. Does it mean anything in imaging? What color of your J3 lens?
Thanks for your attentions on my silly question. LOL.:D

[Nando]

Mine is purple-ish. Probably like your previous J3. Mine is a chrome version from 1975.

[xayraa33]

the older " chrome" J-3's have a bluish purple cast to the coating.
the later made black J-3's have a yellowish overtinge to the purple colour cast of the coating.

[brachal]

My '61 J-3 is purplish. I think the coatings changed over the years, which accounts for the different hues. I've seen purple mostly on earlier lenses, orange-yellow on some later glass, and an almost invisible purple/purple-blue on lenses from the 80's. I haven't heard of the different coatings having a noticeable effect on image quality.

[santino]

mine's deep blue from 51

[Iyidin_Kyeimo]

Purpley pink.. Mines a chrome one from 67 I think.

(serial #67502.... I've heard the first two digits indicate year of build.. that right?)

[ZorkiKat]

My '61 J-3 is purplish. I think the coatings changed over the years, which accounts for the different hues. I've seen purple mostly on earlier lenses, orange-yellow on some later glass, and an almost invisible purple/purple-blue on lenses from the 80's. I haven't heard of the different coatings having a noticeable effect on image quality.

In fact, there is. The strongly blue-coated "white" (the Jupiter lenses had aluminium barrels) tend to produce greenish yellow images. I haven't quite noticed this much before, owing to the fact that I mostly shot in BW and used negative stock for colour. Then when I used M42 Jupiters on digital, the older
blue-coated lenses produced images with a definite greenish yellow cast. The later Jupiter and Helios (from the 1970s-80s, coating purple or near-white) gave relatively more neutral ones.

One way to test is to hold two similar lenses of different vintages side by side- and focus an image with them on a sheet of paper. Their colour renderings are immediately seen and readily comparable. The observations are consistent- so far, I've been able to compare only J12 (1961 vs 1983), J-9 (1958, several white 1960s, black 1968, black 1970s), and J-8 (late 1950s, 1960s, and 1977).

Jay

[vanyagor]

I think it is reasonable to include the factory they were made. I have 3 J-3 right now

- s/n 5902256 "ZOMZ" Zagorsk "Optek" (logo reminding of a set of 3 lenses put together): purple reflections, slight yellow cast on white paper

- s/n 66371 "ZOMZ" Zagorsk factory (logo an arrow comming out of an eye) exact same reflection and cast as the other one.

- s/n 703296 "ZOMZ" Zagorsk same thing s the other 2 probably just a little bit less.

EDIT: lens factory name corrected.

[vanyagor]

I guess we are all rather consistent on the purpelish reflections (and yellow tint). Whould be interesting to know when did they stop to produce the deep blue ones. Also as original poster asked the light red reflections, whould be nice to know what year was that lens and where was it produced.

[optikhit]

I found difficult to describe it in English because English is not my native language. My J3 is a 63's. The casting colors are purple-blue, yellow-green and purple-red. The differences are subtle and all colors are lighter than the first J3 which was made in 60.

The 60's lens has small rubbed marks at the center of the rear element. I wonder to know how much they affect the imaging if they have any effects.

I have yet got a J3 for my Kiev. It is a nearly perfect one.

Best

Shutian

[ZorkiKat]

I guess we are all rather consistent on the purpelish reflections (and yellow tint). Whould be interesting to know when did they stop to produce the deep blue ones. Also as original poster asked the light red reflections, whould be nice to know what year was that lens and where was it produced.


The change of coating colour came with the change of materials used for the coating itself. The blue ones are the earliest ones- then came the purple, then the 'straw' coloured ones. Some lenses from the 1980s-90s seem to look white. One exception is the collapsible Industar-10 ("FED-50") which came with the FED cameras- they seem to be consistently purple throughout the run of the coated ones. They also don't exhibit the yellowing observed in the blue-coated lens shots. The I-26 which largely replaced them show the typical blue tint of the 1950s/60s lenses, with the same yellow image tinge.

The 60's lens has small rubbed marks at the center of the rear element. I wonder to know how much they affect the imaging if they have any effects.


My two J-3 (both blue coated, from 1958 and 1960) show fine cleaning marks on their front surfaces. These don't seem to affect the pictures at all. One lens has been tested so far on a digital RF and the resulting capture was somewhat more yellow than those made with Industar-61. Same test captures show that the fine surface abrasions don't have any adverse effects at all.

Jay

[darkkavenger]

my 1970 J-3 in Kiev/Contax bayonet mount is purple with yellow/golden reflections.

[thafred]

my Jupiter-3 from 1951 has purple coatings (definately no blue reflection!) and is quite yellow when looked throu (i like the warm color rendition thou)

J3 from 1981 looks like a straw yellow coating but is more neutral when looking against a white sheet of paper.

[vanyagor]

Another related question: which of the Jupiters-3 would you recommend for colour work if natural colours are expected? Is there any difference between colour tints from different Jupiters (3 vs 8 ...) and Industars? Which one do you think is most suitable for colour photography?

Thanks

[ZorkiKat]

Another related question: which of the Jupiters-3 would you recommend for colour work if natural colours are expected? Is there any difference between colour tints from different Jupiters (3 vs 8 ...) and Industars? Which one do you think is most suitable for colour photography?

Thanks

I could not say much about later J-3 since I only have the older ones. However for J-8, I found that the black 70's versions give rather neutral renditions. I do not know if the same is true with J-3, but I find the later J-8 to have a 'cheaper' feel than the early ones. The focusing movement is simplified- the lens front as well as the cam turns as the lens is focused. The older J-3 and J-8fronts and cams do not turn as they focus. The aperture rings on the later J-8

Industar-61 L/D give excellent contrast and nice snappy colours. Those not marked "L/D" seem to give the same picture quality as those marked with such.

Jay