Photos from a 1959/1986 Hybrid J3

[funkaoshi]

I finally got some photos back from the J3 I bought from a fellow RFF member. It turns out he had originally bought the lens from Brian Sweeney, and it's some sort of frankenlens, part 1986 J3, part 1959 J3. Here are a couple shots.

Probably at f/4 or f/5.6
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/2455151787_5775c0f1f6.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/funkaoshi/2455151787/)

Probably wide open, at f/1.5
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/2455151313_423f3eb3d2.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/funkaoshi/2455151313/)

[mabelsound]

LOVE that photo of the woman and baby--great expressions. I'm quite interested in getting my hands on a J3...

[.Lucifuge.]

Nice pics:)

[januaryman]

Nice - that's my problem with such fast lenses - I have trouble getting the focus exactly where I want it. Portraits always get FUBAR because of my inability to get it exactly right... Yours are great, though.

[funkaoshi]

Thanks. There are a few more photos in my Flickr Stream. I plan to upload more tonight.

[funkaoshi]

Two more example, stopped down more than the examples above. The lens is quite sharp, and seems to pick up a lot of detail. If you can track down a J3 in good condition I think they are well worth using. Optically it doesn't seem like you are compromising, despite the price.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/2457688381_a8440af49f.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/funkaoshi/2457688381/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/2457687021_ce2cddb46e.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/funkaoshi/2457687021/)

[payasam]

Funkaoshi, the pictures show the excellent performance of the lens. I have a J-3 on which Kim Coxon recently worked his magic. Only a few tests done so far, but they were eminently satisfactory.

Jim, cataract surgery made things much better for me than they had become. All the same, it's no longer so easy to work with any kind of manual focus camera.

[Brian Sweeney]

I have to say, those photo's are great and I'm quite proud of this lens. I did not know quite what to expect when I made it. After all- the optics were made almost 30 years apart! The 1986 optics module was "soft", which is why the hybrid was born.

The focus point of the 1959 lens changed ever so slightly when the 1986 front element went onto it, and I put in a shim to optimize for wide-open and close-up. "Luck' had a lot to do with it, and the new front element brought the lens closer to the Leica standard focal length.