Industar-61 or Jupiter-8... [Archive]

SteveM(PA)

08-22-2008, 16:17

Aperture click stops and non-rotating front element favor the I61...you can use a square hood. And some find it a bit sharper. I wish it were collapsible. As it is, slightly bigger than my J8, it sits. And the panda one is (I think) really ugly. But I love all my Soviet lenses...they're like little treasures.

raid

08-22-2008, 16:43

Both lenses are very good lenses if not excellent.
I am expecting in the mail an I61 in Contax mount and a 5cm/2 Sonnar with a J-8 rear element. Should be interesting to use this hybird lens. After all, the J-8 is a clone of the Sonnar.

wolves3012

08-22-2008, 17:29

Aperture click stops and non-rotating front element favor the I61...
Early (silver) J-8s have a non-rotating front too...

oftheherd

08-22-2008, 17:42

raid

08-22-2008, 18:16

Of course they are!
The J-8 should nicely complement or improve the performance of the pre-war Sonnar.

oftheherd

08-23-2008, 03:27

Of course they are!
The J-8 should nicely complement or improve the performance of the pre-war Sonnar.

Can't wait to see some of the photos after you get them.

BTW, I like what I can see of your current avatar.

raid

08-23-2008, 08:29

Can't wait to see some of the photos after you get them.

BTW, I like what I can see of your current avatar.

Thanks.
The pic in the avatar was taken with high ASA slide film in Paris at night.

Kent

08-23-2008, 12:37

Both? The're both fine lenses...
;) Thanks. Corrected.

Kent

08-23-2008, 12:40

Thanks for your thoughts, gentlemen.

I've had the I-61 for some time and just got the J-8 some days ago.
The first roll with the J-8 is finished. Now, I'm eagerly waiting for the pics...
(BTW, I've got the silver version, and it's right, the front ring doesn't turn.)

raid

08-23-2008, 14:44

Hi Kent,

My I-61L in Contax mount arrived today in the mail. It looks very cool. The top is black while the "host" barrel is shiny chrome.

The 5cm/2 Sonnar also arrived.It is a pre-war Sonnar in which the rear element was messed up [KEH ugly]. I donated a J-8 to the cause, and the rear element of the Sonnar is replaced by one from a J-8. Brian wrote me that his tests show the lens to be sharp.

gb hill

08-23-2008, 15:11

Early I61s the silver versions don't have click stops. The later black 80's version does. It's a very sharp lens. I need to do a comparison between the two.

raid

08-24-2008, 10:04

Brian finds the I61 to be much sharper than the J-8.

wolves3012

08-24-2008, 12:09

Early I61s the silver versions don't have click stops. The later black 80's version does. It's a very sharp lens. I need to do a comparison between the two.
Are you confusing this with the I-26M? They didn't have click-stops till late on but I thought all I-61s did (I'll stand correction here though!)

Florian1234

08-25-2008, 07:23

Early I61s the silver versions don't have click stops. The later black 80's version does. It's a very sharp lens. I need to do a comparison between the two.

I'd like to see a comparison of I-61 with J-8.

*edito: I have a J-8 in silver and like it, could be sharper sometimes though.

dll927

08-27-2008, 10:12

Given all the discussion about the quality of FSU cameras, it's interesting that their lenses have pretty good reputations. Since most of them date from the time when black & white was much more common than color, it seems that, as in the case of Leica lenses, a lot of people comment more about their b/w qualities than they do about color. Could this be because of chromatic (color) aberrations? More recent types of glass have mitigated such problems to a large degree.

It's always assumed that a lens is to a camera as speakers are to stereo - whatever else you may have, that's the center of attention. So the general thrust is that Soviet lenses are mainly dependable and quite useable. Hard to go wrong with most of them.

blacknoise

08-27-2008, 14:08

I personally find the Industar a better lens for black and white (as I like the extra contrast), plus the non rotating front element is good as I use a square hood. The Jupiter gets more use as a colour lens and for portraits (or where bokeh is needed, as I find it more pleasant on this lens), the rotating front element can be a pain, but its not too much of a problem to rotate the hood.

sanmich

08-27-2008, 14:34

I have two J-8 and one I61. One of the J8 is clearly not calibrated, the other one seems ok but not very sharp at least wide open.
The I 61 on the contrary is very good.

Valkir1987

08-27-2008, 23:40

I've tested the silver I26M against the J8 on the same camera with the same film, same subject. I will post pictures when the roll is back from the lab.

The picture attached is taken with the silver J8 and a Zorki 3M.

Spyderman

08-28-2008, 00:45

Basically it's up to you what you are after - They both are typical representatns of their design family:

Jupiter-8 (Sonnar): lower contrast, lower resolution, sharp in center, softer in corners, soft wide open, sharpens as you stop down, very distinct "sonnar" bokeh at wide apertures

Industar-(26|61[LD]) (Tessar): higher contrast, sharp across frame, sharp already wide open, nice bokeh

You choose which you prefer...

mh2000

08-29-2008, 17:04

my I-61 l/d is quite excellent stopped down and pretty ok opened up, my J-8 is much lower contrast and has very little pop or wow effect, but it is an ok cheap fast lens. honestly, my CV Color-Scopar is much much better than both... I would put that on a FED :)

I like the size and design of the I-22... price is very reasonable and it collapses... if you don't have one... look into one of those as well.

Kent

08-31-2008, 02:35

Thanks! The Tessar and Sonnar reference is really interesting! And an I-22 might be a nice alternaive, collapsable lenses can be very useful!
The Color-Scopar is beyond what I like to spend, though. ;)

robin a

08-31-2008, 13:54

Ihave two J8'sand like them both.One is a Brian Sweeney tweeked,the other came on a Zorki 3m.I would like to try a I 61l/d if anyone has one they'll part with in the states.Hint Hint...........Robin

Florian1234

08-31-2008, 13:58

I just won an auction on that site which will bring myself a Fed-5 with I-61 L/D and even a flash. Hope to see results from it as soon as it will arrive next week. :)

helenhill

08-31-2008, 15:15

LUV them Both
here is a shot w/ the Ind 61 on my rd1s....:)

helenhill

08-31-2008, 15:27

Here ia a J-3 shot on RD1s....Best- H:)

Florian1234

08-31-2008, 15:55

Helen, could you give us a hint where to see more examples from your I-61? :)

Zyk

08-31-2008, 17:13

Some shots with I61, J8 and J3. They were taken some years ago using Fed2 and selenium meter. In my opinion all lenses are very good, but my preference is for J3.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/9116/lentes2an2.jpg
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5489/lentesrb3.jpg

Kent

09-01-2008, 13:23

Helen, the J3 would kind "solve" my indecisivness, I guess. ;)

And wow, I would love to testshoot my lenses on a R-D1!

Ron (Netherlands)

09-01-2008, 14:10

If you are looking for collapsable lenses, I recently tested my 22-Industars, which I considered long time as very sharp lenses, against two post war elmar lenses (1952 and 1953 make). To my surprise, the elmars gave more sharpness and definitely more contrast. So for a little higher price you might prefer to acquire a post war elmar.

mh2000

09-01-2008, 20:58

I've been starting to suspect this maybe the case after looking closely at my I-22 results... not that I-22 is bad, but just that it could be sharper. (sometimes, we all succumb to wishful thinking...)

thanks.

If you are looking for collapsable lenses, I recently tested my 22-Industars, which I considered long time as very sharp lenses, against two post war elmar lenses (1952 and 1953 make). To my surprise, the elmars gave more sharpness and definitely more contrast. So for a little higher price you might prefer to acquired a post war elmar.

Kent

09-03-2008, 13:38

I'm going to fetch the roll with comparison shots (J8 / I61) tomorrow...

Kent

09-04-2008, 11:02

Here are some shots taken with the J8 during lunch break...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/2827567347_8e96e5cae1_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/2827567593_546f6144cf_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3256/2828404116_7fb9e51540_o.jpg

Noname ISO 200 film.

That's a pretty good lens!!

Florian1234

09-04-2008, 11:07

Looks pretty good. Although mine (J-8) is sometimes a bit low in contrast. Or at least it looks like that.

Florian1234

09-04-2008, 11:08

Looks pretty good. Although mine (J-8) is sometimes a bit low in contrast. Or at least it looks like that.

Didn't have time today to "test" shoot the I-61 L/D. So, tomorrow I'll do that.

Florian1234

09-11-2008, 13:09

Here are two shots from the first roll with my recently bought I-61 L/D (on Tmax100, D-76 1:1) :

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2848411505_c9b17733a4.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3028/2849243134_812fc88335.jpg

comments appreciated. :)

MartinP

09-11-2008, 13:43

The I-61 is a rather nice tessar-clone isn't it ? I was very pleased with the ones I have. I have never tried a J-8, but the problem is getting a good clean one - there seem to be fewer haze-free ones than there are of the I-61's (which are still available as new old-stock). Anyone got good tips about that ?