It was Earth Day yesterday, and the annual gathering
in downtown Prescott provided the opportunity to test a 1950s Soviet lens I had
never used before.
It was sometimes in the 1990s, when digital cameras
were becoming popular and ir was believed that “film was dead”. So I was able
to add to my vintage camera collection numerous 35mm and medium format cameras and
lenses sometimes sold cheaper than a few rolls of film. Among them were Soviet
rangefinder cameras which often were often inoperable due to amateurs’ attempt
to repair them.
Yet, they came with multiple vintage lenses to make
the sale attractive. Interestingly, I was able to clean and recalibrate the
lenses more often the cameras, which was worth the effort because many of the
lenses from the 1940s and 1950s were copies of German Zeiss lenses.
I have used many of those lenses over the past
decades. I like the surprises (as opposed to the consistency of Japanese and German
lenses) such lenses-with-a history keep for me when I see blank paper become a
photograph in the developer tray, under a darkroom’s red light. And that
feeling has remained delightfully unchanged for me over the past half a
century!
So, I tried the 1950s Jupiter-9 85mm 2.8 lens on my
L39 mount rangefinder cameras from a Leica IIIF to a couple Zorkii and a FED-2,
all from the 1950s. The Jupiter-9 did not focus correctly at infinity. Finally, I tried it on a 1938 FED-NKVD, the first FED model, made in Kharkov, Ukraine then
part of USSR, and was a true copy of Leica II. Surprise! I had a perfect focus at infinity and almost perfect focus at 3 meters.
A word about the FED-NKVD camera.
NKVD was the Soviet Ministry of the Interior, which
became the KGB. The FED camera was named after Felix E. Dzerzhinsky, hence FED,
who started the Soviet camera industry and then became the head of KGB. The engraved inscription lines are in
Cyrillic, where in addition to FED, Kharkov and Dzerzhinsky, the word TRUDKOMMUNA,
meaning labor community, is
prominent. This is an important historical testimonial, since the FED factory
started in 1934 with a workforce of youth, often described as homeless, to live
and work in a commune. In 1949 the inscription on the viewfinder top plate was
changed to a simple FED and the quality of the engraving lost its hand-engraved
quality.
Given the historical meaning of the FED-NKVD, it is
the most collectible of all Soviet cameras. Based on the engraving and the
serial number, my camera was probably made between 1938 and 1940.
Here is my camera with the Jupiter-9 lens and a 1960s
ROBIN Japanese bright line viewfinder for the 85mm lens:
Since I did not know what quality of photos the lens would yield, I loaded only enough film in a canister for 5 shots, and took my trusty 1954 Canon L-3 rangefinder with the tiny Canon 35mm lens, also from the 1950s.
Here is the Canon L-3:
And a size comparison between the two lenses. Note that while the infinity setting lines up with the red line on the focusing ring, the f-stop settings ring is totally misaligned indicating that someone, somewhere had taken this lens apart and put it back incorrectly….
Ok, the Earth Day gathering usually brings in
organizations educating residents about brush and forest fire safety; school
representatives to teach the youth about conservation of nature, safety around
wild animals, responsible use of water; as well as vendors of products that are
friendly for the environment and perhaps the earth.
That is why a number of car manufacturers had their
latest electric car models on display. The 35mm wide lens came in handy in
capturing the shape and size (compared to the bicycle parked in front of it) of
the imposing Tesla Truck. I thought it was a perfect photo to describe the
goals of the Earth Day.
Next, I was wondering how to tell a story that
includes a pony there for kids to pet. As I was looking for that story, I
challenged myself in trying to capture a moment and an angle when the pony and
those around it would for a certain mélange of superimposition. I took a few
shots with close ups using the 35mm lens.
Here is what I was aiming for – there are three
people around that pony (two women and a man) but the viewer may not see them immediately:
More, I wanted to line up my shot with the statue of
a local hero, Bucky O’Neill, on his horse in the background to represent the
setting, the Courthouse Plaza in downtown Prescott.
Here is a cropped portion of the photo showing what
is known as the Rough Rider Monument honoring those from Prescott who served in
the Rough Riders during the Spanish War in 1898.
This statue was more than 100 meters away in the background -- not bad for a simple construct vintage 35 mm lens.
As I walked around, one vendor of optical instruments aimed at bird watching, gave me the feeling of being under the “eye” of multiple lenses while holding one vintage one to my face!
Finally, here is the
best test photo I got from my almost a century old camera and the 1950s
imperfectly assembled Jupiter-9 Soviet lens:
As expected, the focusing did not work well on this camera-lens combination, but the softness and vintage photo effect was delightful. Indeed, the Jupiter-9, being a copy of the 1930s German Zeiss Sonnar 85mm, is known for its low contrast and soft rendition, even when set at f11 on a sunny day. But, that is a plus when this lens is used for portraiture at wider openings like f4 – it will give a creamy blur to the background (bokeh) and not show skin imperfections on the subject.
Perhaps I will try it
as a portrait lens some time soon.
April 21, 2024
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2024
