This weekend, following the Memorial Day celebrations, downtown Prescott had an arts show and
reenactment of Arizona’s territorial period (1863-1912) ending with Arizona
being formally established as a Territory. Prior to 1863 it was part of Spanish
and Mexican territories, and became part of the United States in 1912 after the
Mexican-American War.
Such events are attractive to photographers like me
who use vintage cameras, lenses and film. If captured well, the photos have the
feel of the past days.
I wanted to use my 1950s Canon rangefinder, but
needed a longer lens than the standard 50mm to capture the actors from about 30
meters away. I had three choices regarding lenses:
a) A
1951 Canon Serenar 85mm f1.9 lens that weighs 640 or so grams and has a long
throw of the focusing ring;
b) A
late 1955 Canon 135 f4 lens that is even heavier; or
c) A
1959 Soviet Jupiter-11 f4 weighing 260 grams.
Hmm, while the Canon lenses are beautiful, the
aperture rings have clicks, and I have used both before (hence know what to
expect), carrying a lens that weighs more than the Canon L3 camera is not a
pleasant experience.
So, it was time to test the Soviet lens on a
Japanese camera.
First, a few words about the lenses.
Canon was a leader in rangefinder camera lens designs in the 1950s. Many of them were very fast for the period such as the 85mm f1.5 which was more expensive than a VW Beetle! However, the lenses being all steel, chrome and glass were not practical for street photography /photojournalism, and ended up being specialty lenses.
I love my Serenar for portraiture, but given how
much time it takes to focus and use the auxiliary viewfinder to frame each
shot, I have used it only for posed portraiture. It renders delightfully soft
shot at f1.9 which make portraits flattery, and the 20 leaf aperture changes
all backgrounds into a dreamy moment.
The Canon 135mm is nothing special as a performer
but it has a historical (for collectors) value: a diamond etched onto the steel
s has the letters “E.P” or “Exempt
Purchase” denoting that the lens was purchased on an American military base in
Japan. So, my lens is not only historic being the first Canon 135mm of the
1950s but also that it was bought on a military exchange center in post WWII Japan.
Here are the lenses, both historically appreciated
and still performing with great character:
The Jupiter-11 is a copy of the Zeiss Sonnar design.
Specifically the Jupiter-11 135mm f/4 lens is
a copy of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135mm f/4. It was designed by the Soviet
KOMZ (Kazan Optical Mechanical Factory) in the early 1950s when the Soviet
Union acquired the Contax factory in Dresden at the end of WWII. It is said
that the Jupiter-11 (and other Soviet lenses) made in the 1950s used material,
especially glass, from the Zeiss Contax factory. It was in 1961 that the
materials were exhausted and all cameras and lenses were produced via Soviet
engineering.
The historical
importance of the Sonnar is that Zeiss patented a 50mm f2 lens in 1929 and built
the first Sonnar design lens (six elements in 3 groups) in 1932 for the Zeiss
Contax rangefinder camera. It was a 50mm f2 lens that started a myth among
photographers as they produced photos with had exceptional contrast and a “glowy”
at wide apertures. Even today, these vintage lenses are used by professional
photographers (on digital cameras) to produce that “Sonnar swirl” of
out-of-focus areas, especially as background for portraiture.
Here is my 1959 Jupiter-11:
Interestingly, this lens was made for the Zorkii
cameras (a copy of Leica rangefinder) and I do have the 1954 Zorkii camera that
it came with – both camera and lens still work fine together! Note the
home-made yellow glass contrast enhancer I designed using glass from a yellow
filter and the chrome tube from an ink pen….
Finally, regarding the Canon camera it can be seen
from the photo above that Canon had innovated an easy adjustment to the
viewfinder by having a quick change method between 50mm and 35mm lenses. No
more the need for auxiliary viewfinders! And for critical focusing, there is a
third option called “RF” (rangefinder) which is close to a 135mm lens frame. So
I used that approximate and heuristic option to use the Jupiter-11 without the
hassle (and slowness) of an auxiliary viewfinder. I do have a vintage Canon auxiliary
viewfinder for the 85mm Serenar but it was too imprecise for framing shots
using a 135mm tele.
Ok, I rolled about 10 frames of ASA 100 film on a
cassette to test how the Jupiter-11 would perform on a Canon rangefinder.
The photo at the outset of the posting is of the
enactors taken at 30 meters distance shutter set at 1/125th second
and aperture at f11. My goal was to see the tonal range of the lens going from
sunny to shady in the same frame.
I have to say that although focusing a lens longer
than 85mm is not easy on a rangefinder camera, the sharpness and especially the
smooth tonal range is delightful on a 70 year old lens build using a 100 year
old design!
The second photo is a testimony to using a lens with
no click stops on the aperture ring. I wanted to frame the shot to include the
Harley Davidson motorcycles shop in the background with a biker wearing the
T-shirt showing the same name, sitting next to two bikes. He was in the shade
of the tree but the sun was at its noon zenith on the background. I set the
speed to 1/160th second and the aperture to f5.6. But it seems that
my finger touched the loose aperture ring and I took the shot at a larger
aperture.
However, there is something dreamy about this photo.
The only thing that would have been better is more blurring of the background.
Yet, it does have that glowy feel of a Sonnar.
Finally, an example of how difficult it can be to
correctly focus and frame a rangefinder camera with a long lens. I wanted to
test the Jupitar-11 almost wide open in full sunlight. So the shutter was set
at 1/500th second (the fastest speed the camera has) and the
aperture at f5.6. However I missed the focus by a hair and the composition is
totally blurred. But perhaps it does have an unintended artistic flair…
I have experimented with cross-manufacturer fittings
of lenses on cameras they were not designed for, either because of the focusing
specifications or the size of the lens. Often even if a lens fits the old 39mm
LTM or the 42mm SLR mounts, the focusing in inaccurate or the back of the lens
hits the folding mirror and damages the camera.
The Soviet Jupiter-11 fit perfectly on the Canon L3
and the accuracy of the focusing was more than acceptable; although the all
aluminum Soviet lens is not even close in construction (and use) to its Canon
counterparts of the 1950s era.
Still, the joy of seeing the Sonnar design lens
results were worth the experiment.
June 10, 2025
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2025
