This is the 9th Valdai Jupiter-3 that I've shot with, and I've bought even more "new-old'stock" optical cells. I bought this one off of Ebay, the seller used it on a mirrorless camera. Lens as described, positive feedback left for the seller. No surprises to me, this is somewhere around 200 J-3's that I've handled.
Good news, the lens is in mint condition, has never been opened, and the glass looks good.
Bad news:
1) The optics module was glued into place. NEVER force one out, the guide pins will snap. I learned that from someone else.
2) The actual focus was off by 2 meters at 5 meters when using the RF for focus. You cannot use the distance scale, either. You can use a mirrorless camera.
3) The lens does not focus to infinity, the helical is not deep enough in the helical to focus to infinity.
4) Distance scale is way off, 5m test target comes at almost 7m. This is a function of the helical not being screwed far enough into the mount.
A quick fix to the focus: SEVEN Layers of Copper tape on the RF Cam to correct the back-focus, at least I could see the lens was worth saving.
Good news, the lens is in mint condition, has never been opened, and the glass looks good.
Bad news:
1) The optics module was glued into place. NEVER force one out, the guide pins will snap. I learned that from someone else.
2) The actual focus was off by 2 meters at 5 meters when using the RF for focus. You cannot use the distance scale, either. You can use a mirrorless camera.
3) The lens does not focus to infinity, the helical is not deep enough in the helical to focus to infinity.
4) Distance scale is way off, 5m test target comes at almost 7m. This is a function of the helical not being screwed far enough into the mount.
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A quick fix to the focus: SEVEN Layers of Copper tape on the RF Cam to correct the back-focus, at least I could see the lens was worth saving.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
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