Jupiter-3 madness

Last month I made a deal with Jamie from RFF and traded a Jupiter-9 8.5cm 1:2 lens in Kiev/Contax mount for a Jupiter-3 5cm 1:1.5 in Leica screw mount (M39) for my Bessa. The lens I always wanted. Ever since I knew how good the Jupiter-8 is. And Jupiter-3 is said to be even better!

Here is one picture taken in my room. It was quite dark in there... but I had enough time to focus precisely and this is the result:

Bessa R2 + Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 @ f/1.5 on Fomapan 100

I just love the soft creamy 'Sonnar' bokeh... As we went out, I wanted to try it also outside wide open... and I think the following is still a nice photo, albeit a bit misfocussed... and the bokeh is sooo smoooth...

Bessa R2 + Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 @ f/1.5 on Fomapan 100

The next picture I took with the lens a bit stopped down to increase depth of field. By the way - that's Brian, my dog (on the left), and Lubka, my beautiful girlfriend (on the right) ;o)

Bessa R2 + Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 @ f/4 on Fomapan 100

Zorki 1 adventures

Recently I acquired one very old camera. Zorki 1. It was made in 1955 and it's the oldest in my collection. After I gave it a CLA (clean-lube-adjust) I wanted to try it with film. For such an old camera with the fastest shutter speed of 1/500 I wanted to use something to allow me to use wider aperture - so I chose Fomapan 100. On an average partly-cloudy day using the "Sunny f/16" rule the exposure is 1/500 @ f/5.6 which is fine. Some of the results are here:

This is a statue of Hviezdoslav - a great Slovak poet of the 19th century. Seems he is being guerded by a policeman... but the police is in fact guarding the US embassy which is just a few meters to the left...

taken with Zorki 1 + Industar-22

Some advertisings on the wall of a building at Obchodna (Shopping) street...

taken with Zorki 1 + Jupiter-8 50/2

A tough guy buying Playboy underwear! This is IMHO the best shot of this roll... I framed it a little bit more to the left, but the viewfinder of Zorki 1 isn't very precise...

taken with Zorki 1 + Jupiter-8 50/2

Bratislava old town hall. A very nice building built in renaissance style...

taken with Zorki 1 + Jupiter-8 50/2

Driver of a tourist wagon waiting for the next round. When the weather is good, these little vehicles drive the tourists for a tour around the historical center of the city... The framing a little bit off again, because the viewfinder of the camera isn't very precise...

taken with Zorki 1 + Jupiter-8 50/2

I also took some portraits of my girlfriend with Zorki 1 and Jupiter-8. The camera is from 1955, the lens from 1956 and my girlfriend Lubka from 1984 :) In the second and third picture she has my Olympus OM-2000, which I lent her to learn photography.

taken with Zorki 1 + Jupiter-8 50/2

taken with Zorki 1 + Jupiter-8 50/2

taken with Zorki 1 + Jupiter-8 50/2

My favorite model :)

This is her. I've got many pictures of her, and I still enjoy taking more photos. I'd like to capture her every expression... every smile... and wink ;) This is Lubka.

This was taken on a walk along the Danube. She looks like a real fashion model :)

taken with Canonet QL17 GIII

This was taken on a trip to a water mill near Jelka (a village). The water is so shallow there, that in the middle of the river we could easily sit on some rocks that stick above the water.

taken with Bessa R and Jupiter-8 50/2 lens

I took this in Bratislava downtown, while sitting on a terrace outside a café. There was hardly enough light for a photo, but it turned out nice.

taken with Bessa R and Jupiter-8 50/2 lens, exposure 1/15 @ f/2

And one more - thoughtful...


...and smiling :)

both taken with OM-2000 camera and Zuiko 85/2 lens @ f/2 or f/2.8