the unofficial Cosina-Voigtlander User Community

I have the Nokton 50 f1.5 and it is a sharp lens. The problem is that it is really hard to decide if you need it. There are a lot of great 50mm lenses out there, some available for a lot lens money. A 50mm f1.8 or f2.0 lens can deliver a lot of photographs that you will enjoy. The need for 1.2 I have always thought was a bit of a questionable pursuit. But I don't take that many super low light shots. You may.

Jupiter 8 has a pretty wide and good opinion attached to it. quite a bit smaller physically to the Nokton f1.5

I dont find the Nokton and its hood intruding into the viewfinder view of the Bessa R to be a problem.

Thanks guys for your help and suggestions. I had great exchanges with 'Never satisfied' over email and I got some really good advice and insight.

I'm still trying to figure out if I even need a 50. I just know that I want to try the focal length. I put a lot of thought into it. I've debated back and forth whether I should go with a sharp 50 like a Noktonor dreamier one like a Summicron 50/2 collapsible. The top three lenses that I was considering was the Nokton, J3 and Canon 50/1,8. I came close to bidding on a nice 50/1,4 Nikkor but decided not to after seeing wacky bokeh shots taken wide open with this lens. When it comes to bokeh, I thought that I could live with the Nokton's harshness more than the Nikkor's wackiness.

When I shot with digital SLR's, I didn't have any prime lenses - just zoom lenses. I've only had the 21 and 75mm lenses for a little over two weeks so I'm still not certain what focal lengths will be suitable for me. I know that my 35 Ultron will be a keeper. I really like it. So my logical conclusion was to spend more time shooting with my current lenses and hopefully find out exactly what additions or changes I would need to make my kit better suit what I photograph.

But after a sudden rush of GAS, I purchased a relatively clean-looking J3 from a reputable seller on eBay. So much for all the effort to arrive at my conclusion! Though I probably wasn't thinking to much when I bought it, as usual, I end up justifying the purchase after its all said and done. I'm sure that it will probably need to be lubed and adjusted to work well on my T but the total costs with the servicing will be less than $100 so I don't have much to lose if it turns out to be a dud or if I end up not liking it. The bokeh in samples taken wide-open is very smooth and indoor shots in low-ligh that I've seen with are also superb. And there is no denying that a well adjusted J3 is very sharp.

Hi Nando, I also want to buy a 50mm lens. Since the good canon and others are very pricy,I think I can only consider the Russian lens. But the the J-3 lacks click stops on the f-settings.In addition, a lot of the Jupiter 3s look a lot better than they perform. I found that Industar 61 LD
is one with click stops and a lot in the market. Anyone used it before? http://home.att.net/~wayne.cornell/camera/lenslist.html,

Hey all,
WRT the Industar 61L/D, my own experience has been fairly good. I did find that there was very visible corner distortion at f2.8 but stopped down it was not bad. The contrast was a bit flat for my taste, but not a bad lens. I find that the J-8 gives better results, although not even in the same league as some of the plain-jane Minolta SLR lenses I also use.

I will be doing some comparisons, though with the J-8 and CV 50mm 1.5 Nokton. My R3A kit is on its way from Stephen Gandy.

Will let you know what I think

Kent

Hi every one, the only thing that I'll say about the Russian glass is that are all different. 2 x J8's side by side will give very different results; it really is pot luck although some of them deliver outstanding results. For some reason they have achieved almost a cult following in the same way that a Holga camera has. IMO and it isn't a critism, just an observation, it has nothing to do with picture quality, but more to do with the 'look'. On face value they are very cheap and if you get a good one they are, but if you have to pay to have the focus adjusted (collimated) they don't work out to be cheap at all (sorry Brian). I've never used an Industar 61 and from what I have read they seem great, but as Max Power points out that even his 'pain Jane' Minolta lens' are in a different league to the Russian glass and he is 100% spot on. There is a huge amount of used quality glass available for under $150USD even the odd Summicron. Sometimes it's cheaper to pay a bit more for a known entity than to keep on forking out on something because you've become obligated to it. Just a bit of hinde sight of mine, cheers N.S.

Max Power wrote:

QUOTE:
I will be doing some comparisons, though with the J-8 and CV 50mm 1.5 Nokton. My R3A kit is on its way from Stephen Gandy.

Will let you know what I think

Kent

I'm in the process of doing the same. I've a Jupiter-8, Industrar-61, and CV Nokton. My entry into the RF world was via a Kiev4am that came with a J-8 lens (contax mount) and (fortunately) it was a good one. Low contrast but buttery tonality.

Yeah, quality with the Ukranian stuff is a bit of a crap shoot...but if you get lucky you'll get a great piece of glass

A note: I bought the Nokton as my primary 50. The Jupiter-8 was bought because I wanted to use it in portraiture and the Industrar was bought out of interest.