Юпитер-9 Test Film
For the test film of the Jupiter-9 lens I mounted it on the Leningrad camera (see below for detail about the lens and the camera). The lens was fitted with a generic yellow filter (screw-on 49mm) and a generic cylindrical metal shade hood designed for a 50mm lens. By safety, a lens cap fitted on the hood (55mm) was also used to protect the shutter curtains from an accidental sun burning (I forgot twice to remove the cap before shooting...)
I loaded the Leningrad with a Rollei RPX 400 film exposed for 250 ISO to compensate the absorption of the yellow filter. The light metering was done using a Minolta Autometer III with the 10° viewer for selective metering privileging the shadows areas.
The viewer of the Leningrad has build-in frame for the 85mm and is fully compensated for the parallax error.
View Nr. 12 : 1/250s f/9 focusing @ 15m
Les Quais du Rhône, February 17, 2025
Quai Victor Augagneur
69003 Lyon
France
After completion, the film was rewound and processed using 350 mL of Adox Adonal (Agfa Rodinal) developer prepared at the dilution 1+25 for 12min15 at 20°C.
Digitizing was made using a Sony A7 camera (ILCE-7, 24MP) fitted to a Minolta Auto Bellows III with the Minolta slide duplication accessory and Minolta Macro Bellow lens 1:3.5 f=50mm. The diffuse light source was a LED panel CineStill Cine-lite.
The RAW files obtained were inverted within the latest version available of Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 14.2) and edited to the final jpeg pictures without intermediate file. They are presented either as printer files with a frame or the full size JPEG's together with some documentary smartphone color pictures.
About the camera :
After several months, my local repair shop gave up to repair my first exemplary of Leningrad camera. I got that GOMZ Leningrad for less than the price of the lens (50€) a year ago (February 24, 2024, flic.kr/s/aHBqjBftyP) at the monthly collector meeting in Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure, near Lyon, France. I looked then again for a working one.
Leningrad’s are fascinating Russian range-finder 35mm camera’s produced in Leningrad (USSR) / Saint-Petersburg, from 1956 to 1968 at about 76.000 units. It is not really a rare camera but appears only from time-to-time in the classical collector’s networks.
The Leningrad camera project was developed by GOMZ company (ГОМЗ, Государственный оптико-механический завод, Ленинград = Gosularstvennyi Optiko-Mekhanicheskii Zavod =State Optical-Mechanical Factory), Leningrad, USSR. The Leningrad ’s were constructed to a very high degree of precision and likely the most advanced rangefinder ever made at that time in Russia. At the 1958 World Exposition in Brussels, the Leningrad was awarded the "Grand Prix de Bruxelles”. Modified Leningrads were also used in the Soviet space program. In addition to a complex parallax-compensated multi-focal (for 3.5, 5, 8.5 and 13.5cm) collimated system, the camera has a built-in spring-powered mechanical motor for an automated film advance after each view taken. The Leningrad mounts the 39mm Leica-type thread lenses, especially of the Jupiter series of lens derived of classical Carl Zeiss lenses designed for the Contax (Biogon 3.5cm and Sonnar’s 5, 8.5 and 13.5cm).
In 1965, GOMZ became LOMO ( ЛОМО, Ленинградское oптико-механическое oбъединение (Leningradskoïe Optiko-Mekhanitcheskoïe Obiedinienie) that is still existing, producing instrumental optical devices (www.lomo.ru).
On eBay, I focused on a LOMO Leningrad year 1965 in working condition but without the original film plate. I got the camera for 130€ including the leather bag and a standard lens Jupiter-8 1:2 f=5cm. The seller adapted cleanly a different film plate that looked to work, but my idea was to use the camera back of my faulty Leningrad. This film plate may a precision glass plate special designed for optimum film transport and optical planarity. I received my new Leningrad on January 31, 2025 in good condition.
After a very careful inspection and a detailled cleaning, I decided to make a test film using a FOMAPAN 200 black-and-white film. On the Leningrad it is said that there is absolutely no way to check the correct film advance during the shooting session. The rewind should not be up since the mechanical forces induced would be too high for the spring-powered spooling barrel. The film should be also in a quality not too tight film cartridge and should be checked before use. This stressful machine should be manipulated with maximum care when not familiar with it.
About the lens Jupiter-9:
New in my collection in Feb. 2025, this very popular lens Jupiter-9 1:2.8 f=85mm for my Zorki’s and Leningrad camera’s. The lens was produced in 1978 by the LZOS company (Лыткаринский завод Оптического Стекла , Lytkarino Zavod Optychisovo Sticklo) located in Lytkarino (about 100 km Noth to Moscow).
I sourced a clean exemplary in Germany at regular price given the popularity of the Jupiter-9 (170€) with the Leica 39mm thread mount, front and rear caps plus the lens black storage canister. The lens is popular especially among videographers due to its peculiar bokeh and perfectly round shaped diaphragm made of 15 blades.
Originally, the Jupiter 9 is based on the design of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar designed for the Zeiss Ikon Contax in the years 1930’s. Production began in USSR in 1948, when the lens was initially called the ЗК-85 (Sonnar Kransogorsk) and it was assembled using mostly German parts in Contax/Kiev mount. The lens was also adapted to Zorki (M39) mount to fit the Zorki cameras early in production It appears, for both Zorki and Kiev mount, in a 1949 catalogue. By 1951 the name changes to Jupiter 9 (Юпитер-9). The lens has seven glass elements in three groups; a single glass at the front, and two cemented groups of three. All versions of the lens are coated. It was made by the KMZ (Красногорский механический завод, Krasnogorski Mekhanicheskii Zavod) and LZOS factories, in Leica 39 mm thread mount for Fed and Zorki rangefinders, but originally it was a Contax bayonet used in Kiev cameras. Jupiter-9 lenses were also made at the Arsenal factory in Ukraine, for Kiev rangefinders,but initially released as KMZ. It was later adapted for M42-mount Zenit SLR cameras, with an M24×1 thread mount.
Юпитер-9 Test Film
For the test film of the Jupiter-9 lens I mounted it on the Leningrad camera (see below for detail about the lens and the camera). The lens was fitted with a generic yellow filter (screw-on 49mm) and a generic cylindrical metal shade hood designed for a 50mm lens. By safety, a lens cap fitted on the hood (55mm) was also used to protect the shutter curtains from an accidental sun burning (I forgot twice to remove the cap before shooting...)
I loaded the Leningrad with a Rollei RPX 400 film exposed for 250 ISO to compensate the absorption of the yellow filter. The light metering was done using a Minolta Autometer III with the 10° viewer for selective metering privileging the shadows areas.
The viewer of the Leningrad has build-in frame for the 85mm and is fully compensated for the parallax error.
View Nr. 12 : 1/250s f/9 focusing @ 15m
Les Quais du Rhône, February 17, 2025
Quai Victor Augagneur
69003 Lyon
France
After completion, the film was rewound and processed using 350 mL of Adox Adonal (Agfa Rodinal) developer prepared at the dilution 1+25 for 12min15 at 20°C.
Digitizing was made using a Sony A7 camera (ILCE-7, 24MP) fitted to a Minolta Auto Bellows III with the Minolta slide duplication accessory and Minolta Macro Bellow lens 1:3.5 f=50mm. The diffuse light source was a LED panel CineStill Cine-lite.
The RAW files obtained were inverted within the latest version available of Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 14.2) and edited to the final jpeg pictures without intermediate file. They are presented either as printer files with a frame or the full size JPEG's together with some documentary smartphone color pictures.
About the camera :
After several months, my local repair shop gave up to repair my first exemplary of Leningrad camera. I got that GOMZ Leningrad for less than the price of the lens (50€) a year ago (February 24, 2024, flic.kr/s/aHBqjBftyP) at the monthly collector meeting in Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure, near Lyon, France. I looked then again for a working one.
Leningrad’s are fascinating Russian range-finder 35mm camera’s produced in Leningrad (USSR) / Saint-Petersburg, from 1956 to 1968 at about 76.000 units. It is not really a rare camera but appears only from time-to-time in the classical collector’s networks.
The Leningrad camera project was developed by GOMZ company (ГОМЗ, Государственный оптико-механический завод, Ленинград = Gosularstvennyi Optiko-Mekhanicheskii Zavod =State Optical-Mechanical Factory), Leningrad, USSR. The Leningrad ’s were constructed to a very high degree of precision and likely the most advanced rangefinder ever made at that time in Russia. At the 1958 World Exposition in Brussels, the Leningrad was awarded the "Grand Prix de Bruxelles”. Modified Leningrads were also used in the Soviet space program. In addition to a complex parallax-compensated multi-focal (for 3.5, 5, 8.5 and 13.5cm) collimated system, the camera has a built-in spring-powered mechanical motor for an automated film advance after each view taken. The Leningrad mounts the 39mm Leica-type thread lenses, especially of the Jupiter series of lens derived of classical Carl Zeiss lenses designed for the Contax (Biogon 3.5cm and Sonnar’s 5, 8.5 and 13.5cm).
In 1965, GOMZ became LOMO ( ЛОМО, Ленинградское oптико-механическое oбъединение (Leningradskoïe Optiko-Mekhanitcheskoïe Obiedinienie) that is still existing, producing instrumental optical devices (www.lomo.ru).
On eBay, I focused on a LOMO Leningrad year 1965 in working condition but without the original film plate. I got the camera for 130€ including the leather bag and a standard lens Jupiter-8 1:2 f=5cm. The seller adapted cleanly a different film plate that looked to work, but my idea was to use the camera back of my faulty Leningrad. This film plate may a precision glass plate special designed for optimum film transport and optical planarity. I received my new Leningrad on January 31, 2025 in good condition.
After a very careful inspection and a detailled cleaning, I decided to make a test film using a FOMAPAN 200 black-and-white film. On the Leningrad it is said that there is absolutely no way to check the correct film advance during the shooting session. The rewind should not be up since the mechanical forces induced would be too high for the spring-powered spooling barrel. The film should be also in a quality not too tight film cartridge and should be checked before use. This stressful machine should be manipulated with maximum care when not familiar with it.
About the lens Jupiter-9:
New in my collection in Feb. 2025, this very popular lens Jupiter-9 1:2.8 f=85mm for my Zorki’s and Leningrad camera’s. The lens was produced in 1978 by the LZOS company (Лыткаринский завод Оптического Стекла , Lytkarino Zavod Optychisovo Sticklo) located in Lytkarino (about 100 km Noth to Moscow).
I sourced a clean exemplary in Germany at regular price given the popularity of the Jupiter-9 (170€) with the Leica 39mm thread mount, front and rear caps plus the lens black storage canister. The lens is popular especially among videographers due to its peculiar bokeh and perfectly round shaped diaphragm made of 15 blades.
Originally, the Jupiter 9 is based on the design of the Carl Zeiss Sonnar designed for the Zeiss Ikon Contax in the years 1930’s. Production began in USSR in 1948, when the lens was initially called the ЗК-85 (Sonnar Kransogorsk) and it was assembled using mostly German parts in Contax/Kiev mount. The lens was also adapted to Zorki (M39) mount to fit the Zorki cameras early in production It appears, for both Zorki and Kiev mount, in a 1949 catalogue. By 1951 the name changes to Jupiter 9 (Юпитер-9). The lens has seven glass elements in three groups; a single glass at the front, and two cemented groups of three. All versions of the lens are coated. It was made by the KMZ (Красногорский механический завод, Krasnogorski Mekhanicheskii Zavod) and LZOS factories, in Leica 39 mm thread mount for Fed and Zorki rangefinders, but originally it was a Contax bayonet used in Kiev cameras. Jupiter-9 lenses were also made at the Arsenal factory in Ukraine, for Kiev rangefinders,but initially released as KMZ. It was later adapted for M42-mount Zenit SLR cameras, with an M24×1 thread mount.