LomoGuru Faaabii Reviews New Jupiter 3+ Lens

Russia and space? Most of you will probably think of Yuri Gagarin. Maybe I would, too, if it weren’t for the fact that, a little while ago, Lomography came up with something pretty great.

I’m talking about the New Jupiter 3+, the latest and, until now, fastest lens out of the Lomography Art Lens range. After the mystery product had been revealed, I was instantly fascinated by the amazing bokeh of the photographs. And the facts were convincing: L39- and M-Mount, 50mm focal length, and an aperture of f1.5 means it’s nice and fast. This was exactly the kind of lens I had had on my wish list for quite some time.

Soon after, I found out that there are still a lot of old Russian Jupiters available in various online market places. But more on that later … Why did I still decide to buy the New Jupiter 3+ Art Lens, you wonder? There are several reasons for that.

The minimum focusing distance of the New Jupiter 3+ is shorter. With the old Jupiters, you will need keep at least one-meter distance, whereas the new one allows you to get as close as 70 cm from your subject. While 30 cm may not sound like it would make much of a difference, I can assure you it does. Trust me. Also, the new lens is made out of multi-coated, chrome-plated brass – the old ones come in an aluminum shell.

However, I have to admit, the most important reason was that it’s new – which saved me lot of trembling and shivering upon delivery. Are the lenses clear? What about lens fungus? Are the aperture blades okay? Does the rangefinder of my camera focus correctly? All of these questions I could answer with a simple yes before I had even taken a single glance at it.

The packaging is very similar to those of previous Art Lenses. It is very well thought-out and nicely designed. Did I mention how much fun it is to unbox a Lomo lens? The Jupiter 3+ is smaller and heavier than expected, it’s shiny and sexy and the lens cap is just as stylish as that of the Petzval. The M-Mount adapter is included which you simply screw onto the L-29 thread. Et voilà, the new Jupiter is ready for action. I couldn’t hold back my curiosity, so I decided to go ahead and use it with my digital Sony Alpha 7 (with an adapter) first.

The amazing sharpness and the nice bokeh fascinated me right from the start. I had luck with the weather and did my first Jupiter walk on sunshine.

Hooked by the great results, I was keen on finding out how the Jupiter 3+ would perform on an analogue camera. Armed with a Voigtländer Bessa R2M, an Agfa Vista 400, and an Agfa Precisa 100 CT, I set out for another picture hunt across Stuttgart. I had a great time with it, and adjusting the focus and aperture settings felt familiar from the start. Every now and then, I mistook the aperture ring for the focus ring, but that’s something you usually notice rather quickly. I developed the images at home and was, again, fascinated by the sharpness of the photographs.

I was still completely in awe about my latest purchase when I had a weak moment on one of those numerous rainy days in January. At the time, I had just found out that, apart from the 35 mm and 50 mm, there was also a Jupiter with 85 mm focal length and an aperture of f2.0 – the Jupiter 9. As a fan of lightweight telephoto lenses, I had to add it to my collection (it’s even got an M-Mount!). I looked it up, found it, bought it … wait a second, what had I just done? At first, I felt guilty about it since I had just bought a lens not too long ago. However, this impulse purchase turned out to be a real lucky find. My black Jupiter 9 is in perfect condition and immediately delivered convincing results whether analogue or digital.

Digital shots

Analogue pictures

Both New Jupiter 3+ and Jupiter 9 lenses are pretty high up on my list of current favorites, which means I’m taking them on every photo trip, be it analogue or digital. I would like to thank Lomography for this superb remake of a superb lens from a superb product series.

Fabian Schrieter is a member of the online Lomography community where he goes by the name faaabii.

geschrieben von Fabian Schreiter am 2016-03-16 in #Ausrüstung #review #jupiter-9 #lomography-art-lenses #new-jupiter-3
übersetzt von Lomography