Jupiter-3 50 mm f/ 1.5 Lens

The Jupiter-3 50 mm f/ 1.5 (Russian: "Юпитер") is a standard fast lens with a single-layer coating, produced at S. A. Zverev KMZ till 1956, at the Zagorsk Optic Mechanic Factory in 1956-1977 and at the  Jupiter Valday Factory since 1977.

Real focal length of the lens:  52.54 mm

The export version was named the Jupiter-3. It was a replica of the German Carl Zeiss Sonnar 1.5/50.

Initially, it was produced using the trophy Zeiss lens units, delivered from Germany as war reparations (including technological specifications, the Schott company equipment, various structural materials, and optic glass), and was named the Sonnar of Krasnogorsk (SK) lens. Afterwards it was renamed in the Jupiter-3.

In 1954 after the supply of the German optic glass had exhausted, the Jupiter-3 lens  was recalculated for domestic glass by M. D. Maltsev. The lens barrel and the focussing ring were also slightly altered. In 1955 the revised Jupiter-3  50 mm f/ 1.5 was put into serial production.

The lens was produced with the m39 screw mount for rangefinder cameras Zorkiy and FED, and with the Contax G bayonet mount for rangefinder cameras Contax and Kiev.

It was equipped  with an iris  circular 13-blade aperture. The aperture control is manual, continuously adjustable, not discrete, therefore, any intermediate values are possible (you can set the aperture in between the numbers). This peculiarity is valued in video filming as well as for creating visual effects.

The Jupiter- 3 50 mm  f/ 1.5 renders very beautiful, flexible image with good contrast and "characteristic" bokeh. The amazing combination of softness and sharpness, as well as beautiful bokeh, made it very popular among portrait photographers. The "german" versions of this lens are especially popular and distinguished for its bokeh.

The following shortcoming may be noted: low resolution at the edges of the frame.

The Jupiter-3  cannot be used without a considerable adaptation on modern digital SRL cameras due to a rather short flange focal distance. Nevertheless, it is easily and successfully used on mirrorless cameras such as the Sony NEX or the Micro 4/3 system cameras.

The above characteristics are given for the screw mount version.

The bayonet version of the Jupiter-3 50 mm  f/ 1.5  has some differences:

• Minimum focusing distance: 1 m.
• Length: 50 mm
• Weight: 145 gm.

Other characteristics of the Jupiter-3 50 mm  f/ 1.5   

• Resolution: at the center - 30 mm; at the edges - 14 mm
• Coefficient of transparency: 0.8
• Angle of  view: 44.5 °.
• Flange focal distance: screw mount variant – 28 mm, bayonet variant – 31 mm

• The review on photohistory.ru (Russian)
• Alteration to DSLR (Russian)
• Topic on oly43club.ru (Russian)

• Jupiter 3 Service (views: 629)
• Jupiter-3 in catalog of GOI 1963 (views: 396)
• Jupiter-3 CLA, Updated (views: 386)
• Jupiter-3 Adjust for Leica (views: 414)
• Jupiter-3 Focal Length Adjustment (views: 387)
• Jupiter-3 Components (views: 320)
• construction drawing of Jupiter-3 (LTM) (views: 275)
• variants of Jupiter-3 (views: 372)

Start a discussion about this lens on our forum