Leica M39 Lens Advice Needed

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Originally Posted by carbon_dragon

Some people say Russian lenses are terrible and some say they're great. The reality is that both are right. The optical design is first rate (for the period) but the mounts ware often poorly designed out of substandard materials by indifferent workers. But they're cheap, so you can buy several and look for a good one. Kind of like Russian Roulette.

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I think this may be down to absolutely rubbish quality control at the factory. As we say in UK:- "If you pay them peanuts you get monkeys." As we all know monkeys are not the easiest to train to make high quality goods.

I actually used a Kiev 4a fitted with the standard 50mm F2 lens (Zeiss Sonnar copy I believe) and the resolution on that was incredible, but the actual camera was quite frankly unreliable, to the point of being almost unusable

Hi

I you standardize on 39mm ilters and the clip over Leitz hood {or generic (clone) 39mm screw in hood,} you can use the Summaron 35mm /2.8, Summicorn, (or late Elmar) 5cm /2, and Elmar/Elmarit 9cm. I'd recommend using a tighter (i.e. optimum) hood for a 9cm lenses.

You need to be careful to get the correct version of the Summaron or Elmar

Noel

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Originally Posted by BMbikerider

I actually used a Kiev 4a fitted with the standard 50mm F2 lens (Zeiss Sonnar copy I believe) and the resolution on that was incredible, but the actual camera was quite frankly unreliable, to the point of being almost unusable

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That's nearly exactly what happened to me except it was a Zorki 4, but the same Jupiter 8 (clone of Sonnar 50/2). The Jupiter now sits on an M2.