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A Jupiter-3 Franken-Lens!

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[quote]I have recently acquired a Jupiter-3 50/1.5 in M39 mount which seems to be a hodge-podge of components from different Soviet factories - or maybe this was common practice:
- The Bakelite case is marked with a KMZ logo.
- The front lens cap is marked with a Zenit logo.
- The rear lens cap is marked with a LZOS logo.
- The aluminum lens body and mount has no maker's logo that I can see.
- The black optical cell in the lens body (s/n 840645) is marked with a Valdai logo.
- A second silver optical cell (s/n 7333629) is marked with a ZOMZ logo.

The lens is in cosmetically fine condition, with very few signs of use.  It focuses accurately on my Leica M8.2 and gives respectable IQ, at least with the black optical cell.  Performance with the silver optical cell is very poor, but it is probably not shimmed properly.

I suspect that the original lens was built with the silver cell and that the owner subsequently changed this cell out for a later black one because he/she was dissatisfied with its performance. I'm quite happy with the lens as-is, but am curious about the multiple logos on the various components.  Does anyone here have any thought to share on this subject?

Regards, Jim

Zorki-4 w/KMZ Jupiter-8 50/2 lens.[/quote]

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