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Both the Sonnar and Jupiter were based on the work of Ludwig Jakob Bertele. The Jupiter wasn’t based on the Sonnar.

Would love to hear your opinion of the swirly GDR lens Pentacon 29mm

I recently got a Jupiter 37A, 135mm / f3.5 lens, which has 12 aperture blades. Very sharp too and lovely background blur from all those blades. M42 screw fit so I use an M42 / Sony E adapter for my A7iii. I had to buy a hood as it didn't come with one, but it's a fabulous lens and highly recommended.

I got one of those early M39 Tair-11. Is there a way to enable infinity focus, like using some m39 to mirrorless adapter with flange distance compensation?

Got one from 1970 for my old Praktica camera. The camera is recycled. The lens is on my desk in it's original bakelite case. Cool looking thing.

whats the image circle? does it cover FF 35mm?

4:35 Was that a burglery?

Got a Tair with #000343 <3

Subscribed. What's that space capsule of a lens at the beginning?

This lens has me very confused inside. I like it and I want it, BUT I also know that 100% of people won't be able to tell the difference between this and a mid 2000-s point-and-shoot.

The KMZ first version (purple coating, cyrillic name and a small red sign on the front) are made out of the same sonnar zeiss optical glass, the Russians took from Zeiss after end of world war 2. all serial numbers below 60xxxxx contain the original Zeiss glass. A seller from Moldova/Transnistria told me this when i bought my version. I keep the black export version too, but the first edition is so much better. Avoid the ones from the Lzos production. The quality differs a lot, the manufacturing was not very precise at all. Millions were made for USSR market. A standard lens that costed just around 15 Euro back in the days.

You should disassemble it and lubricate helikoids with dense lubricant. It will stop rattle and start working smoothly. I own Tair 11a of 80's, which has the same construction, but black body. So original lubricant there dried up and it was screeching, so I had to dig into lens to fix it. Not very difficult.

For you all, guys: Мир-1В is literally Mir-1V not B.

You are funny 😁😉 Thank you for this review 😊

the video is where it shines at, wow, did not think it would be that good!

I took one with me to Venice Carnival this year. I get some real good response due to great colors and great background separation, much better than my modern digital counterparts. I also got some strange looks with my 67 silver Jupiter locked onto the front of my Sony a7 . Its a great lens and so is it's little brother, Jupiter 8

Nice video. Was considering getting this to compliment my kmz helios 44-2 and jupiter-9. I shoot mostly video. Do you find the MIR-1 any more difficult to use for video than the Helios and Jupiter?

I loved your video. Funny and goes straight to the point.

I have 2 later(?) Mir 1V variants, one looks simmilar to MIR-1, only in black, second have changed tubus design, both made in VOOMP factory. They are... good, but not perfect. A bit softer (definitely softer than any variant of Helios-44 made by Belomo or KMZ) And they generally produce strongly desaturated images... Like with many other soviet lenses, it looks like you really need to do quite some research on variants and manufacturers... Looks like I'm in for hunting for KMZ made Mir 1 :)

wow, great video and content! subbed! i've got Helios-103, Mir1B and Jupiter12 is on it's way....

good day comrade, just got me this lens black version, no letters outside just cyrillic "MIR" on the lens. using it with m42-m4/3 converter for olympus omd. it takes time but the shots are amazing, having special atmosphere.....cheers PS this lens is amazing for recording videos as well!

Loved this ... im a huge soviet lens fan ... your review is very good and hope you show more great lenses.

Hi Comrade, I have a 1962 KMZ Jupiter 9 (SLR version) and it has quickly become my absolute favourite. It holds up so well to colour grading, once you get used to it, and is plenty sharp. Very very pleased with mine. It does need a service though, the focus ring is rather stiff. Aside from that, perfect condition. I doubt my XF lenses will hold up so well in 60 years time!

Great video! I might buy the 11A version as it's on sale on my local marketplace.

Yeah, ya did good, Eric. Fun and very informative videos.

The CZJ Flektagon has been getting talked up a lot on a few boards as a good "sleeper" lens. And now the Mir 1. It looks like a good one. Can you get grindahs in Lowell?

So this is a bit of a longshot but I'll ask anyway. Do you know anything about Soviet military optics from the late cold war? I ask because I once looked through either a a half of a set of broken binoculars , or maybe it was a monocular. Definitely military, had a green tint when looking through it and I could see really far and really clearly. It felt like it had some sort of rubber and/or plastic outside and had a red hammer and sickle on it. It was in Nicaragua which received Soviet military aid in the 80s. Really random question, I know but of all people on TH-cam I think you have a better chance of knowing what I'm talking about.

I got a 9 a few years back, an '88 Lytkarino. Nice color and definition and coated. I paid around US$100. A good buy. I have found old FSU lenses to be excellent if you shop carefully and pay a fair price.

These lenses are much sharper on a Leica M or SL body.

Nice video! There are some more information about Mir lenses: Mir 1 has a lot of variants. Mine is the Mir1B M42 Vologda variant, which is not really sharp at all and the lens fall off crazily in the edge if the image. Your version you are holding is the "Silver" variant, which was made by KMZ factory, most of the equipment, materials were Carl Zeiss. They produces much better image quality than the later variant made by other factory. The silver variant or the grand prix version is expensive nowadays, luckily you are having one.

Many of us who shoot old manual focus lenses end up with more 135mm lenses than is reasonable, and I'm no exception. However, the Tair 11 is one of my favorite three and probably No. 1. It has wonderful character, is plenty sharp enough, and should be used for its strengths and forgiven for its weaknesses. Using the helicoid is smart. The 133mm focal length is hardly much of a telephoto (I use up to 1000mm), so am wondering if your camera is a crop sensor. In short, I love my Tair 11.

With me, sharpness is kinda overrated. I own some soviet lenses, except the industar LZ, all of them are not crazily sharp like Japanese lenses, which is suitable for portrait. But these lens handling flare and glare really bad. Just a bit of direct light, even from the side, can destroy the photo with glare, no filter or hood can save it. At this point Japanese did it better with better lens coating. I wish there is a way to stop the flare.

Great story about Soviet lenses, Eric. Thank you!

It's interesting to hear about Soviet lenses) I once fought off bullies with this lens successfully!)

Beep beep

Good and useful informations in this video.

Got offered this lens really cheap, but I didn't buy it (too much 135mm lenses in the to-be-tested backlog). Later, I got set of lenses for that weird M39 SLR mount (Mir-1, Helios-33, Jupiter-11) together with fully functional Zenit 3M camera and now, especially after watching this video, I feel sorry I didn't get it :) Looking up on the available info, Tair-11 seems like weird inverted tessar design anyway, nice video, hope this channel gets more popular

Nice video! I hope your channel gains the subs it deserves.

It's really tricky to find a decent Jupiter 9 nowadays, since people are hunting for it like crazy and the price is skyrocket high too (about 200USD for a well-preserved lens). A friend of mine who studies in Russia said that any Jupiter lens listed on the online market will immediately out of stock after 1hr. IMO, I personally love the Helios 44-3 the most in my Soviet Lens collection, but the Jupiter 9 give me more than the price it takes. In comparison, a Sony 85FE18 has better color rendering, but the bokeh will not be as good as the Jupiter.

Great video and very informative, would love to see you do more. I take it you're in Lowell, birthplace of Jack Kerouac?

I bought the MIR 1b just last week, mainly because I'd seen an amazing bokeh effect by flipping the front element. I was not expecting the lens to be such a sweet jewel of a lens. With my copy obtained from Kazakhstan for $65 it was in 'as new' condition, wonderfully sharp wide open, with very good contrast and colour rendition. Mine was M42 mount, so no step up ring needed, and I adapted to the Fuji GFX. For such a small lens I was surprised there was no vignette! I'm now trying to decide if I buy another just to flip the front element, because I love this lens 'as is'. Enjoyed your video, very relaxed and informative, keep up the good work.

Subscribed! Can’t wait for the next video 🙌🏽

May I suggest a Jupiter 37A 135mm f3.5? They did some special editions for the 1980 Olympics too.

heh, i had mir-1v and mir-1 (a) versions in the past (a version was amazing); today I got Mir-1 Brussels for next to nothing (together with silver Jupiter 11 and 13 blade silver Helios-44 - and Zenit 3C camera), now, need to stalk postman because if my wife get the package I'll probably be dead :D

Very stylish and interesting videos, thank you. So much work you have put into your videos. Warm regards from Russia, dear tovarisch😊 waiting for more your reviews of the vintage lenses. Thanks a lot!

Thanks for the informative video. I own the glossy black M42 version of the Jupiter 9. I began my photography journey in 1981 with a Fed 3 and Jupiter 8. I don't know how that combination came together as I bought it from a pawn shop for a couple of £'s. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos and hope your subscriber count grows with each new release.

Nice. I own this lens - the glossy black version with the 2nd version of the ZOMZ logo (post 1962) made in 1974 I believe. I can turn the focus ring with one finger and the rest of the lens is in similarly fantastic condition. I own the Flektogon 35/2.8 silver - version 1.2 (1954 - 60) but I've never done a side-by-side comparison. I'm very glad that someone has decided to dedicate some time and energy to Russian lenses, they can be very rewarding. I also own the Jupiter 8, 9 and 11, Helios 44 (13 blade), 44-2 (zebra) 44M and 44M-4, Industar 50 and 50-2 f3.5. One day I hope to own the Helios 40 and the Tair 11 - my search continues. 😉 Thanks very much for the informative video, it was a pleasure to view.

Very entertaining. Thanks

Did you focus stop down or did you use the preset to f-stop ring?

You have the wrong version of jupiter 9 because they are all different in quality. The only true and real version of Jupiter 9 is AVTOMAT. They are all equally sharp as a razor. They are all flawless.