I have a soft spot for soviet era lenses. Sure, they can often be badly lacking in build quality (Industar26M, Industar 61 L/Z), or they can be quirky one-trick ponies (Helios 44-2), but generally I find the optics to be rather great, often excellent.
In this video I take a good look at a 1963 Jupiter-8 5mm f/2 which is neither lacking in build quality, neither a one-trick pony and while it’s not optically excellent, it’s very versatile and quite charming.
I was happy to hear you explain the origin of Soviet-era optics.
It seems as if the Germans had a rather large impact on optics for photography and such. They took what they knew to Japan and educated the Japanese in the 1930s. This lead directly to the lenses made by Nikon, who, interestingly enough, rapidly leapfrogged the Germans in terms of optical performance.
After WWII entire factories and staff were moved out of Germany into the Soviet zone as you rightly point out as part of war reparations. There really is no reason why Soviet glass from the 40’s through the 70’s can’t/doesn’t match the stuff still made back in Germany.
In the USA, Kinglake brought his knowledge from Germany to Kodak where he designed what remain perhaps the finest tessar formula implementations. I sometimes used Commercial Ektar lenses back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I shot large format film (4x5 to 12x20inches). There were outstanding lenses for designed for 35mm and 120 formats for Kodak, too.
Commercially, we need to tip our hat in the direction of Germany for the lenses we use. Just don’t tell the French nor the English. Their optical designers were at the time also particularly outstanding. They just didn’t have the commercial success the Germans did.
I’d like to add something -
When I think of Nikkor lenses, I think of the history with David Duncan Douglas - https://youtu.be/9yJfeE4ZHxY
This is how I know Nikkors were better than Leitz at the time. For what it’s worth.
I could argue, as do others, that Konica playes a much bigger, more important role in the development, innovation and advancement of the SLR and lens market in Japan in the years immediately after WW2. In 1928 Konica, then known as Konishuroku, made and sold the first “Made in Japan” lens.
Actually Nikon’s and Canon’s roles seem marginal at best, in comparison.
Further reading. The Konica AR System and The Konica AR System
Some firsts by Konica
– 1st 35mm SLR with a vertically-traveling metal focal-plane shutter (Konica F, 1960),
– 1st 35mm SLR with a shutter speed of 1/2000s (Konica F, 1960),
– 1st 35mm SLR with flash synchronization speed of 1/125s (Konica F, 1960),
– 1st 35mm SLR with fully coupled light meter (Konica F, 1960),
– 1st 35mm SLR with focal-plane-shutter and auto exposure (Auto-Reflex, 1965),
– 1st 35mm SLR with focal-plane-shutter, auto exposure and TTL metering (Autoreflex T, 1968),
– 1st 35mm SLR with film motorized film auto-loading and auto-advance (FS-1, 1978),
– 1st 35mm SLR with DX film speed coding capability (TC-X, 1985)
In other areas of photography, Konica originated:
– 1st Japanese mass-produced camera (Cherry Portable Camera, 1903),
– 1st Japanese SLR (Sakura Reflex Prano, 1907),
– 1st Japanese photographic lens (Konishiroku Hexar 105/4.5, 1931),
– 1st TLR with interchangeable lenses (Tele-Koniflex, 1956),
– 1st 35mm rangefinder with a vertically-traveling metal shutter (Konica FR prototype, 1961),
– 1st 35mm AE camera with CdS lightmeter (Konica Auto S, 1963),
– 1st medium format SLR with auto exposure (Konica SF prototype, 1967),
– 1st 35mm AE compact camera with incorporated flash (Konica C35 EF, 1975),
– 1st 35mm camera with auto-focus capability (Konica C35 AF, 1977),
– 1st 35mm AE half-frame camera (Konica AA-35, 1984),
– 1st 35mm camera with silent mode operation (Konica Hexar AF, 1991),
– 1st M-mount camera with motorized film advance (Konica Hexar RF, 1999),
– 1st M-mount camera with aperture-priority automatic exposure and AE lock (Konica Hexar RF, 1999),
– 1st M-mount camera with a vertically traveling metal shutter (Konica Hexar RF, 1999).
@anon71831483 - It’s interesting that all that innovation didn’t lead to more commercial success. Of course Konica had enough success to be able to buy Minolta, but they never had the sales strength of Nikon or Canon.
I think they really stunk at marketing.