Jupiter 3 50mm f1.5 Review (aka Jupiter-3 5cm Lens)

Jupiter 3 50mm f1.5 review and sample photos using a Leica M9, Leica CL and Lumix GH5 cameras

Jupiter 3 Portrait – Leica M9

M9 + Jupiter 3 by MatthewOsbornePhotography_

M9 + Jupiter 3, a photo by MatthewOsbornePhotography_ on Flickr.

Candid shot of model Alex touching up her make up during her fashion and beauty shoot yesterday in my Coventry UK studio. Weather was miserable and dull outside so I was using my 650W Arri light for continuous light plus a speedlight in some photos.

Soviet Jupiter 3 5cm f1.5 lens (Zeiss Sonnar Clone)

Photo is taken with the 1970s vintage Soviet lens, a Jupiter 3 on my Leica M9. This is a clone of the Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f1.5. The resolution is quite low vs. modern Zeiss glass but stopped down and in contrasty light it can appear reasonably sharp. There is a silver version that I have and also a black one.

Jupiter-3 vs Sonnar 50mm

Yes the Jupiter-3 50mm lens is a lot cheaper than a Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f1.5 but I would save up and buy the Sonnar. The results are not comparible – The Zeiss Sonnar 50 f/1.5 is sharp and contrasty and the Jupiter-3 is low contrast and soft focusing. (This is the results i’ve had using both lenses anyway). I’ve had some amazing results from the Zeiss Sonnar 50. It is up there with the best 50mm lenses for a Leica camera.

Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 Calibration

The focusing of my Jupiter 3 on the Leica M9 and Leica M240 is way off so it’s not easy to nail focus at f1.5 wide open. I need to be closer to the subject than shown via the RF focusing.

Jupiter 3 Portraits – Leica M9

Jupiter-3 50mm lens for mirrorless cameras

Having owned the Jupiter-3 50mm lens for some time mirrorless cameras have now hit the market. On the Leica CL mirrorless camera there is no rangefinder so you see through the lens and what you see is what you get. This is also true using the Jupiter 3 lens on my cheaper Lumix GH5 that I bought for vlogging with.

Leica CL Portraits with Jupiter 3

Jupiter-3 Colour Cast

My copy of the Jupiter-3 50mm f1.5 lens has a greenish colour cast which looks quite cool for cinematic B-roll video footage but is worth noting for photos.