Very very informative one. The lenses are perfect for my Canon 7. Looking for a Canon P for a future collection! Awesome!

I picked up a Canon P a few weeks ago. I had a Summitar 50/2 I got with my Leica IIIc, so I was sorted for the normal lens. I started searching around and couldn't/wouldn't spend another $500+ on a 35 mm. (my favorite focal length) I settled on a Canon 35/2.8, independent of your video. It is a nice little lens. It IS little, on the bigger Canon body. I like the sharpness. It is a wide angle lens, so it will have some barrel distortion if you mis-use it. Most of the time, you won't notice it's a wide angle from looking at the pix. It's close enough to normal as to have that normal perspective, but wide enough that I rarely find myself needing wider. Now, I'm on the hunt for a telephoto. I'm leaning toward 100 mm, so I can use the 100 mm framelines in the P's viewfinder, but as you said, the Canon 100/3.5's are all jacked-up and will need a pro cleaning before they're really usable without apologies. An 85 or 135 would need an accessory viewfinder. I guess the solution is the Elmar 135 (they are cheap-ish) and the Leitz zooming viewfinder. Maybe it just makes more sense to carry my OM1N with the 135/3.5 for telephoto, then my Leica IIIc with 50/2 and Canon P with the Canon 35/2.8. Maybe even just leave the IIIc at home, as I don't find myself looking for a 50 mm that often...

Great wider LTM lens is the CV 25/4 Snapshot Skopar lens. It has no rangefinder coupling but is ultra sharp and super compact. Works excellent for Infrared photography, too. I got mine used in EX+ condition for $200. Get the combined CV 21/25 external viewfinder.

Very helpful comments on this subject.

I have the Jupiter 8, just need the Canon. Will go for the Model 7. The Jupiter 8 is great on my Nikon Z6.

Thanks for the info my good man :)

I've seen several videos about the wide angle lens and nobody said it bumped into anything..............Thank you for a very informative video.

I got Leica 90mm f4 Elmar here in the UK for £70 a couple of years ago and it’s a fantastic little lens on my Leica III

I have tried 3 Soviet lenses - the best being an Industar 50mm f3.5. Even that though is not that great and rather a PIA to use. I have a Canon 50mm f1.8 which was reasonably priced but full of haze, so no good unless I can get it cleaned. I have given up trying to find a cheap solution and gone for a Voigtlander 50mm f1.5. Expensive used but not prohibitively so and definitely good enough to used on digital too. I am looking for a 35mm at present, and the Canons look very similar in price to Voigtlanders so I expect the Voigtlander 35mm f2.5 will follow. None of these lenses are cheap of course, but still L39 is significantly cheaper than M mount glass. And let us not forget the saving a Canon P body will give you over any rangfefinder from Germany or later Japanses ones. It's certainly a great body.too,

Leica 9cm or 90mm Elmar's can be had for next to nothing if you can live with f4, it's probably the only Leica lens that regularly sells under $200

I've bought 3 of the Canon 100m f3.5 lenses. All were fogged. All cleaned up easily with normal lens cleaner. You DO have to be very careful not to replace the rearmost element incorrectly. It's easy to put it back in backwards, but you'll know you did that after the first roll of film. Pictures will be completely unsharp. You may also get a used one that is wildly unsharp, which probably means someone cleaned it and replaced the rear element backwards. Easy to do, because the rear element looks symmetrical, but isn't. There are lots of stories about these lenses being permanently hazed by bad lubricants or something. These may exist, but I've never seen one.

Thank you for this great overview! I also checked out your awesome Jupiter-8 images on Flickr. I have a bunch of Industar and Jupiter lenses laying around in grandpa's place, but it's hard to tell which copy is better. Is there any signs/things to look out for? I heard that the quality really depends on the sample (yours has such a nice looking front element)

Nice overview. I'm surprised you didn't give the Jupiter-11 a quick mention, but I guess you don't have one on hand. It's a "slow" f4.0, but the compression at 135mm still results in nice bokeh. Mine is a little soft and prone to some flaring, but has that vintage rendering when it's called for. It's also gorgeous to look at and handle, with a lovely amber lens coating matched with the all metal body.

The build quality of those telephoto’s is impressive, especially for the money

There are Nikon F lens to Leica LTM adapters available. Great for 20 to 28mm wide angle lenses as there is no focus coupling with the rangefinder. You just set the lens to the approximate distance which is not a problem considering the wide depth of field for wide angle lenses. The other thing you need is an appropriate lens viewer so you can frame your photograph correctly. Another budget 90mm lens is the Leica Elmar 90mm F4 lens which goes for about $220 used. For filters you would need either the SOOGZ adapter or the Series 6 adapters and filters. The Canon 135mm F4 is a real bargain as well and not as heavy as the Nikon lens.

I paired a voigtlander 35mm 2.5 color skopar ltm. Worked a charm.

Will you ever try the 35mm 1.8 or f2?

The Jupiter 12 does work on the P as long as you buy one of the later versions. I shoot with one on my P all the time.

The Jupiter 3 is a Russian copy of the original Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f/1.5, the lens is identical to the original 1930's Zeiss design and some of these were made with Zeiss glass shipped as WWII reparations from the factories in Germany to the USSR. It is an excellent lens and usually bidding around 100 euros or lower. It is still a sleeper in Ebay actions. I got mine before 10 years for around 50 euros. Jupiter 8 is good but recently its price has gone up because it is known now. It used to go for peanuts, usually with a relatively good Zorki 4 for 30-40 euros. Jupiter 3 50mm f/1.5 is much more rare and I am sure its price will skyrocket in a few years when people discover its real value as a normal lens. A really good example in mint condition goes around 100-150 euros.

I have the Canon 50, 1.4 the Voigtlander 40mm 2.8 Helier, and 25mm f4 snapshot skopar, also the Canon 135mm f3.5 ltm, quite satisfied with all of them, all are quite sharp, in the market next for 100mm 3.5 or the 85mm 1.9. I use them mostly on my Fuji XT 2 with an adapter, love compact size as it allows me to easily carry multiple lenses with very little weight in a small bag. Also they don’t look expensive or intimidating to those not knowledgeable It doesn’t look like you’re toting a bunch of expensive camera equipment around when using it in “interesting” places to shoot.

I think no J12 on canon P is bit of urban myth.On mine (silver, 1959) the baffles come close to but don't touch the edge of the rear element. Also no problem mounting on Sony a7r. Works fine on Leica M9, no corner discoloration as on Sony.

LTM lenses I hear/see good things about that still seem cheap: Steinheil Munchen Culminar 85/2.8 Tanar 50/2 (another Sonnar clone like Jupiter but better coated and housed in brass vs. aluminum) All of the Topcor lenses seem to catching up in price to the Canon and Nikkors. CV LTM lenses seem to be skyrocketing in price too.

Disagree on a few points. There is some variability in Jupiter -12s, I have a black version which rubs against the light baffles in the P, but works just fine on V series cameras (L1, VL2 in my case). You neglected to mention the late black Canon 135/3.5 which is lighter and excellent. As far as collapsible lenses are concerned, the Leitz Summitar collapses freely into the P and V Series cameras, but must be erect when screwed onto and off of the body (is that family friendly?). This is because the tabs on the bottom of the lens tube are positioned to avoid the baffles only when the les is installed. After installation you can freely collapse as desired, just be sure it is not collapsed when lens is removed. As far as I know all the other collapsible lenses cannot be collapsed on the P or Vs. And most important for Canon ltm lens users, 40mm filters are back due to several models of Fuji digital camera which use them. A 40mm circular polarizer is available from Marumi.

I believe the industar-69 is their 28mm f2.8 and it is available for L39 mount for about 35$

no Jupiter 12 ('63 - silver version) indeed, (they work on Leica M bodies though) but YES Jupiter 12 ('69 - black version)

The black version of the Jupiter 12 is known to fit the Canon P and the Canon 7, which the latter is Canon's last LTM rangefinder camera model.

I've got the Canon Model 7 - does the Jupiter 12 work ok on it? I only ask because I have one (I set my focus ring to minimum before attaching the lens) and I find it pretty fuzzy. I thought maybe it needed calibrating....?

Mir-1V good lens too!

To the 85 serenar there is the cheapest leica glass (for unknown reasons really) elmar 90 f4

I love the Voigtländer 25/4 Snapshot Skopar, they tend to be fairly inexpensive because they are not rangefinder coupled, but the image quality is outstanding.

In the 50's, many lenses that you could later see on SLR's where actually made for rangefinders in M39 first. So, there's the Jupiter-9 (85mm f2) made in M39, as well as Jupiter 11 (135mm f4), and let's not forget the legend, the Helios 44 (58mm f2), the original, all of them under $100, if you are getting them from Ukraine or Russia that is, course in the west all of those lenses are quite rare. I'm not sure about compatibility, but given all those lenses don't have any protruding elements, and given those prices, they are worth a try...

Have had no problem with my black Jupiter 12 on my Canon P...also many canon p folks use the Jupiter 12

Brian it's hard to find an canon 50mm 1.8 without haze. Do you think a small amount makes much of a difference.?

Filter Size: Not only do Canon lenses have a 40 mm diameter they also use a non-standard pitch and some odd filter which seems to fit will damage the threads if you force it to be tight. 😮 Best Option is to use Series VI-Filters together with the 42 mm lenshood.

I've heard some jupiter 12s can fit into a canon P, not all but some

Protruding lens issues apply to the caonn 7 series as well?

There's a Russar MP-2 20mm f/5.6 that's not extremely expensive for a such wide focal lenght.

How hard is it to shoot 135? I would think the framing would be very small in the viewfinder or is it not that bad?

Jupiter12 No I shoot mostly Jupiter 12 on my canon p about 3 years now no prob so far

B&h has 40mm filters for under $10

It is not 40mm, it's 48mm. I ordered a lens hood and filter and it didn't fit. It's hard to tell if your saying 40mm or 48.

He is the only budget lenses is the Soviet lenses unless you want a wid angle lens which is even expensive for Soviet lens. And like another thing make sure you get at least a 50 mm lens when you buy a camera don't buy a body separately.

The Jupiter 3 is the best lens for the money in LTM. I doubt there is a japanese lens unless somebody pays a fortune to buy an f/1.1 lens likw this Zunow Opt Japan 50mm f/1.1.. It goes now in Ebay for US $6,440.00. This is the only lens to beat the Jupiter 3 f/1.5. I have tested this lens with a nice hood against leitz lenses and it performs excactly the same in every aspect both in B&W and in color film and slides. It has the same sharpness and absolutely the same color rendering or even better in f/5.6 to f/11.

Not quite true that you can't use the collapsible 50mm lenses with these cameras. You can certainly use them, and they'll take fine pictures. You can't COLLAPSE them on the camera. I've seen people make a plastic ring for the throat of the lens, to prevent collapsing, but I haven't found that to be necessary. Just don't try to push the lens into the camera.

I have a Canon 7 and simply bought a 40 to 40.5 step up ring problem solved

Best avoid all Canon lenses from the 1950s or early 1960s with haze like the plague. It may be something to do with the chemicals in the grease used in them releasing gas, but the haze seems to etch the coatings thereby rendering them to junk status in my experience.

You are incorrect when it comes to fitting Jupiter 12 lens on a Canon LTM rangefinder. First of all, you can find any number of KZfaq videos of shooters using these lenses on the Canon P or Canon 7. Second, I personally have a Canon 7 with Jupiter 12 and it fits fine. The clearance between the rear element and the top light baffle is tight, but there is no rubbing or damage. I do think newer black versions of the Jupiter 12, with serial numbers from 1970s and up, are known to fit these cameras more readily than older silver copies. Thirdly, I have also read forum posts that detail simply applying light pressure to the top light baffle of the camera to gently bend the thin metal and get the extra clearance you need to mount a Jupiter 12. It is totally doable and that's why I opted to get this lens for $75 instead of spending over $200 for a Canon 35mm f/2.8 or over $250 for a Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 Color Skopar.

индустар 61 л/д possibly sharpest among rangefinder industars, but has poor build quality (helicoid easily wears out) and 'unpleasant' picture character (highly subjective) rigid industar-50 probably as sharp on film with 'better picture' collapsible industar-22 is best sharpness/beauty balance among rf industars to my taste (and collapsible industar-50 is less so) NOTE: soviet lenses are famous of their quality inconsistency, so, prepare to look through pile of garbage for a good item :) old jupiters-8 are usually all good jupiter-3 produces most beautiful vintage picture on film (I do not recommend it for digital), but prepare for focusing issues (rf helicoid misalignments and non-leica standards) and focus shift - better look for best copy among a few if you want reliable affordable high quality m39 lens then go for canon - they are all good, just buy one w/o lens dirt and fugus :)

Isnt it l39 not m39? Ltm is l39, m39 is the russian mount. LTM is L39 The Leica Thread Mount is known as LTM, LSM (Leica Screw Mount), and L39 (Leica 39). But it really shouldn't be called M39, since that really stands for Metric 39 threads, and the threads don't even use standard metric pitch. So, you need an M adapter. L39 39mm pitch- 0.977mm tpi- 26 ffd- 28.8mm LTM (Leica Thread Mount) M39 39mm pitch- 1mm tpi- 25.4 ffd-28.8mm Russian M39

@2:51 please stop moving the lens. Trying to read numbers. Wow

The Jupiter 12 comment is not accurate at all. You do have to be very careful and go slow. And some lenses will work and some will not.. But to say it absolutely does not work on the Canon P is untrue. I had used a J12 on my Canon P for years.

If we are going to save money with Russian lenses why not get a Russian camera and save more money.