New toys for my FED 2

 When I bought my FED 2 rangefinder camera, a wide angle lens went on my bucket list straight away, the Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8. The camera originally came to me with an Industar 26m 52mm f/2.8 lens fitted and I wasn't very happy with it. It was, and frankly still is, lumpy in use and needs a full strip and rebuild to put right. This is what happens when you pay £40 for a camera that works well, the lens is often overlooked.

I soon found a replacement on a Zorki 4K that winged it's way to me for another £40, a Jupiter 8 50mm f/2 that was in excellent condition. This time it was the camera that wasn't exactly at it's best. Given the fact a serviced FED 2 with Jupiter 8 lens can cost over £100, I reckon I got reasonable value for my money. 

As I grew to love the camera, a Jupiter 8 35mm wide angle lens was on my radar and it is a sought after item amongst the soviet camera community. Often costing well over £100 for just the lens, I played the waiting game and kept an eye out for a bargain.

A couple of years go by and I'm scrolling through a Vintage Camera group on the book of face. A member had posted their FED 2 with the Jupiter 12 lens and I mentioned that I was on the look out for the lens to put on my FED 2. The chap very kindly gave me a link to one for sale on the bay and it was within my financial reach. I checked it out, liked what I saw and bought it. A week later it arrived and I am now the proud owner of a Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8 wide angle lens for a very reasonable price.

The only problem I now had was getting the viewfinder that shows the full size of frame my photos shot using the lens were going to be. These things can cost a pretty penny too, but I managed to find one at the Vintage & Classic Camera Co. The good folks I bought Baldy the Baldax from. It didn't take long to arrive and all I had to do was give it a test run. I loaded a roll of Kentmere 400 into my FED 2 and waited for a sunny day to come my way.

I went for a wander around Wigan and captured some old favourites again. I also tried to capture different angles of others now that I could get closer to my subjects. I even wandered down to the Pier Quarter to see what I could find. By the time I got there, the sun was dipping below the buildings on the fine autumn afternoon. I captured a couple of shots and I headed back into town to capture another couple of shots before I lost the light and headed home.

I developed my roll of Kentmere 400 in Bellini Euro HC, 1+31 dilution B, for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Studio.

First impressions of this lens are good. Compositions where I had to step back with the Jupiter 8 50mm f/2 had me taking those few steps towards the composition with the Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8. That extra width really shows in my photos. I can get much closer before I start getting to the point where I need to stop and let the composition have space to fill the frame. 

The photos are nice and sharp too, which is something I had seen in other folks photos using the same set up. That viewfinder is pretty much on the money too. It sits a little higher than I would like courtesy of the adapter I bought so I could get it to fit. My Fed 2 has the sunken hot shoe and the adapter has raised the viewfinder up a few millimetres, but it doesn't affect the shots at all. Most of my shots were focused at infinity so parallax wasn't an issue. 

There's only one downside to this lens and that's the aperture ring. It's click-less and my lens hood screws into it. It's easily moved by my fat fingers when focusing so I had to be mindful to check I was still on my chosen aperture before framing up my composition and releasing the shutter. It's a daft thing to moan about and I shall get used to it. 

The only other lens I have experienced this with is my Industar 50-2. That lens also has a click-less aperture ring set in the body, not around the outside like every other lens I own. maybe it's just a quirky soviet design or are there other lenses out there similarly configured that I haven't found yet? 

Final thoughts? Considering it is a lens I have wanted for quite some time, it has not disappointed me. I could easily have been disappointed, but the Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8 lens made by the good folks at KMZ in Moscow all those years ago, is every bit as good as I imagined it would be. 

Here's a few favourites from my wander around Wigan, trying my Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8 lens for the first time. I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Fed 2 - Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8 lens - Kentmere 400