Collapsing Industar-22 on Bessa R2A and Leica M6

[Toni Nikkanen]

Ok so my googling skills are probably lacking, but I tried, so forgive me..

I got a nice looking Industar-22 lens, appears to be coated too. Initially I had some trouble mounting it on my R2A using an adapter when it was in collapsed position, so I mounted it fully extended and v-e-r-y slowly tried collapsing it into the body. It went smoothly in almost all the way but stopped just a few millimeters before. After a while of experimenting with it, i have managed to completely collapse it while being mounted and seemingly haven't hit or damaged the shutter. However I really have to be sure about this - there appears to be no way to lock the lens into fully extended position (?) and I keep my camera often in my coat pocket. If there's even the slightest risk of damaging my camera I just can't use it.

So has anyone used the I-22 on a Bessa R2A (and I imagine R3A/R4A are the same in this regard) for an extended period, fully collapsed, without problems?

And the same for Leica M6, which I will be trying with this lens as soon as it gets back from repair!

..and if I get really going, how about Summitar and collapsible Summicron 50/2? Especially the Summitar, since it really fits my budget nicely 🙂

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

No problem for the M6, the industars have the same dimensions as the early elmars and are therefore fully collapsible on all the M's.

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

Nice to know it will be fully safe with my M6... and now I found that it can indeed be locked into fully open position by twisting the front part. I still wouldn't trust it to stay locked open in every situation.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Nice to know it will be fully safe with my M6... and now I found that it can indeed be locked into fully open position by twisting the front part. I still wouldn't trust it to stay locked open in every situation.

? what do you mean with "in every situation", I have never had problems by using it as a normal fixed camera lens. Btw in the past I made quite some tests and it appeared that the Industar 22 is a sharper and more contrastfull lens than the early elmars, however it was beaten by the post WWII elmars......

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

I mean that as long as I am not sure collapsing the lens inside the Bessa body is not going to break anything, it had better stay in fully extended position at all times..

 

[Toni Nikkanen]

Well, I have been carefully using the Industar-22 with the Bessa for 2 days now and gained confidence it is working OK. when i'm done with the current roll i'll check some more with the camera back open and shutter opened with bulb, to see exactly where it goes.

 

[Santafecino]

It's not quite correct that you can collapse a lens on all the M's. Don't
do it on an M5 or a CL--they have a meter cell there that will be damaged.