Elmar 50 vs Industar 22/50

S

stevew

Guest
I'm looking to pick up a Leica 111a and collapsable lens. Seems most of the sanely priced Elmars have scratched/separated elements. How would the Industar copies at Fedka hold up optically? Flare, contrast, color casts?
 
I've never used the Industar 22 (or the Elmar for that matter), but any examples I've seen online have been quite pleasing. Generally they're cheap enough that you could get one to try and if it isn't what you want it's no great loss.
Google "Industar 22" and you'll get a fair number of examples of pics taken with the lens.

Peter
 
My I-22 is sharper and has better contrast than my Elmar. Then again, my Elmar isnot prestine, and un-coated.
 
I don't think that you'll be able to see a difference in performance between the Elmar and the Industar provided that both are in good condition. The Industar is quite a bargain.
 
I've been impressed with my Industar on a FED 1. Even at full aperture, it is very sharp in the centre, but the edges never catch up - even on stopping down. It is also more contrasty than an Elmar, but produces more grainy results (I'm sure there is some explanation for this - involving optical energy distribution perhaps - but I'm not the person to give it). I do some PJ work for a local political/cultural magazine and the editor has never noticed the odd FED+Industar photograph I give him, in amongst the Leica M2+ recently CLA'd rigid Summicron pictures. The FED is great for rough situations where you might fear for your Leica - I've even handed it to some very dodgy Belfast characters to take photographs of me and each other when I felt the need to reduce the tensions I had evoked by taking their photographs. Of course they handed it back to me at the end of the session. A couple of Belfast street photographs taken on this combination are in my gallery on Photo.net (the photograph of the illuminated Virgin Mary statue was taken on a Pentax KM with 50mm f/1.7 at full aperture, if you want to compare). Look at http://www.photo.net/photos/SeanMoran).

Best wishes,

Seán.
 
My experience with Russian lenses, including Industar 22, is good. My Elmar 2.8/50, on the contrary, is foggy and flares much, despite it having cost 10 times more. Industar 22 is said to have the best resolution among soviet normal lenses. Even better than Jupiter 8.
 
Thanks to all.

Thanks to all.

About what I expected. I would like a compact carry package without spending $600 on a pristene used Elmar. For a normal 50 I would probably go with one of the Skopars.
 
I do use an uncoated 1930's Elmar 3.5 and it now gives good service after a CLA at DAG. I have never used an Industar but they are likely as good from what I have seen on the web. The Elmar really needs a hood to help with flare reduction.

Bob
 
stevew,

you might be interested in this fedka page comparing the two, especially w/ regard to the russian lenses being optically more tessar than elmar.

http://jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page444.htm

it seems that for many shooters, the coating tips the balance toward the russians. my particular I-50 seems to have quite high resolution, if not the highest contrast.
 
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