Fed 50/3.5 collapsible

[bonino]

Hi, im waiting for my fed 2 from oleg ( does anyone know the time it takes to get to Switzerland btw) and it comes with an industar 26, but i always wanted a collapsible lens just because it looks so great with rangefinders, and i struggle to find one at a good Price, i stumbled upon one from igor caméra for 75€ but theres a fed 2 still attached to it and since im already getting one from oleg its Kind of wasteful to get a second one. Then i looked at ebay and theres a ton of them from ukraine region but they all are in the same price range, and if 10-20€ more gets me the lens and an earlier model of fed 2 then its a no brainer.
I also looked on fedka but the shipping costs are hefty to europe région,and the lens itself is pricey ( i understand they are as good as new on this website) .
What should i do, buy the kit from igor, buy a ebay one or is there a source for Fed lenses in europe that would have cheaper shipping costs.

 

[Coldkennels]

First, it's worth bearing in mind that the lenses labelled FED may be pre-war and non-standardised.

Try hunting down an Industar 22 - they're still a collapsible 50/3.5, but they're all post-war, coated, and standardised. They're also usually cheaper.

 

[santino]

I‘d get the second Fed 2. The Fed lens has a more vintage rendering than any collapsible Industar and you would have spare parts.

If you are after a look that is similar to the Industar 26 you should look for the Industar 50 (it also exists as a collapsible lens but is rare). Otherwise look for a Industar 22, most of them have no issues.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I've found the Industar-50 in Collapsible mount to be well-made, and optically even better than the Industar-22. There is sample-to-sample variation, and some of the earliest Industar-22 use German glass- figure through 1953. There is also a Rigid Industar-22, usually early.

 

[santino]

Just an idea.. why not ask Oleg? I think he may have a few Industars lying around…

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Found my thread on the Industar-50,

Industar-50 Lube and Adjust

This Industar-50 is a Tessar formula 50/3.5 in a brass mount with "very shiny Chrome". Performance compares well with the post-war 50/3.5 coated Elmar. The I-50 is the third formulation of the 50/3.5 Tessar in the Industar series, it improves on the optics of the Industar-22 and Industar-10. The...

rangefinderforum.com

 

[David Murphy]

I bought one about 15 years ago on eBay from some seller in Eastern Europe - it was inexpensive. It was an excellent lens, almost indistinguishable from an Elmar optically. I have seen other poor examples however that exhibited mechanical defects, of such a nature that indicated they were probably defective from the factory. This is pretty common with Soviet optics, quality control issues that is.

If you need a reliable Elmar copy at a modest price, you might consider either the Simlar or Topcor 3.5cm F3.5 collapsible from Japan (it might be the same lens actually, just different branding). These can sometimes be found for about half the price of an Elmar and are really just as good and built to uniformly high standards.

 

[bonino]

Thanks, i asked oleg and he doesnt have any, and he also said that the industar 22 will likely not fit a Fed 2 since they use a button whereas the fed 2 collapsible use a special spring Latch, thats why i was looking for a fed one, i will look up industar 22 anyway just to be sure but oleg seems to be THE guy for fsu gear so im probably gonna wait till he has one for me,
Other thing is, do you guys find it cumbersome to open, set focus, and shoot with a collapsible compared to the usual i26m ?
And lastly are the collapsible ones more prone to break since they move all the time? Im a bit worried about light leaks appearing, they are much cooler lenses than normal ones but i prefer a more boring but solid lens than a cool fragile One.
Anyway thanks for all the advice im gonna look everything up!

 

[Ko.Fe.]

75 euro is something like dozen of crappy starbucks coffees.
According to my Belgium colleague who went for project in Switzerland.
So, I'll skip where to buy cheaper part. Sorry.

But two Feds is next to nothing. Even if miracle will happened and one of them is going to lasts half-a-year, sooner or later those becomes as nice decor, if you are not willing to learn how to keep them alive.

Now to collapsible Industars.
All are Indistars.

I-10 is a.k.a. FED 50/3.5. The good part it is most short of those and closest knock off (by construction, not optics) to Elmar 50 3.5.
The bad part, those were made to match camera flange individually. So, if it on another camera, not original it was calibrated on, it is most likely going to be OOF. And I-10 optics are nothing two write home about. At all.

I-22 and I-50 are longer and even more longer than tiny I-10.

I-22 if you want it on BW. It has its own character. And it is already sharp enough.
I-50 (I have seen Russian doc) was recalculated for color and has somewhat more sharpness. In the middle..

If you want really sharp and not too bulky FSU 50 3.5, get I-50 rigid. Those are sold for less. But if aligned with camera, they are really sharp.

I-22 WO on M3. Print, not scan.

And this is scan from neg taken by cheap I-61. On FED-3.

 

[x-ray]

I’m not even sure what version this one is. It appears to be coated so it must be post war and I assume it’s an Elmar copy. Can someone w tell me which model?

I don’t even remember when I bought it but think it was on a Russian camera that picked up 25 or so years ago. I don’t think I ever shot any film with it but shooting on digital it’s quite respectable. Matter of fact it blew me away how good it is. I’ve had several 3.5 and 2.8 Elmar and I’d say it’s easily on par with them.

 

[bonino]

Okay so an industar 22 collapsible or industar 50 collapsible for color would be the better choice then ? I dont shoot color more than one roll per year i would say, because i develop at home and c41 chemistry is pricey, compared to a 10€ bottle of rodinal that lasts me years without going bad.
How can i make sure the lens will fit my camera correctly? Im okay with fiddling on the lens but not that much with the camera, at least not right now since i need to shoot some test rolls before changing any parameters.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The I-50 is the sharpest of all, and the difference will show in B&W as well. I believe the newer glass was used, similar to the Industar-61L/D.

 

[kamil_k]

How can i make sure the lens will fit my camera correctly? Im okay with fiddling on the lens but not that much with the camera, at least not right now since i need to shoot some test rolls before changing any parameters.

I think it may be trial and error. I had problems with mounting I22/I50 onto Zorki 4. The locking pin interfered with the lens mount. The locking pin for the infinity focus can be removed from the lens.

You may be lucky though, Soviet cameras had different variants.

 

[Coldkennels]

With regards to the focusing tab sticking on the lens mount... this depends on which version of the FED 2 you have.

If you have a look at the archived version of the Soviet Cams page for FED2, you can see there's three main versions: Soviet and Russian Cameras - Fed-2

The latter two - the one with the joint Cyrillic & Latin name, and the one that uses the FED 3 body shell - both have a raised section around the lens mount and a leather covering that butts up against that section. This raised section is what catches on the infinity stop on some of the collapsible lenses.

The first version with the larger Cyrillic-only name and textured finish (I was never entirely clear on what that was? It doesn't feel like vulcanite...) has more than enough clearance all the way around the lens mount that no collapsible 50mm lens is an issue.

(Side note: bear in mind that both versions usually exhibit issues with mounting the 35mm Jupiter 12. There's an easy fix/workaround if you're feeling brave, though.)

 

[bonino]

With regards to the focusing tab sticking on the lens mount... this depends on which version of the FED 2 you have.

If you have a look at the archived version of the Soviet Cams page for FED2, you can see there's three main versions: Soviet and Russian Cameras - Fed-2

The latter two - the one with the joint Cyrillic & Latin name, and the one that uses the FED 3 body shell - both have a raised section around the lens mount and a leather covering that butts up against that section. This raised section is what catches on the infinity stop on some of the collapsible lenses.

The first version with the larger Cyrillic-only name and textured finish (I was never entirely clear on what that was? It doesn't feel like vulcanite...) has more than enough clearance all the way around the lens mount that no collapsible 50mm lens is an issue.

(Side note: bear in mind that both versions usually exhibit issues with mounting the 35mm Jupiter 12. There's an easy fix/workaround if you're feeling brave, though.)

I have the latin version without the leather covering, mine has the rubber vulcanite thing, and the mount sits very close to the body but i dont see a raised section so it should be okay then.

 

[Coldkennels]

I have the latin version without the leather covering, mine has the rubber vulcanite thing, and the mount sits very close to the body but i dont see a raised section so it should be okay then.

Do any versions of the FED 2 in the link I posted match yours? I didn't think there was a Latin/"English" one without the leather covering. I've only ever seen the textured finish with the Cyrillic ФЭД-2 engraving.

 

[bonino]

I can join a photo of it, based on what i know its a Fed 2d.

 

[Coldkennels]

Oh, that's an interesting one - a transitional model between the two styles.

That should take any collapsible lens without a problem. That said, I still recommend an Industar 22 or 50 to make sure you get one made to the Soviet standard instead of the non-standardised early FED lenses.

 

[bonino]

Okay cool, then im gonna look for one, do you have sources for reliable sellers aside from yuri perfect and hero4g who i Heard a lot of good from.

 

[Brambling]

I’ll just make a note here, and tomorrow I’ll write everything down in detail)