fed 50/3.5 lens

[vanyagor]

fed 50/3.5 lens Can someone point out a resource wich shows different versions of this lens?

 

[Ash]

I wouldn't worry to be honest. Just look for the cleanest example.

As far as I know, the FSU 50/3.5 collapsibles are

Industar-50
Industar-22
Fed-50 (which is an Industar-10 or something?)


I use a collapsible Industar-22 on my Leica Standard, soon to be replaced by a Summar.

 

[xayraa33]

from the photographic results, I cannot see much difference between the I- 50, I-22 or the Fed lens (I-10).

 

[Ash]

The I-22 build quality is a lot nicer

 

[Jocko]

from the photographic results, I cannot see much difference between the I- 50, I-22 or the Fed lens (I-10).

I concur with my invisible colleague. 🙂

Ivan, in practical terms a postwar coated I-10 is the obvious choice for a FED: it was the standard "modern" FED collapsible. For the prewar version and minor variations, the best source is Princelle.

Cheers, Ian

 

[vanyagor]

Thanks. My interest is not practical here. Rather collectors. Recently I have noticed there were different fed 50/3.5 versions (Industar-10) and some of those I've seen were not listed in Princelle.

I saw one with s/n [FONT=Arial, Verdana]102010, aperture ranging from 3.5 to 18 and the colour of the largest ring (that is resting on the body and that has the limiting screw was not silver. Not sure how the colour is called, it looked brass.

Any idea how rare that lens is?
[/FONT]

 

[ZorkiKat]

fed 50/3.5 lens Can someone point out a resource wich shows different versions of this lens?

Ivan,

They were all labelled the same, but there were some changes during its production run. The first ones were uncoated and had different RF camming standards as well as working distances. Best avoid these if you plan to use them on other cameras than the FED they came with. They are easy to identify- glass looks white and uncoated, and the aperture rings use the old Leica sequence- 3,5 4,5 6,3...18. They also have no serial numbers on the ring.
BTW, the brass looking stop screw may just have lost its chrome skin. This part gets to be touched a lot and the chrome covering could get worn.

The second type, coated and with the "international" f/scale, would likely be more useable on later FED, Zorki or other LTM. They would have standard working distances and RF camming. The lenses look purple. Their serial numbers were also engraved on the mount ring.

There is also a variant made for the FED-2. The locking stop is just a raised notch, and the lock tab itself does not push down. These were made for the thinner FED-2 lens mounts since the original style lock would not have any space to move. These lenses are also useful for adapting on M-mount cameras. The lock tabs won't get in the way of the adapter.

Though it's hard to see the differences between what an I-22, I-50 or I-10 (FED 50) would do, I find that the FED 50 lenses do a certain quality which the other Industars don't quite do. It's just like that "Leica glow" which many talk about but can't quite describe 😀

Jay

 

[pvdhaar]

In addition to what Jay said:

Max (aka. darkkavenger) did at one time put together a Russian lens database. I seem unable to locate that at the moment, but it showed that there were FED-50's with different minimum aperture values, some go from f3.5 to f18, others from f3.5 to f16.

I've got one of the latter, and had to file off the infinity focus catch to be able to use it on a Bessa-T. The catch would engage, but not disengage..

 

[vanyagor]

Thanks a lot everyone for the comments.

 

[vanyagor]

Ivan,

BTW, the brass looking stop screw may just have lost its chrome skin. This part gets to be touched a lot and the chrome covering could get worn.

Jay

I thought this might be the reason, but was not sure. Btw, that lens I saw is mounted on a fed 2 body, but I do not think it is original.

 

[vanyagor]

In addition to what Jay said:

Max (aka. darkkavenger) did at one time put together a Russian lens database. I seem unable to locate that at the moment, but it showed that there were FED-50's with different minimum aperture values, some go from f3.5 to f18, others from f3.5 to f16.

I've got one of the latter, and had to file off the infinity focus catch to be able to use it on a Bessa-T. The catch would engage, but not disengage..

I will try to get in touch with Max.

Also I have collected a bunch of FSU equipment (mostly feds, Zorkis and lenses). I'm planning to part with some of that but first I will try to make a database of whatever I have. The only thing that I need to do that is a llittle bit of time :bang: