FED Lens Identification

Adam-T

Adam-T

Event Photographer
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Oct 22, 2006
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Can anyone tell me what this lens is - it`s badged FED 61 but looks like a 2 tone version of the Industar 61 - except that it`s 52mm not 55mm .. The I61 is reputed to being a good lens, hopefully this wil be also :). does it have click stopped apertures like the I61?

Thanks

FED-50mm-Lens.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hello, this is a "Panda" I-61 (N-61 in russian) (Industar-61), first version. It has two colors, black and silver, and derives from the Industar-26m. The focal is 52mm and has clicked aperture stops from 2.8 to 16. There is a later version with 53mm focal, and latest versions are 55mm. That's generally the sharp I-61 L/D which contains a rare radioactive earth element, Lanthanium. L/D stands for Lanthanium/Dalkomersomething (Dalkomer root = rangefinder in slavic languages) ... L/Z version is the designation for SLR lens.
 
Thanks Max ... I guess it`s not as good as the 55mm one then, ahh well, it`s only a Tenner to the door when it lands :) hopefully it`ll get closer to infinity than my Jupes manage on the R-D1 and I want to keep my lovely sharp silver `63 J8 on the Zorki, the black one is a bit of a "dreamer" wide open though great at F4 ..
 
My first rangefinder camera was a Fed-3b with a 52/2.8 Industar-61 lens. This lens is a wonderful performer and one of my favourite photos was made with this lens. I bought recently another Fed-3b (I had offered the previous one to my girlfriend who lives in USA) and I ran a test film. I was really impressed by the excellent results it yelded. :)

The J-8 is said to be a Sonnar construction, while the I-61 is clearly Tessar based. Gotta love them both!
 
Thanks again Max - I look forward to testing it out.. Thankfully I have the RD1 to benchtest these things before I possibly lose more than the lens cost running a test roll :) ..
 
Hi,
Although the L/D version is sometimes regarded as being better, I have found very little difference in the performance of the 2. Perhaps the only real advantage is that it is relatively easy to find ne L/D versions which are likely to be in better condition. If the Panda is in OK condition, don't worry about. Depending where it is coming from expect to have to do a re-libe to get rid of the Yak-spit.

Kim
 
My Silver J8 needed a cleanout as it was very stiff, the black one is merely loose all over and I`ve not touched that. the Panda looks in good condition, I like clicked apertures as I`m *STILL* occasionally trying to focus using the aperture rings on RF lenses (too many years of SLRs ingrained), the click stop reminds me not to ;-) and isn`t easily knocked to a totally different setting..
 
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