I-61 l/d & J8 compared...

[mike goldberg]

About 2 months ago, I received an I-61 l/d from one of my FSU Sellers, and have just gotten around to testing it. It took all of 5 minutes to fix a loose focusing collar,k with Spyderman's online support.

The film used was Kodak 400 B/W C41 exposed at ISO 400. This is a contrasty lens, and I have found that this film does not like overexposure. The images were Resized, and there was NO cropping and NO digital sharpening. In some of the pix, desaturation was pulled way down, because of the pinkish cast inherent in the film.

In the photos here of the young woman smoking, the Mazda grill and the young fellows jamming it up, the apertures were f8-11.

NOTE: There are two more posts following this one.
mike

 

[mike goldberg]

Here are 3 more I-61 l/d pix.

The Mercedes van headlight and grill were at f8.

Nitza, backlit at her desk, was at f5.6.

The coffee cup and light meter were shot at 1/100, f4, at close focus.
Note that it is NOT sharp.

NOTE: Another post follows this one with some

 

[JJW]

The coffee cup looks like it was the victim of camera shake. The first batch of pics looks like they were overexposed.

Get 100 speed film and shoot this lens outdoors in the sun at 1/250th at f/8-11 (or maybe 1/500th in Jerusalem, the light may be brighter there) and you'll see. It's razor sharp.

My 61L/D is probably the sharpest 50mm I own.

 

[mike goldberg]

These J8 shots may be familiar to you; they have shown up in RFF before.
So that I don't run into trouble with our server, I'm posting them as
Links to flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikegoldberg/456928892/

The aperture here is f5.6 with the top speed of 1/500 on a Fed-2. With the bright outside light, I knew I'd have a silhouette, yet I wanted some detail in the dark areas. This is an older J8... And,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikegoldberg/439631251/

This shot "blew me away" when I first saw it. This J8 from 1977, or so, was collimated by Brian Sweeney for my Bessa R, the exposure was 1/125 at f4... with the lens racked out to max close focus. Remember, that a J8 that is modified for a "Leica standard," will NOT focus properly on an FSU camera.

We know that the J8's are legendary. The I-61 l/d illustrated in the posts above is a good lens, yet I'm left wondering why it does NOT do well at close focus and at apertures wider than f5.6.

So, let's hear & cheers, mike

 

[mike goldberg]

Thanks JJW; that was fast!
Yes, the light here is quite intense.
Re: the coffee cup... if it is camera shake, it is the first time I've had that at 1/100 with the Fed-2. It IS a possibility, with the LOUD "thwack" of the shutter.
mike

 

[mcgrattan]

I have both the J8 and the Industar 61 L/D. The Industar is definitely, for me, a sharper lens. It's one the sharpest lenses *I* own, too.

My Industar close focuses very accurately and is lovely wide-open, so I suspect there is something not quite right with yours.

I like my J8 -- it's a 1960 model and seems to be uncoated. It's less contrasty than the Industar and sometimes that's what I want. However, the Industar is definitely the crisper and sharper of the two.

One thing I have noticed, and haven't experimented with, is that the one film I shot using the Industar on my Zorki 2c didn't seem as sharp as when I usually use it on my Fed-4.

 

[mike goldberg]

It seems to make sense, that close focusing of the same I-61 l/d lens with one
FSU body... might be more accurate than with another. With my Fed-1g in Russia for CLA, I have no other m39 body. Thus, it pays to do another test, this time with
100 ISO film at apertures between f5.6-11.

A close focus comparison can also be done, with better conditions than those of the coffee cup, above.
Cheers, mike

 

[Nikon Bob]

I find your experience with Kodak 400 BWCN interesting in that I always shoot it at 100 with a yellow filter in place and have it processed normally. OTH your light may just be too contrasty in your area. I don't have an Industar but have a friend who just loves his LD. From the photos of his that I have seen it is one sharp lens.

Bob

 

[varjag]

A mass produced 1960s Soviet lens should be coated, unless the coating was removed afterwards for some reason.

I have one I61 too at the moment, earlier ("panda") version. I too think it does better wide open than Mike's sample.

 

[JJW]

If backfocus were the issue, then all of Goldberg's photos would be OOF. You can see on some of them the lens is pretty good and can focus properly.

As I mentioned prevously, it appears his exposure is off on some of the daylight shots. In general, if quality matters and you want to see what a lens can really do, then should shoot slow film outdoors in sunlight... or indoors with flash or tripod. That minimizes the chance that camera shake is going to be a factor.

The current crop of 100 ISO (Fuji and Kodak) color negative films have enormous resolution.