I like the look given by this I-61

[paulfish4570]

FED-2d, Industar-61, BW400CN

 

[JayC]

I have that lens, but usually can't pick out the differences between lenses. Please tell me what you like about the "look" based on the attached pictures.

 

[wolves3012]

I love the I-61 with colour - quite sharp and contrasty.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Sharp and Contrasty Tessar formula lens- pretty much sums it up. Sharp wide-open.

I will be posting a thread on shimming the I-61L/D for the Leica soon. Gave mine an edge for close-up and wide-open.

 

[Uwe_Nds]

Brian,
Great - I have an I-61 in the mail from Ukraine.

Paul,
I also started to very much appreciate the Tessars (again) recently.

Cheers,
Uwe

 

[Brian Legge]

Any thoughts on how this lens compares to those on compact fixed lens rangefinders (ie Canonet 17s, Olympus 35RD, etc)? I'm particularly curious about how it does wide open.

I picked up a I64 LD based on its reputation a few months ago... and still don't have a LTM camera to put it on. I'm holding out for a FED 2 but was hoping to find one here or on APUG... only none have come up since then.

 

[Mablo]

Industar 61 is a fine lens but it's not at its best fully open I must say. From f/4 upwards it's sharp and nicely contrasty in B&W, cannot comment about colours as I don't shoot much colour film.

The photo below is taken wide open or stopped down one stop. Please note that the dog is steaming after a summer rain shower so all the haze is not because of the lens. It's not bad at all but bokeh is muddy IMO. Still I like I/61 is one of the better if not the best of FSU lenses.

 

[lorriman]

Mablo, what film/dev is that? Great grain.

 

[Mablo]

Lorriman, It's definitely APX400 (Rollei Retro 400) and Rodinal, likely 1:50 or 1:100, can't remember exactly.

 

[paulfish4570]

With this bw400cn, the "look" is the velvet richness of the blacks. This was my first roll of black and white with the lens. I liked it with a roll of Kodak Gold 200 color also.
In my little pod of RF lenses, and with only two rolls notched, I would say the I-61 sort of combines the contrast of my Jupiter-8 with the utter tonal smoothness of my Canon 50/1.8.
These shots were made on my FED-2d, which is having some shutter capping and timing issues; I lost a few shots on the roll because of the issues.
I made a few shots with the I-61 on my Bessa R yesterday and today. I am hoping it matches up well. If not, maybe I can get Brian to help me shim it into perfection on the Bessa ... 🙂

 

[paulfish4570]

Mablo, that shot of the lab also shows the dreamy black that I see on my shots ...

 

[Wahoo]

I 61 on 6530xxx FED 4 - Kodak 400cn

 

[Wahoo]

Here comes another .😛

 

[NathanJD]

I think i've said it before about the I-61 that I find that the images are a little busy for my taste. i prefer it's predecessor the I-26 to some extent but the J-8 is my favourite. i feel that these FSUs work best with colour film. Paul, your photos are great by the way and i don't want you to think that my comment is any kind of criticism on that score!