I ndustar 61.

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Good Morning All,
Apologies if this has come up before.I have two Industar 61's,and am curious to clarify their 'status'.They are both early models,with the mixture of black and chrome,and both carry the notation '61/'N', in Cyrillic.Would these lenses contain the same glass and coating as later the later L/D versions.

Incidentally one lens has a blue coating,whilst the other is amber in colour.I don't know if this is in any way significant.

Brian.

 

[Nickfed]

This came up quite recently. I'm sure the glass is all the same, irrespective of the nomenclature. I don't think there is any material difference in the coating either. If you trawl back, you should find something on this.

 

[DaveP]

According to Princelle ,yes, they are the same as the L/D . He noted that the designation wasnt put on the lens until they shifted to all black color...........

 

[Philipp]

Hi Brian,
my FED with panda-Industar 61 came with an english manual. The manual reads:
"Camera is fitted with Industar 61 lens with lanthanum optics which makes it possible to obtain perfect large-size pictures."
I heard the "L/D" only stands for the LTM-Version (L/Z was for Zenit M39, is this possible?), it does not have anything to do with lanthanum or no lanthanum. BTW, my no-L/D takes razor-sharp images!
Greetings,
Philipp

 

[darkkavenger]

Phlipp, you are right. L/D stands for the rangefinder version (D being the initial of Rangefinder in russian, similar to czech dalkomerice [or equivalent, i'm not 100% czech fluent]), while L/Z stands for the M39, and later M42 version of this lens.

It's a widespread thought that only the I-61 L/D 2.8/55 contains lanthanium... however it might be possible that all I-61 versions contain it, as the I61 is the logical evolution of the I-26M.

Oh, and we have beautiful snow here in Prague this afternoon 🙂 I should go take a shower instead of reading all these posts! 🙂

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Thanks for the comments and advice everyone!
Your answers have given me the info' that I was hoping for.I have had great results from the lens which has the blue coating.The other one I have not been able to use at all.The focus ring was virtually seized up,until Kim Coxon took it in hand and cleaned and lubed it. It is now functioning perfectly,and I intend to give it a test run very soon.
Thanks again,

Brian.

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Hi Brian,
my FED with panda-Industar 61 came with an english manual. The manual reads:
"Camera is fitted with Industar 61 lens with lanthanum optics which makes it possible to obtain perfect large-size pictures."
I heard the "L/D" only stands for the LTM-Version (L/Z was for Zenit M39, is this possible?), it does not have anything to do with lanthanum or no lanthanum. BTW, my no-L/D takes razor-sharp images!
Greetings,
Philipp

Hi Philipp,
Since you replied I searched for my photocopied Fed manual,which a workmate gave me when he lent me my first manual camera--a Fed 4,on which I learned to understand the practicalities of shutter speed,aperture and exposure.Sure enough this manual contains the same description of the Industar 61,as you have quoted above.
Thanks for your interest,
Regards,
Brian.

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Following up on Max's comments,does anyone have any experience of the 61L/Z,the M42 version.Does it live up to the performance of LTM lenses.

Brian.

 

[Kim Coxon]

I don't know about the 61L/Z but the J9 is generally well thought of. On the other hand the likes of the Pentax 85's are difficult to get hold off and expensive whereas the Pentax 50's are quite cheap and plentyful. I know which I would get!

Kim

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

I don't know about the 61L/Z but the J9 is generally well thought of. On the other hand the likes of the Pentax 85's are difficult to get hold off and expensive whereas the Pentax 50's are quite cheap and plentyful. I know which I would get!

Kim

Those would be the Takumars I suspect,couldn't agree more,I used to have 35,55 and 135 Takumars.Sold them when my Practica packed up,and regretted it a lot since doing so.Should have kept them and replaced the camera,instead of which I moved away from M42 and never felt happy with the change .

Brian.