Industar lens - how to tell vintage by serial number??

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Zorki fan

Zorki Fan
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Hi,
title says it all.
How does one tell the vintage of the lens from the serial number?
Am looking at an Industar 61 L/D lens that has the serial number 9347612.
Any clues anyone?

Thanks!!

Alvin
 
Hi,
Which makes this vintage one of the better ones?
Am rather uncertain about which years for this type of lens are the better ones..

Thanks!

Alvin
 
!993

Not all industar lenses have the date in the SN. I have seen some early I-22s that don't have the date incorporated. Same with the cameras. The Zorki 1s didn't include the date in the SN until 1955 when they went to the eight-digit SN. Some of the earlier 7-digit numbers my seem to include a date but they don't -- the numbers just happen to fall in that area.
 
I-61 L/D (and its SLR brother L/Z) is known to be of generally good quality, regardless of year. The lanthanium version is relatively recent product, so you're unlikely to find any from 60s-70s.
 
The Industar 61L/D's were original equipment on Fed-5's. The serial number trick works on KMZ (Zorki) supplied lenses, but not on many of the Fed lenses. There is simply no correlation that can be relied upon.

I have a couple of I-61L/D's that start with 91, and I know that they are late in the series. 93's are probably close to the end of production, perhaps even after the split up of the USSR.

-Paul
 
The USSR dissolved in 1991. FED-5s along with that lens were produced well into mid-nineties.
 
Oh oh. Which makes one suspect that quality took a dive post USSR?
Hmmm. Ah well, we shall see. Have placed a bid, not sure if I'll get it.

Thanks all.
 
Precisely my point Eugene. I just don't think that I-61L/D serial numbers accurately reflect the year of production, although they are probably close., perhaps within a year of two at the farthest. I have never seen a serial number that started as late as the year that Fed is reported to have stopped production.
 
Zorki fan said:
Oh oh. Which makes one suspect that quality took a dive post USSR?
Click to expand...
Ehm.. am supposed to be patriotic here, but I just don't think there was much depth left to dive, given the close-to-non-existant quality control in the 80s.
 
Eugene:

I don't think you need to be reserved or embarassed about this. Quality may not have met the photo standards of the Europe or Japan, but given the state of politics and economy in the 1980's and 1990's, I think Fed did pretty well with the resources they had available. At least what has survived seems to show that they were working with an outdated design but were producing workable cameras that were capable of being QA/QC'd. ( I wonder how many cameras are in the local landfill?)

Looking at the interiors, one can see how Fed tried to cut costs and streamline production by redesigning fasteners. They use a lot of snap fasteners where earlier cameras utilized screws. In fact, A Fed-5 is one of the worst candidates as a parts camera for salvaging set screws. There are just not very many of them. That suggests that they were working very hard to modernize their production.

With the enormous outlay that the USSR was making in defense production at the time, it's surprising to me that they were able to put as much effort as they did into a consumer product.

Clearly, the Fed-5 cannot fairly be compared to a Yashica Electro 35 or Contessa S310, But is was made in and for a different environment and economy too.

-Paul
 
Hi Eugene,
No offense meant at all in my previous post.
I fully recognise that period was a difficult and unsettling one for your country and made an assumption(perhaps too quickly) that the situation may have caused a certain reaction quality-wise.
Apologies if I had been insensitive.

Alvin
 
Hey, it's not like I was even remotely offended or embarassed :) That was mostly a tongue-in-cheek remark about the quality issue, more intended to cheer up Alvin. My bet is that the lens would be a good performer.
 
Some of the later 61/LDs had slikscreened focus scale , DOF scale, & f stop numbers instead of the engraved numbers. Still, the 61/ LD is a fine Tessar type lens any which way it is marked on the barrel.
 
Haven't seen yet a I-61 L/D but I own a standard I-61. The serial number is 7 digits, as follows : 8639655 I wouldn't go for an exact date, since it seems to be the original lens of my FED-3 type B [s/n 8620445]. I love it, it fits well in the hand, the design is perfect and the winder is silent and soft like satin :)
 
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