Russian Lenses: Personal preferences

[ali_baba]

i have a zenitar that is fun to play with.
its a 16mm.
i've only used it on the m8.
so it's effectively a 21mm.

 

[januaryman]

I happy with all of mine as well, just wish they were faster - I-61 l/d, I-26M, Fed 50 collapsible, J-8 and J-9. All give me very nice results. The Kiev's Helios 103 is maybe my favorite, though. I need to get that out more and shoot some more.

103 examples

and

 

[raid]

I have several FSU lenses, and my preferred lenses are the J-3 and the I-55 50/3.5 [do I have the right number?]. There are not many 50/1.5 available at the cost of a clean J-3, whereas the 50/3.5 is very very sharp and light.

 

[shadowfox]

Sorry, not an RF lens, but I think this is the cutest FSU lens 🙂

 

[QUAsit]

Industar-50-2 in black was produced for later Zorki-4k cameras as kit lens. Nice example of tessar derivative.

 

[pfoto]

I'm lucky enough to have a FED 50/3.5 and a Jupiter-8 made in 1959. Both are stellar copies and years ago I tested the FED against a 1949 Elmar. Indistinguishable, but the FED printed a bit better because of the higher contrast. 🙂 The J-8 is a wee bit soft but produces beautiful images.

 

[ferider]

I'm in love with a (for me) new Russian lens that I got, but it's for an SLR. See here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61814

Cheers,

Roland.

 

[raid]

I'm in love with a (for me) new Russian lens that I got, but it's for an SLR. See here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61814

Cheers,

Roland.

Roland,

Is your Helios 85mm1.5 a "relative" of the Canon 85/1.5 RF lens?

 

[ferider]

Roland,

Is your Helios 85mm1.5 a "relative" of the Canon 85/1.5 RF lens?

Raid,

the Helios is a symmetrical, double Gauss design, a copy of the original 75/1.4 Biotar. The Canon looks like a modified Sonnar with split rear group. See attached. You can find more details on Frank's web site (taunusreiter.de).

Best,

Roland.