The beginning of a great adventure...

[Juan Valdenebro]

Today I received my Industar-22 after waiting for two weeks...

The lens is good for nothing. It came without the focusing tab: it was cut (!) from its metal focusing ring and the zone was shimmed showing yellow brass... The lens barrel was dirty outside, and glass has haze...

I just sent the seller a message asking him for my money back and for his address to send him the lens back... It was returnable, so I guess he knew the piece of "mint" crap he was sending me... Amazing.

Anyway yet I want to be able to get great images from a Russian collapsible lens, so I'll start again... Maybe as 22 meant bad luck, now I should try 50...

Looks like this Russian road can be very very long...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[John Lawrence]

Looks like this Russian road can be very very long...

You can shorten it by getting one from here:

http://www.okvintagecamera.com/index.html

John

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

You can shorten it by getting one from here:

http://www.okvintagecamera.com/index.html

John

Thanks, John... Looks like he's got in total three lenses only, and no collapsible ones... I'll contact sellers and get another "returnable" one from someone who answers patiently all my questions... Maybe by 2011 or 2012 I can find a decent one... 😛

Cheers,

Juan

 

[Ducky]

Fedka.com has a few. He ships reasonably fast and takes returns. I've had about 90% satisfaction with his cameras, 100% with lenses.

 

[John Lawrence]

Oleg is one of the good guys out there.

If you have a chat to him about what you want, condition and how much you are prepared to spend then it usually doesn't take him long to find something suitable.

Of course this takes all the fun? out of buying used Russian stuff! 😉

John

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Thanks, Ducky, I'll take a look there too...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[pevelg]

http://fedka.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=80

I purchased a Industar-22 from Fedka in the past, though mine was around $49. It was in top notch condition for a FSU item and worked perfectly.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

You're right, John... I feel great about all this no matter this bad first chapter: it's like a new kind of game to me... No hurry... And as I'll have fun slowly painting the lens olive green / black (and a Leica IIIC too) for many days, I won't let anything take the good mood away... I know the right lens will come someday... Maybe as Brian said, the 50 was simply a better idea...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[mooge]

another thumbs up for Fedka- I got my I-22 there. the front coating looks a little funny, but I really can't complain 'bout the image quality. It even came with caps! front and back! the front one is a cool push-on metal one too, with some logo on it.

good luck!

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Wow! Earlier today I just sent a message to a Moscow seller who has 10 different collapsible I-50s available, and asked him for a check of haze, even though his site states all his lenses are checked by a professional before being offered, and I was just waiting for his confirmation before buying... He just said "Sorry, I can't confirm you that..."

Oh my! I guess they pay one cent for all that hazy stuff and just sell without compassion!

I'll thank his sincerity...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[pschauss]

FWIW, I have a number of I-22 which came with various Zorkii's. Every one of them has some sort of visible internal dust (or worse) but they all take sharp pictures and I rarely have problems with flair. Even the "junk" I-22, which one seller sent along as a body cap on a camera which I had ordered without a lens, produces decent pictures.

Having said all of that none of my I-22's has suffered the kind of "improvements" which you described.

 

[johannielscom]

Juan,

i have bought several times from eBay seller alex-photo in Ukraine. Honest fellow, responsive to emails, quite fast shipping and not that expensive either. Has some nice collectible small stuff every now and then.

Truly recommended.

EDIT: too much driven towards a solution, oops: I'm sorry your experience was a bad one!

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Thanks, Johan!

Cheers,

Juan

 

[Sonnar Brian]

After shimming my I-50 for the Leica, it did not focus all the way to infinity. This is what happens with a Zeiss standard lens after shimming for a Leica. So I took the locking ridge off of it so it would focus past "marked" infinity.

The lens had internal haze, it cleaned up easily. You can use fine-tipped needle nosed pliers as a spanner for the retaining rings, and you can get to all surfaces.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89934

 

[johannielscom]

Juan,

the bloke I mentioned above has a nice FED 50/3.5 for sale at the moment as well. Design is almost identical to that of an Elmar. Auction states 'no scratches, no fungus', I guess some dust is unavoidable, given that he does not always clean stuff up before selling...

You might wanna look into that as well. Nice lenses.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Juan,

the bloke I mentioned above has a nice FED 50/3.5 for sale at the moment as well. Design is almost identical to that of an Elmar. Auction states 'no scratches, no fungus', I guess some dust is unavoidable, given that he does not always clean stuff up before selling...

You might wanna look into that as well. Nice lenses.

Yes, I saw he has that Fed and an I-22 too... I'm waiting for a couple of answers from I-50s' sellers first... Thanks for the link!

Cheers,

Juan

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

After shimming my I-50 for the Leica, it did not focus all the way to infinity. This is what happens with a Zeiss standard lens after shimming for a Leica. So I took the locking ridge off of it so it would focus past "marked" infinity.

The lens had internal haze, it cleaned up easily. You can use fine-tipped needle nosed pliers as a spanner for the retaining rings, and you can get to all surfaces.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89934

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the tips! I don't feel confident enough as for working on a lens in any way, though... Taking a lens off a camera is my most advanced achievement to date! 😛

But for sure I would enjoy it a lot! I must learn, I know...

Cheers,

Juan