The Industar-61 is one nice lens.....

[rich815]

I bought an Industar-61 55/2,8 lens from a Ukraine buyer on eBay for $12 USD. To be honest I bought it because it looked like a cool lens with its black and chrome look and I figured for $12 USD what the heck. Since then I've read elsewhere that if you get a good one it can perform quite well. I decided to slap it on my Leica this last weekend and put a roll of Kodak T400CN through that I had laying around. Got the negs back and scanned them. It's not just a good lens, it's a fantastic lens!

See here:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation?presentation_id=292528

(click on smaller images for full size 600 pixels wide views)

BTW, these were hand-held at 1/30th. Any softness is due to my shake. See the first two, they are sharp as a tack.

- Richard

 

[AlexC]

Agreed, excellent lens for the price. I just picked one up for a whopping $7 USD! I think I paid more for the shipping (which was surprisingly quick at just over a week from the Ukraine).

 

[Iskra 2]

Bad FSU Equipment Reviews

Bad FSU Equipment Reviews

it's a fantastic lens!
- Richard

Many more good reviews for the FSU stuff and the Ebabe bids and prices will be on the way up. :bang: I need to finish some more purchases quick. 🙂 I'm going to use my Zorki 4 as a lens cap for a soon to be acquired Leica lens. 😀

Nice pics!

 

[ray_g]

Amazing, Richard. Did you take these wide open?

 

[rich815]

Amazing, Richard. Did you take these wide open?

Yes, forgot to mention that. It was a small, windowless examination room with only ceiling flourescent lights.

 

[sockeyed]

Great series and a nice looking lens indeed. My only complaint about the I-61 is the ergonomics - the focusing ring is akwardly close to the camera body. Unbelievable value for the money, though!

 

[sockeyed]

I should mention that I have the black and chrome 'Panda' version too, and in my tests it performed better than the acclaimed later I-61L/D.

A nice addition is the vented 39mm thread-in lens hoods commonly available on eBay for just over $10.

 

[RML]

I found the I-61 L/D too sharp for my liking. Went for a J8 instead and never regretted it. But that's just my opinion. 🙂

 

[mikule]

I second that, the Industrar 61 is a great lens. Although admittedly I've only used that and my Jupiter 12 so far and havn't really noticed a great difference in quallity.
I have two (I-61) at the moment, so I'm thinking about re-lubing one of them seeing as I have a spare, and they're next to nothing to purchase.
If anyone else is interested, all my pics thus far in my gallery were taking with my I-61 and FED 5B 🙂

 

[silverliner]

mikule! You should relube them right away! I did mine and now they are buttery SMOOTH!!!!

 

[varjag]

Mmm.. it must be that Leica glow at work 🙂

But seriously, good shots and excellent perormance Richard. I quite like the 2nd from the end.

 

[nomade]

Great photos there...

 

[reagan]

Okay, this ain't right. You guys can see the pictures and I'm not allowed in....."Invalid presentation id."

O sure, "Don't let the fat kid play!"

I'll try again later.

 

[tenebrae]

I got a an "Invalid presentation id" as well...

Relubing your Industar is really a good idea, btw!. Did my FED-4's Industar yesterday evening, and the difference is amazing. Instead of un-screwing the lens from the camera body when focusing, it just runs smoothly in any direction now.

 

[Roman]

"Invalid presentation id"

...same here!

Roman

 

[Chuck A]

Same here.

 

[John Robertson]

Same again 8-((

 

[kiev4a]

I found the I-61 L/D too sharp for my liking. Went for a J8 instead and never regretted it. But that's just my opinion. 🙂

You are mistaking contrast for sharpness . The LD is one of the most contrasty lenses available. Like you, it's too contrasty for my taste.

 

[MrRanger]

You are mistaking contrast for sharpness . The LD is one of the most contrasty lenses available. Like you, it's too contrasty for my taste.

Hmmmm! It appears on closer examination that the Industar I-61 that came on my Fed 3 - the lens has a yellow coating. Is this the LD? I'm hoping to run some film through it this weekend.

Mike 😀

 

[varjag]

L/D lenses are explicitly marked so. Like, "Industar-61 L/D" on the front rim (in cyrillics of course).