Unusual FSU lens - can anyone ID it?

[Welsh_Italian]

Hello everyone,

I saw this lens on the bay and decided to bid for it. It only cost 99p so it was no big loss, but for the life of me, I don't know what kind of lens it is.

It has a 39mm screw thread (it screws nicely into my Fed 2), has aperture from f3.5 to f16, and absolutely no focus whatsoever! The lens is 50mm in size and has the number 5711 on it. The logo on the lens is a letter 'C' within a triangle and circle (see the second picture). Is it an enlarging lens or was it made for another special purpose?






And this is the case (original I think) that it came in.

 

[brachal]

The logo indicates it was made at the LZOS optical plant. Beyond that, I have no idea.

 

[OldNick]

I would hazard a guess that it is an enlarging lens. A number of enlargers were fitted with the Leica LTM threads. I used to use my 50mm f/3.5 Elmar on my old Federal enlarger.

Jim N.

 

[greyhoundman]

It is an enlarger lens. I was just looking at one earlier.

 

[kb244]

It is an enlarger lens. I was just looking at one earlier.

Having no focus ring would be a key trait of that. Otherwise it could have been sold as a macro lens designed to fit onto bellows setups.

 

[wolves3012]

I have an enlarger lens with the Leica 39mm thread and f/3.5-16 too, although it looks nothing like yours. Fairly safe bet it'll be for an enlarger, that thread size was common for them.

 

[ZorkiKat]

It is an enlarger lens- the "U" version of the Industar-50 (50-Y). It has the standard M39 mount which would fit in all standard enlarger mounts. However, it may prove not too useful on certain Western or Japanese made enlargers. You will probably have noticed now that the lens has a rather long "neck". Such feature will likely give it limited focusing on some enlargers whose bellows don't fold as short as this lens would need.

The aperture range is usually f/3.5-11 and the aperture ring has no click stops.

For instance, I've never been able to use these long neck Industar-U lenses on my Beseler for prints greater than postcard-sized (9x12 cm) prints. They could however be used on a Meopta by reversing its protruding lens board.

If you're into darkroom wet printing, you'll appreciate the quality of these I-U lenses. My favourite -when I was still doing darkroom prints- was the Industar-96U.

Jay

 

[M. Valdemar]

It's an enlarger lens, it came packed with one of those weirdo FSU "suitcase" enlargers, as well as others.

Fair quality, probably not worth more than $5.

 

[Welsh_Italian]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I thought it might be an enlarger lens but as I don't do my own wet printing, I'm not familiar with the tools of this part of photography. Still, it's an unusual shape for a lens which is why I liked it and 99p isn't a great loss to take.

Thanks again.

 

[ErnestoJL]

This lens probably came as part of an UPA 5 soviet made enlarger which came in a small wooden briefcase.They were imported during the ´70s and early ´80s in Argentina, but in very limited quantities (less than 100).

If this is the original lens for that enlarger, then the long neck is due to the limited baseboard dimensions, so to avoid exceeding the maximum print size (24 x 30 cm, about 9 1/2 x 12").

Cheers
Ernesto

 

[ZorkiKat]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I thought it might be an enlarger lens but as I don't do my own wet printing, I'm not familiar with the tools of this part of photography. Still, it's an unusual shape for a lens which is why I liked it and 99p isn't a great loss to take.

Thanks again.

You can draft the lens for other applications. It will easily mount on the board of a camera bellows accessory for macro photography. It is afterall an enlarging lens which thrives on close-up work.

The Industar "U" lenses are true four element anastigmats. So unlike their 'economy' cousins in the west which were often just three-element triplets.

Jay

 

[ZorkiKat]

If this is the original lens for that enlarger, then the long neck is due to the limited baseboard dimensions, so to avoid exceeding the maximum print size (24 x 30 cm, about 9 1/2 x 12").

Cheers
Ernesto

There are also two more possible reasons: One, most Russian enlargers had shorter "bellows" (really helical tubes in most) which were designed to be used with camera lenses . The longer neck of the "U" version made up for the longer working distances of the camera lenses- think of collapsible Industars for instance.

Second, some of the suitcase enlargers had 'auto focus' cams which coupled with the elevation adjustments of the enlarger head. These worked for magnifications to about 10X. The camming was also designed to work with a 50mm camera lens- a shorter neck would not make the automatic focusing work.

The I-96U I have actually has a removable extension tube. Removing this extension left a short-barrel lens which worked fine with the longer throw bellows of western made enlargers.

Jay

 

[MartinP]

If this is the lens that used to come on the auto-focus, zenit suitcase enlarger then it will focus at infinity on an LTM body ! I tried it on a Leica II long ago when i had both that enlarger and the camera ! The enlarger was an ideal compact kit for printing in a student room actually, although I used to focus it manually.