Voigtländer Nokton 1.5/50 on a FED5

[KayJay]

I am looking for a replacement of my Industar 61 an my Fed 5. But I have only money for a Bessa OR a Lens at the moment. The Industar on a Bessa may not work properly. What about an Voigtländer Nokton 1.5/50 on my FED will it work properly close up at 1,5? Its possible to adjust the Fed in that way?
Sorry my english is not good.

 

[RobVinc]

What about a Jupiter-3 5cm/1.5?
Or maybe a good tabbed Jupiter-8 5cm/2.0
Both should work well with an LTM-to-M-adapter on the Bessa later..

 

[rxmd]

I am looking for a replacement of my Industar 61 an my Fed 5. But I have only money for a Bessa OR a Lens at the moment. The Industar on a Bessa may not work properly.

The Industar will work fine on a Bessa; even if there are minor differences in alignment between some lenses, at f/2.8 they will not matter at all in practice.

In your case I'd get the better body first, there is quite a difference in usability between a somewhat squinty finder with a selenium meter and an outstanding finder with a TTL meter. I've shot both, with Industar-61s as well.

 

[Phantomas]

I've gotten decent (in focus) results from Industar on my R3A.

 

[Spyderman]

I would also vote for a new body with the Industar lens.

FED vs. Bessa R - no questions the bessa is waay ahead of the FED in all aspects. If you never held a Bessa in your hands, it might not be so obvious, but once you try it, you will never ever want to return to the FED.

On the other hand the Industar 61 is a very capable lens. Sharp enough and contrasty even wide open (which can't be said about Jupiters) with pleasant bokeh wide open. When you stop down to f8 it's razor sharp. Only downside compared to the Nokton is the slightly slower speed (only 2.8), but if you don't really need it for low light work at the moment, even the Industar can make a nice out of focus background when taking portraits.

 

[KayJay]

i am little worried about the focus close up at 2,8. i like to use it wide open. i had to adjust the rangefinder for a normal (non fsu, no Leitz, it was a French lens) Ltm-lens. And for my Industar i had to readjust. So i am worried about, my 61 is not "standard-ltm". And adjusting a bessa to the Lens? no thanks ;-)

 

[payasam]

I've successfully used an I-61 L/D with a Leica IIIa. There should not be much error at f/2.8 even at 1M: but if there is, you could always sway backwards or forwards. Front focussing is easily dealt with: just put little bits of paper (I used two) between the lens and the M adapter (which assumes that your Bessa will be an R2 or later).

 

[Spyderman]

I know the story of the FSU lenses using different standard, but at f/2.8 it's hidden in the DOF. Actually I've done both: adjusted FSU lenses for Leica stadard, and adjusted my first Bessa R to FSU standard. Now that I have Bessa and Leica side by side, I prefer to adjust lenses 🙂 The problem with focussing really rises with Jupiter-3 used wide open and close up. Jupiter-8 with its f/2 can still be problematic, but with Industar and it's speed of f/2.8 there is little to worry.

 

[paulfish4570]

Go for the Bessa. Which one? I have the R, and it works well with my Canon 50/1.8, Industar 50 and Jupiter-8. I am about to try an Industar-61 ...

 

[brachal]

I used an I-61ld on a bessa for a couple of years, no problems. The Bessa-R is a MUCH better camera than the Fed-5. Don't get me wrong. I like Feds, but the Fed-5 is easily the worst of them. The build quality is awful; I never had one (and I've had 3 for some reason 🙂 ) that lasted more than 6 months. Industar or Jupiter on a Bessa is the way to go.