Which 50mm from Fedka

[cambolt]

Am I posting in the wrong section?
Anyway, I'm going to be getting an M3 or M2 soon, but I will need to skimp on lenses. Yes, I know I'm about to be shouted at. So I have this list of lenses on Fedka (anywhere else I can look?) but I am a little concerned about the infamous quality control on these Russian lenses. I'm looking for a 50mm (or thereabouts), preferably f/2.8 or faster. The black Jupiter 8 towards the bottom of the page for $69 looks pretty good. What is the quality control like on these? And what about the Industar 26m further up the page? This is half the price of the Jupiter, so what are these like in comparison.
Feed the poor person! 😛

Thanks

 

[bucs]

fedka

fedka

get the industar 22 collapsible, or the silver jupiter 8

the industar 61 would be nice pick too.

Fedka is a good seller. No worries ;]

 

[Thardy]

I have the Industar 61 LD which is really sharp. The J8 is good also, but the aperture ring does not click at various settings. It spins freely which is a little strange. Get both they're cheap.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Fedka is great but you're in Australia. A want to buy ad right here might just scare up something more local that works out cheaper after shipping. Worth a shot, they're free.

Apart from the variation from one sample to another, all FSU lenses have a slight focus mismatch on Leica standard bodies. This is not much of a problem stopped down, so the slower lenses are pretty safe bets. The J-8 and J-3 however can be quite a bit off when shooting wide open. A bit of a gamble. Brian Sweeney's sub-forum has plenty of advice for optimizing these.

EDIT: Off-topic but I need to mention that the price of admission to fabulous classic 50mm lenses is quite a bit lower in Contax land...

 

[julio1fer]

It depends on what you want of the lens. My own experience is that Soviet lenses are very, very good.

Industar-61 and variants if you want sharpness, Jupiter-8 as excellent overall lens, nice OOF, Jupiter-3 if you need the f/1.5 (otherwise similar to J-8). Collapsible Industar-50 or Industar-22 for portability.

IMHO best normal Soviet lens is Helios-103, but it was made for Kiev mount only, so you'd need Brian Sweeny to convert one to LTM or M mount. I believe it has been done before. It could well be worth it.

 

[rbiemer]

I'm pretty sure that the I-61 is the only FSU 50 that has click stops for the aperture in LTM mount.
I have owned and used most of the 50mm lenses on that FEDKA page and if I were to pick one, it would be the "chrome" Jupiter-8 he is selling.
A similar vintage J-8 was my main 50 for several years and I was very happy with the photos I took with it.
Just about any of the lenses he has on offer can give good results and if your budget is really tight, the I-26 would be my suggestion.
For any of the FSU lenses you will need an LTM to M adapter which will at least double your cost.
Rob

 

[rxmd]

I'd get either the "black" I-61 L/D (which is one of the best lenses the Soviet Union built in LTM) - or the chrome Jupiter-8 for the extra stop and Sonnar look if that's worth $25 for you.

If you're on a budget, the I-61 seem like the better idea. Also its f/2.8 maximum aperture renders you immune from any potential focus issues due to the 51.6/52.4mm Leica/Contax standard divergence - it gets covered by DOF. If you feel like a J-8 at some point, you can always look for known good one here in the classifieds.

On a side note, boy have those prices gone up!! J-3s seem to sell for prices in the stratosphere, four times what you would pay five years ago.

 

[summar]

The post from xmd covers my experience. Both the I-61 L/D and the J-8 have performed very well for me. I use them on an LTM Leica (IIIa and IIIf) without focus problems.

 

[David Hughes]

One of the Jupiter 8's or a variation has click stops but I just can't remember which one.

The Industar is probably the best bet for sharpness and you'll then have a lens that doesn't rotate when focusing; meaning you can use a cheapo, ex-USSR rectangular plastic lens hood on it. The J-8 rotates and so needs a vented Leica lens hood (but they are cheap from Hong Kong or China).

BTW, I don't blame the makers for poor quality. We are talking about elderly lenses that are probably second or third hand. Also the makers were not designing a cheap lens for the Leica but a lens to go on their range of cameras. They stopped being Leica clones about the mid or late 40's. Lastly, until everyone jumped on the bandwagon, Leica lenses were expensive professional tools that would have been serviced etc by Leitz and not at home on the kitchen table...

OK Rant over. I'll take a tablet and lie down for a bit.

Regards, David

 

[agricola]

Cambolt - I have the great privilege to be in Australia too 🙂

Was recently in touch with Yuri at Fedka. Nice bloke. I impetuously ordered a lens and he told me it was not up to scratch (no pun intended).

So he gave me the option and I cancelled the order. The hit on my Paypal account was immediately reversed. That's the sort of thing that gives you confidence.

I realised that I should have consulted with him first by email; told him what I really wanted; as the pollies like to say, 'had a dialogue'.

I suggest you do that. David H has made the point that these things are variable. Brian Sweeney says they don't always focus on Leica bodies. Ask the questions, and get what you want.

best

Dan
Brisbane

 

[wolves3012]

The safest bet for an FSU lens to work on a Leica is the Industar 22 or 50 collapsible. At f/3.5 the focus error is generally covered by DOF. I have half a dozen of them that will all work fine on my IIIC.

The next safest is the Industar 61. It's a very sharp and contrasty lens and once again the focus error is likely to be covered by DOF. Late I-61s have poor build quality, with printed scales so ask about that when buying.

The Jupiter 8 is a great lens but the f/2 aperture means you may be lucky or not. However, it's not that hard to optimise for Leica use - see Brian Sweeney's forum.

Jupiter 3, 9 and 11 lenses are pretty much guaranteed not to work well on a Leica unless set up properly and even then involve some compromises.

As for "skimping" by using an FSU lens, in the real world I think you'll struggle to justify the extra cost of a Leica lens against a good sample of the FSUs in terms of image quality. That may offend the purists but so be it. An Industar 22 lives on my Leica IIIC, with an adjusted-for-Leica Jupiter 8 also available.

 

[wolves3012]

One of the Jupiter 8's or a variation has click stops but I just can't remember which one.

The Kiev version (8M) has click-stops but I don't think any LTM versions did.

 

[wolves3012]

I'm pretty sure that the I-61 is the only FSU 50 that has click stops for the aperture in LTM mount.

Just for the record, some late I-26 examples have click-stops too - I have one.

 

[rbiemer]

Just for the record, some late I-26 examples have click-stops too - I have one.

Didn't know that, wolves. Thanks for the info!
Every time I start to feel like I may have the FSU stuff figured out, I learn something new. Cool.🙂
Rob

 

[wolves3012]

Didn't know that, wolves. Thanks for the info!
Every time I start to feel like I may have the FSU stuff figured out, I learn something new. Cool.🙂
Rob

I'm used to that feeling too! I've learned not to make definitive statements about things - in FSU-land someone will chip in with "well, actually..." type posts!