What lens is this on Zorki 4 camera

I picked up this Zorki 4 last year in St. Petersburg. I don't know

why the writing on the camera is in Roman (it was in Russia after

all) and that on the lens is Cyrillic. But, what lens is that? Also

what would be considered the quality or grade of lenses to use with

a Zorki? For instance, would a Jupiter be on the top of the list,

middle or bottom?<center><P>

 

<img src="http://www.jdainis.com/zorki4.jpg"></center>

Industar 50 3.5/50 as it says on your picture

The rigid mount Industar-50 is a 4 element 3 group lens. The one I have tested is almost as sharp as my 50mm F2 Summicron; when both are wide open. The Industar-50 is a simpler lens; it gets dogged for its looks; but can be an excellent performer.

Jukka,

<BR>Thank you. I never thought to read what it said on the lens

;-) Well, I did know that backward "n" was an "i" but that was as far as I got. A quick search seems to show that the industar lens has lower contrast and is not as sharp as a Jupiter lens. But I haven't searched that deeply yet. I get the feeling that this was a very commercial lens.

The Industar was the cheapest standard lens for the Zorki, and it is not razor sharp.... but I find it to be a very pleasant lens to use, especially for portraits or other subjects that you would like to render with a bit of atmosphere. It's one of my favorite lenses.

 

rick :)=

The owner's manual for my Zorki 6 camera states that the Industar 50 has the highest resolution of any of the three standard lenses available for it, better than the Industar 26M or the Jupiter 8. The Industar 50 was available in rigid or collapsible forms.

The Industar-50 here is almost as sharp a thousand dollar new LTM summicron;; when both are wide open. The one here is one of the sharpest LTM lenses I have ever tested; beating the Jupiter-8's; Jupiter-3's even beating my Nikkor 5cm F2 when widen open. Lenses do vary in quality be serial number to serial number; the Industar-50 I have here in the central core is a real gem of a lens.

The Industar-50 is a Tessar type lens. It like many lenses is sensitive to alignment. If one has one that is great; or poor; it doesnt mean that the entire population of these must follow suit in performance. Also alot of rangefinders are miss aligned; and Russian "quality" is a REAL mixed bag. The focus cam surface can also wear down too. Just try out you own stuff and see if one has a dud or gem.

On a lark I bought an INDUSTAR-26M 50mm f2.8 for $10 off of ebay from Russia. Shipping was $15! Arrived here just fine (FL). It is also a Tessar coppy, has anyone used the INDUSTAR-26M 50mm f2.8?

 

I hope to run some film through it next week.

A friend just sent me this photo. I assume it is a FED lens. How does it stack up against the Industar?<P><center>

<img src=http://www.myonlineimages.com/Members/poppy/Images/CameraB.jpg></center>

I've gotten quite a few hits on the FED f3.5 but very little on a FED f2.8

Hi James,

The lens on your Fed is an Industar N-61 f2.8. You'll usually only find Jupiters or Industars on most Russian cameras. I don't believe Fed made a lens of their own. I prefer the N-61 f2.8 over the 50 f3.5, but still like the Jupiter best.

Jupiter 8/8M are usually Zeiss Sonnar copies, while the industar 50/26/61 are tessar type. There is a Industar 61L/D which is made from rare earth glass, supposedly sharpest among the tessar types. It comes only with the later Fed 5. Zeiss Sonnar lenses are supposedly sharper than tessar type, but it really depends on the lens you have.

 

Due to the sample variance, there is no easy answer. "Test as many as you can find and keep the best" is probably the best advice anyone can give, as these lenses are very sensitive to alignment and spacing.

 

For myself, I have Industar 26m, Industar 50, Industar 6, Industar 61L/D, Jupiter 8, Jupiter 8M and I can tell you confidently that I could never tell which lens took which photo, although I can tell which body did it (due to some misalignments/shutter stickiness etc) and on my Zorki 6, they all perform similarly.

I have a collapsible 50mm f3.5 that's labeled FED, mounted on a FED 2.<div></div>

Hi Michael,

Your lens is a collapsible Industar 22 rebadged as a Fed lens. As I stated before I believe there are no Fed lenses per se.

Thanks Curt, I'm still trying to get up to speed on the commie cams!

The collapsible Industar-22 50/3.5 and the collapsible FED 50/3.5 are different - different enough that it's not just a rebadging. The aperture setting ring is the most obvious difference, but there are so many others that I very much doubt they are the same.

 

For the record: I have about 5 of the FEDs, 3 I-22's, 2 I-50's - all collapsible. It's easy to see the differences.

Industar lenses may well have been rebranded as FED lenses -- after all, these days they're rebranded as Tanar lenses, as Taylor, Taylor & Hobson lenses and perhaps even as Zunow lenses -- but I am under the hazy and perhaps wrong impression that some (all?) prewar lenses for the FED were originally branded FED.

I read from an article in History of Photography that the Ukrainian FED factory also manufactured lenses, but only pre-war time. The factory was destroyed during the war.

 

You can download the article from http://www.fedka.com

I read from an article in History of Photography that the Ukrainian FED factory also manufactured lenses, but only pre-war time. The factory was destroyed during the war.

 

You can download the article from http://www.fedka.com

Curt wrote: <i>Your lens is a collapsible Industar 22 rebadged as a Fed lens. As I stated before I believe there are no Fed lenses per se</i><p>

Not really true - there really were FED lenses, and this is one of them. They also made a (now very rare & pricy) 28mm [not the Orion] and at least one other focal length - they had something odd like a 100mm or suchlike. They were all pre-war.

Can't beat them Kelly Amazing? Now some day will we argue about Iraqie Optics Doubt it LOL

Thanks Ole, Kai and Jukka. Great info. See Michael, you were right after all, LOL. Only bad part is now I've gotta get me one of those Fed collapsibles. Look too nice not to have one.

COOL, I hadn't seen one before. Found this lens for $11.49 and couldn't pass it up. Thanks for the info.

This is a FED lens and an early one at that- a quick look at the f. stops shows that they are

not the usual "f stops"

Note that f 18 is the smallest F stop and not f.16

I have this lens on one of my early FEDs.