Industar 50-2

richard64 · 03-11-2009, 07:47 AM

After looking at some photos on this forum and on others I thought I would give this lens a try. At £15 this is a cheap lens and mine is in good condition. The first thing I did was to sort out a hood. The I-50 has a 35mm filter thread and I have no suitable hoods. So I got a Gu pot (Gu are rather indulgent chocolate desserts). I chopped off the bottom, and then used a craft knife to pare it down until I could push it over the filter ring. Then I used some sandpaper to roughen the inside to a matt finish.

Here's the lens and hood, separately and then with the hood on the lens.

Yes it does look weird, but since the lens is not coated I wanted to reduce any flare. One issue with this lens is that the filter ring is also the aperture ring, but with my hood in place the "aperture ring" is much wider and easier to use. Unfortunately there are no clicks on the aperture ring and the lens is fully manual, so if you focus wide open you cannot accurately stop down to a particular value. Also, it is possible when you stop down to turn the focus ring too. So it can get a little fiddly to focus and get the best aperture.

Why use a 50mm f3.5? Well, I found that for landscape it was a bit ordinary, and similarly for closer focus images (65cm is the closest focus). I found that the lens handled greens very well, and blues were really quite vivid. The photos I had seen elsewhere were with extension tubes, and this is what I wanted to try. I tried 8, 10 and 22mm and decided that the images from last two were the best. The following were with the 22mm tube, no flash, handheld and at about f5.6-f8.

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

It is spring time, and the only insects about are flies sunning themselves.

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

This is a magnolia bud just opening. I also took some pictures at f3.5 where the DOF is very small, but interestingly, the hairs are still visible, so even wide open this is a sharp lens.

This is an interesting lens for macro work, and for the price it is worth giving it a try.

Richard

georgweb · 03-12-2009, 10:23 AM

Well done Richard,
I can imagine the chocolate thing to be delicious!
I have found a filmbox-bottom that I have cut out and fits as a lens cap (with some extra tape around the edge).

Industar 3.5/50 on K100D

Best, Georg (the other)
PS: Made me think of: Which is the best Tessar lens? New thread?

richard64 · 03-12-2009, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by georgweb

Industar 3.5/50 on K100D

Best, Georg (the other)
PS: Made me think of: Which is the best Tessar lens? New thread?

Georg, the colours on that shot are wonderful. I take back what I said about using the I-50-2 for landscape photos.

Richard

georgweb · 03-12-2009, 06:17 PM

Georg, the colours on that shot are wonderful. I take back what I said about using the I-50-2 for landscape photos.

Richard,
don't take it back, it for sure is an ordinary lens resolutionwise. Which of course does not mean you can't have extraordinary fun with it :-) Here's some more through google translator.

The Voe does probably know best soon if his Asahi-version can best the Industar 50-2 or the Industar 61LZ not speaking of the Volna version - AFAIK all of these are Tessars (greek: four, four lens elements).

Georg (the other)