[nanhi]

I generally avoid Soviet era lenses because of flare and moderate sharpness. Why bother when you have awesome Takumar and "Mor KA" lenses.

[BigMackCam]

I generally avoid Soviet era lenses because of flare and moderate sharpness. Why bother when you have awesome Takumar and "Mor KA" lenses.

You do realise that you're posting in the "Soviet lenses club" thread, nanhi, right?

Folks here celebrate these lenses, and as a collector of Soviet glass, I can tell you that plenty are both sharp and flare-resistant. Not all - but then, not every Pentax or Takumar is spectacular either Numerous Soviet lenses perform very well for their age; largely in line with expectations given the classic, proven optical formulae on which many are based. Plus, the overall rendering for several of them can be quite unique and - to some of us - very pleasing. You'll already know this if you've reviewed the entire thread.

Each to his or her own preferences, yes?

[Dartmoor Dave]

My head just exploded with jealousy.

[Scout]

You do realise that you're posting in the "Soviet lenses club" thread, nanhi, right?

Folks here celebrate these lenses, and as a collector of Soviet glass, I can tell you that plenty are both sharp and flare-resistant. Not all - but then, not every Pentax or Takumar is spectacular either Numerous Soviet lenses perform very well for their age; largely in line with expectations given the classic, proven optical formulae on which many are based. Plus, the overall rendering for several of them can be quite unique and - to some of us - very pleasing. You'll already know this if you've reviewed the entire thread.

Each to his or her own preferences, yes?

Absolutely , and what a great collection !

A lot of russian lenses were produced on the model of german lenses, like Carl Zeiss, and some say can sometimes overpass in terms of optical quality. Excellent built quality.

Moreover these are quite cheap lenses if we compare to other traditional well-know brands like Takumar or Pentax K (brands I love too, but more expensive)
I have never understood the attacks on "flare", that can be an intentional search for an artistic purpose. If you don't want flare avoid backlights and reflections, close the aperture, just use a hood, same principle on modern lenses !

And if you (nanhi) want to test by yourself, you'll find plenty of excellent Helios 44 (take a 44K4 if no adapter ring) for less than 50 $ ...

---

Last edited by Scout; 10-28-2019 at 01:56 AM. Reason: Updated quoted post

[BigMackCam]

My head just exploded with jealousy.

Absolutely , and what a great collection !

A lot of russian lenses were produced on the model of german lenses, like Carl Zeiss, and some say can sometimes overpass in terms of optical quality. Excellent built quality.

Moreover these are quite cheap lenses if we compare to other traditional well-know brands like Takumar or Pentax K (brands I love too, but more expensive)
I have never understood the attacks on "flare", that can be an intentional search for an artistic purpose. If you don't want flare avoid backlights and reflections, close the aperture, just use a hood, same principle on modern lenses !

And if you (nanhi) want to test by yourself, you'll find plenty of excellent Helios 44 (take a 44K4 if no adapter ring) for less than 50 $ ...

Thank you both

Just for the record, I didn't post the photos as a boast, but rather to show my views are backed up by ownership of a wide range of Soviet lenses. My experience of them is largely positive, with some outstanding examples, others that range from OK to very decent, and surprisingly few lemons. Even those lemons can offer lots of opportunities and fun if the limitations are used creatively. In fact, the only truly poor Soviet lens I own is the Rubin-1 37-80mm f/2.8, which has almost nothing going for it optically other than versatility of focal length range. It's an interesting example of an early zoom, though, so for that reason it's nice to have... and it could make quite a serviceable door stop, I suppose

[Racer X 69]

How about the Industar 61LZ, with the unique star shaped bokeh?

My first Soviet era lens, it has produced many excellent images.

[nanhi]

BigMacCam Sir, we are all things Russian lover including Russian Girls at the Tech camp in the Heavy Industries Divn Ranchi, India. My country is the largest importer of Russian Stuff since the Cold War and Kruschev days. We have close ties with Russia and I was a Technical Advisor for CIS countries in one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Russia like Israel always comes to our aid in our wars against Pakistan and China + other Terrorist attacks.
I have owned many Russian Cameras, Lenses, Binoculars and accessories since my University days - both 35mm and large format. None of them ever performed better than my Rolleiflex f2.8 TLR, or the Leica SLR or believe me the film Pentax K-1000 SE (Japan version) back in the '70s. Even my Spotmatic with Takumar Lenses were much sharper and colorful.
I also had a Nikon film SLR and the Kiev -19 that took Nikon Bayonet Lenses. The best Russian Lenses had terrible Flare on the Kiev. Their sharpness and color suspect - lens coating perhaps?
I do believe some Russian Lenses were good like the Mirror ones, but they never could out do German or Japanese technology. Russian Lenses were well built - like a Tank, period.
Come to think of it as an Engineer, all things Russian were over designed, huge and heavy including the Russian Rocket Engines we used for our Moon Mission.
Have fun with your photography. May Peace be with you - Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu. Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi.

[BigMackCam]

I have owned many Russian Cameras, Lenses, Binoculars and accessories since my University days - both 35mm and large format. None of them ever performed better than my Rolleiflex f2.8 TLR, or the Leica SLR or believe me the film Pentax K-1000 SE (Japan version) back in the '70s. Even my Spotmatic with Takumar Lenses were much sharper and colorful.
I also had a Nikon film SLR and the Kiev -19 that took Nikon Bayonet Lenses. The best Russian Lenses had terrible Flare on the Kiev. Their sharpness and color suspect - lens coating perhaps?
I do believe some Russian Lenses were good like the Mirror ones, but they never could out do German or Japanese technology.

I have no idea precisely which Soviet lenses you used, what you compared them to, and any other relevant factors in your comparisons, Bipin. I can only surmise that you must have used a great number of them, though (fifty? a hundred? more?... including multiple versions of the same optical formula models?) in order to confidently draw such a broad conclusion.

From the 110+ Soviet lenses I own (I forget the exact number) covering fish-eye, wide angle, normal, short tele and long tele (including several catadioptric mirror lenses), I'm struck by just how differently they all perform in terms of sharpness, centre vs edge resolution, vignetting, contrast, flare, out-of-focus rendering, colour reproduction, aberrations etc. I'm unable to summarise their performance, as you have, in a single sound-bite.

Based on your personal findings, it sounds like this thread isn't the one for you

[Aaron28]

with the unique star shaped bokeh?

still need to see this! the only 'oddball' I have is a soligor 35/f2.8 m42 that produces sawtooth or 'ninja stars' bokeh.....I do not think I have an example anywheres handy.....reckon I should take a few shots with it.....

[Racer X 69]

still need to see this! the only 'oddball' I have is a soligor 35/f2.8 m42 that produces sawtooth or 'ninja stars' bokeh.....I do not think I have an example anywheres handy.....reckon I should take a few shots with it.....

Right here Aaron.



Made this into Christmas cards.

[Aaron28]

Right here Aaron.

that's awesome! excellent choice as a card as well !

[Racer X 69]

that's awesome! excellent choice as a card as well !

Thanks Aaron.

This is one I used too.

[Aaron28]

This is one I used too.

nice! some of the bokeh here is getting quite similar to the sawtooth I have experienced with the soligor......

[Scout]

If not a soviet lens, a russian place :

2006 Moscow park sunset
Kodak Easyshare DX7440 4MP
Schneider kreuznach

[fiveseven]

BigMacCam Sir, we are all things Russian lover including Russian Girls at the Tech camp in the Heavy Industries Divn Ranchi, India. My country is the largest importer of Russian Stuff since the Cold War and Kruschev days. We have close ties with Russia and I was a Technical Advisor for CIS countries in one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Russia like Israel always comes to our aid in our wars against Pakistan and China + other Terrorist attacks.
I have owned many Russian Cameras, Lenses, Binoculars and accessories since my University days - both 35mm and large format. None of them ever performed better than my Rolleiflex f2.8 TLR, or the Leica SLR or believe me the film Pentax K-1000 SE (Japan version) back in the '70s. Even my Spotmatic with Takumar Lenses were much sharper and colorful.
I also had a Nikon film SLR and the Kiev -19 that took Nikon Bayonet Lenses. The best Russian Lenses had terrible Flare on the Kiev. Their sharpness and color suspect - lens coating perhaps?
I do believe some Russian Lenses were good like the Mirror ones, but they never could out do German or Japanese technology. Russian Lenses were well built - like a Tank, period.
Come to think of it as an Engineer, all things Russian were over designed, huge and heavy including the Russian Rocket Engines we used for our Moon Mission.
Have fun with your photography. May Peace be with you - Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu. Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi.

Not true at all, all based on......well, bias opinion.
1. Soviet lenses at the time were as good as glass gets, especially in their cinema industry. No country has ever put so much effort in to perfecting glass and coating tech. There was even a university degree in such field.
Take a look at their LOMO and OKC's series and see how much they usually are sold for. Their 80's glass coating was as good as top of the line current tech.
2. Soviet and Western had different measurement for optical sharpness and when it came to microscopes and specialty lenses, Soviets were on top of the game.
3. One of the Binoculars that Soviets/Russian made was BPO 7x30, I own a pair and it would put the Zeiss to shame, It's like looking trough some HD glass, better then your own eyes for sure. One of the best binoculars you can own especially considering their price.
4. Again, Soviet tech and their lenses were much more simpler in design then their over engineered German counterpart, Russian stuff is usually very simple but does the same job. German lens will fall apart much faster, just like their cars and tanks.
5. Russians used many smaller rockets on their moon mission rocket, Americans used older tech bigger and fewer motors.

You Tube

You Tube

And I'd venture to say, Zenitar-M 1.7 glass quality is better then in any Takamar 50mm ever made.

Anyway, my Jupiter 9 collection.