Manual Focus Lenses Forum

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

I have a curious acquisition, a Soviet lens which has several wonder features:

- it has no name on it, neither any other indication, and it looks to be covered with an original oil paint
- aperture measures are indicated with only red dots which are repeated three times all round the lens border, so someone scratched himself the numbers
- it has M39 screw mount, but flange distance corresponds perfectly to M42
- it has a deep lens placement in the barrel, like in macro lenses, but its MFD is around 50-60 cm (so not really macro)
- all these peculiarities and anonymity makes it a kind of technical enlarger lens, but it has a focussing helicoid
- it could be a strange earlier version of Industar-61L/Z but its diaphragm blades do not form a ninja-star when closed, rather a classical hexagon
- the rear lens looks single-coated with blue and the front lens is uncoated
- its maximum aperture seems to be not 2.8 but presumably 3.5, as the unknown user scratched on the barrrel.

Here are several images of the lens:

Deep lens placement and complete anonymity

M39 screw mount and no more than red dots to indicate the aperture

Classical hexagon closed aperture blades, not a ninja-star

Self-made aperture numbers

And a couple of shots made with it, sized down to 1200 px and slightly sharpened when resized by irfanview, no other corrections:

MFD at f3.5

MFD at 5.6

Colours look quite natural, getting more saturated more you close the aperture. Sharpness is OK but not better than CZJ Tessar.

Here are two shots to compare this anonymous lens with a late produced Tessar aus Jena 2.8/50mm, not for pixel peeping, just to have an idea:

#1 Here the pumpkin colour looks marginally more natural in the case of the noname lens

#2 Here a decadent fruit has a better detail made by CZJ Tessar, if you compare its right side on both shots

If you have an idea of what lens it may be your hints are really welcome!

zanxion72 · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 145 Location: Athens, Greece

Could it be an enlarger lens?

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

Could be. But is has a focussing helicoid. Never heard of it, even if I should admit to be not an expert in Soviet enlarger lenses.

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

As it has no markings I would guess a prototype.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

What do you think could be the mass production equivalent? I am accustomed to see Industars with 2.8 max aperture. And it's fairly used, not usual for prototypes.

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

I know nothing about Russian lenses I was speculating on the prototype thing just based on the fact that it has no markings. Virtually any production lens will have some sort of serial number, manufacturer logo, aperture numbers, lens type or SOMETHING. Very curious indeed.

Gamera · Joined: 16 Feb 2014 Posts: 86 Location: Scandinavia

How do You nail it to be Soviet lens?

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

Smart question, seen the complete anonymity of the lens! I got it from a collector of Soviet cameras. Construction quality and movement of the aperture ring (no resistance at all, but not loose) are the same as of an old enlarging Industar I have.

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

It just LOOKS Russian to me. Kind of the no nonsense solid as a block of iron look.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

Russian folks were split about the lens saying it to be between Industar-50 in an alien (DIY?) body and Industar-61 irregular prototype. I'd say the body quality is certainly not DIY. Unless it was a ingenious optical worker who made it for his project. Which one? Otherwise it could be a slower Industar-61 strange not-too-complete prototype, and a used one! All in all, the mystery remains.

BurstMox · Expire: 2016-08-02

Interesting thing!
I have an early I-61 LZ (on the right), with normal diaphragm (not ninja), slighty different body, different coating (yellow). But it still looks like an Industar-61 LZ

Your one is totally different. Design of the lens doesn't look like LZOS, maybe more like MMZ (kind of recall me the design of the Helios-44-3). But design doesn't look that soviet.
To me, it doesn't sound logical to make a prototype of the I-61 with I-50 optical block whereas I-26m 50mm/2.8 were already produced by FED.

Does it have a preset system?

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

Wow, thank you for the rich description of the variants. Very successful shot with two front lenses of yellow and blue colours. By the way the one I speak about does not have a front lens coating, so it is "white", only the back one which is violet. In fact, giving a new shell to an Industar-50 could be a strange idea.

No, my lens does not have a preset system. It has a simple diaphragm ring, seemingly with a mechanism like enlarging Industars.

fermy · Joined: 17 Feb 2012 Posts: 1974

To be honest, I doubt that this is a Soviet lens. I never saw such style aperture and focus rings on Soviet lenses. I wouldn't expect radically new cosmetics and standard optical formula on a prototype lens.

Humulus · Joined: 23 Sep 2014 Posts: 130 Location: Poland

Looks like someone stuffed the insides of the Industar-61 into a Helios 44-3 body.

fermy · Joined: 17 Feb 2012 Posts: 1974

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

True, looks alike. But it is not definitely the case. My lens has a very deeply recessed front glass, the front looks much alike a macro lens or a mirror Industar-61 L/Z. Looking closer after your posts, I see that when I focus, this rigged conic element on the front of the lens rotates inside the barrel. I don't have an Industar-61 L/Z, so I do not know if it's normal. But anyway, it's a strange hybrid. If not Soviet (and it really has the look and the feel), what other country could let out such a strange black horse?

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Looks like a machine vision lens to me.