Industar 105mm re-born: a mythic Soviet Phoenix (haha)

[Marek]

Got this rare one once upon a time in Ebay from Lithuania or Latvia or so, pretty cheap but also pretty messed-up. The condition of the lens showed all sings to be under homemade surgery - in the wrong hands - and actually reminded of... slaughtery.

However the lens proved to be a nice fresh challenge for my repapirer. Ironically, the worst problem was to get these teeny-mini russian screws that was of course missing and lost (see slaughtery mentioned above!)

Eventually sold the lens for equivalent of $187 to my favourite client in the local market. As Metallica once sang, only memory remains.

From clearly for parts/not working piece was suddenly a near-mint lens due to well preserved surface and great optics (not tested though):



Marek

[Humulus]

I have one of those. Bubbly like a Meyer-Optik Trioplan but just as soft and glowy wide open (even though it's slower).

[Minolfan]

At least it looks very good now!
Nice job done.
I hope it performs quite well too.

[Humulus]

Yup. Good work fixing it and giving it a nice shine
Tried polishing mine but with no effect.

[BurstMox]

I also got mine repaired by my friend. Interesting lens, but I was not totally pleased by IQ. There is certainly a reason why they never went to mass production.

[Marek]

Thank you. Buyer is a Russian early M39 silver lens collector (as well as collector of some others) from highly intellectual family. Probably does not much care about the performance though and have never possibly tested the lens/my result.

There is actually so much to learn about polishing and fighting the scares/oxidation/whatever else which is far from being the most important element of lens cleaning...

AFAIK, there is so many procedures to do so varying according the lens condition and matter of the problem. There is also several metods to restore its former surface glory depending on what you use and what do you want the result should look like. And all that servicing and fixing stuff certainly ain't cheap (at least the specialized one), some people sadly think it is as easy as washing the dishes especially when negotiating the price.

So so much to learn about. Many people will definitely take it to the grave with themselves, having no one to master it, just like some old crafts.