Flint-Hill
Индустар-50 (Industar-50) Lens, ca. 1950
I'm trying to mount an early 1950s Industar lens on a Sony NEX-5N. To the left are two pieces of a Leica-to-Sony adapter. I had to mill off about a millimeter from the larger piece to get it to clear the len's focusing lever.
The Russians reverse-engineered and cloned German cameras and lenses, particularly those of Leitz (Leica) and Zeiss. They "liberated" a lot of Zeiss tooling after WWII, inducing several Zeiss engineers to move to Kiev and reassemble a plant. (Made 'em an offer they couldn't refuse, I bet.)
The 50mm f/3.5 Industar-50's externals mimic those of the collapsible Leica Summar, Summitar, and Elmar lenses. Collapsed, the Industar makes a tiny package. I had to shim it to keep the back end of the collapsed lens from slamming into the sensor mount. It would be prudent to do some research and careful measurements before you mount one on your camera.
The Industar's internals duplicate those of a Zeiss Tessar lens. Tessars are simple lenses with four elements in three groups. Tessars are sharp edge-to-edge only when they're stopped down, but they're noted for high contrast (at least in coated versions) and for lovely, swirly bokeh.
The red П (P) means that the lens is coated. What else it may mean is controversial. Some people think that red P lenses are of higher quality in a more general way. Whether or not this is true, they bring a buck or two more, which has led to a Ukrainian cottage industry of painting in red P's on vintage Russian lenses.
If you know as little about Russian lenses as I do, the safest course is to order one from Yuri at fedka.com in New York. He grades conservatively and has a broadly attested reputation for scrupulous honesty.
You can get one for a little less if you order from a former Soviet Union country on Ebay, but that's widely judged to be a crap shoot for all but the savviest buyers.
I have the lens focusing up close and at infinity, and it appears to have survived the last 60 years in good order. I have to polish the freshly milled mount and do the final assembly.
There's a pullback shot in the comments.
Индустар-50 (Industar-50) Lens, ca. 1950
I'm trying to mount an early 1950s Industar lens on a Sony NEX-5N. To the left are two pieces of a Leica-to-Sony adapter. I had to mill off about a millimeter from the larger piece to get it to clear the len's focusing lever.
The Russians reverse-engineered and cloned German cameras and lenses, particularly those of Leitz (Leica) and Zeiss. They "liberated" a lot of Zeiss tooling after WWII, inducing several Zeiss engineers to move to Kiev and reassemble a plant. (Made 'em an offer they couldn't refuse, I bet.)
The 50mm f/3.5 Industar-50's externals mimic those of the collapsible Leica Summar, Summitar, and Elmar lenses. Collapsed, the Industar makes a tiny package. I had to shim it to keep the back end of the collapsed lens from slamming into the sensor mount. It would be prudent to do some research and careful measurements before you mount one on your camera.
The Industar's internals duplicate those of a Zeiss Tessar lens. Tessars are simple lenses with four elements in three groups. Tessars are sharp edge-to-edge only when they're stopped down, but they're noted for high contrast (at least in coated versions) and for lovely, swirly bokeh.
The red П (P) means that the lens is coated. What else it may mean is controversial. Some people think that red P lenses are of higher quality in a more general way. Whether or not this is true, they bring a buck or two more, which has led to a Ukrainian cottage industry of painting in red P's on vintage Russian lenses.
If you know as little about Russian lenses as I do, the safest course is to order one from Yuri at fedka.com in New York. He grades conservatively and has a broadly attested reputation for scrupulous honesty.
You can get one for a little less if you order from a former Soviet Union country on Ebay, but that's widely judged to be a crap shoot for all but the savviest buyers.
I have the lens focusing up close and at infinity, and it appears to have survived the last 60 years in good order. I have to polish the freshly milled mount and do the final assembly.
There's a pullback shot in the comments.