'best 50'

[back alley]

i'm thinking about a russian 50mm lens for my little bessa.
some of them are incredibly cheap and as i hardly use a 50 i don't really want to spend much.

this one - INDUSTAR-61 52/2.8 M39 - is on ebay now for 7 bucks - how can i go wrong unless it's made from an old coke bottle.

any advice for a decent 50?

thanks,
joe

[taffer]

Originally posted by backalley photo
how can i go wrong unless it's made from an old coke bottle.

any advice for a decent 50?

thanks,
joe

well you said it :), just check the shipping costs, and also check if for $7 more you can get it with one of those Fed-shaped rear lens caps ;)

I've seen Helios-103 lenses going on ebay for $9... oh man, if I could only find an Orion Contax to LTM adapter for $19.95 :rolleyes:

[taffer]

More Helios 103. This time in Elitechrome 100 (last one was in HP5 400)

Look at the blowout from the red square. Not bad edge resolution for a $9 lens eh ? :-)

Oh man... I'm starting to look like Brian ! :p

[taffer]

BTW how do you add more than one attachment to a post ?

[RML]

The Industar 61 L/D is a very nice lens though I found it too sharp; I much rather use my silver LTM Jupiter-8. However, the J-8 is often quite a bit more expensive than the I-61 L/D.

Mind you, the I-61 (so not the I-61 L/D version) is by many seen as a lesser lens!

[back alley]

ok, i just did a 'buy it now' for that industar 61 lens. 7 bucks for the lens and 8 bucks for shipping. so 15 dollars american which is about 20 bucks cdn. hard to really go wrong...

joe

[taffer]

You cannot regret Joe, I have one of the supposed to be 'worst' Industars, the 26M that came with the Fed and IMHO that thing is hellishly sharp. Take a look at Matt Denton's page about the Industar family and you'll be even more happy ! :)

http://homepage.mac.com/mattdenton/photo/cameras/industar_61_ld.html

[back alley]

thanks for link oscar!

joe

[Brian Sweeney]

"Oh man... I'm starting to look like Brian ! "

POOR OSCAR! Hey, wait a minute... I had the Kiev out today for some poolside shots... Jupiter 8, no Helios. I will probably get one soon. That Jupiter 8 is no slouch either!

[jdos2]

I have a CZJ 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar for my Kiev. I like it.

My "Best 50" of course is the 50mm f/6.3 for my Mamiya Universal. Nice and wide.

[taffer]

"Oh man... I'm starting to look like Brian ! " POOR OSCAR!

LOL ! :D

Hmm, I have a J-8M somewhere too, and my first I-26M shots that I'll scan and post here too.

[MP Guy]

Look at this site. there is some interesting info and grading here:

http://www.photodo.com/nav/prodindex.html

[SolaresLarrave]

I didn't know Matt Denton had information on this stuff! I had indexed his website back in my RF collector days (when I had some and never used them...). It seems I should go back to it.

Joe, since you have a Bessa R, how about looking for some Leica glass? A decent Summarit isn't a reason to file bankrupcy yet.

[back alley]

i'm gonna wait till i get my 2 russian 50s and see how i like them first. i've never actually used a 50 prime lens and have no idea if i'll really love the angle of view or not.
then, maybe a leica lens...

joe

[oftheherd]

Originally posted by jdos2
I have a CZJ 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar for my Kiev. I like it.

My "Best 50" of course is the 50mm f/6.3 for my Mamiya Universal. Nice and wide.

And aren't they sharp! I have one without the viewfinder. Fortunately I discovered that the 65mm viewfinder at the 6x9 setting is close enough to the 50mm at 6x7 that I am alright. All my backs except the focusing backs are 6x7 so it works. :)