The Soviet lens EVERYONE needs to own! Industar-50-2 Review

[@KurtClark]

Great informational video! I've had one of these for ten years now. It makes really nice colors. I learned three things from this video: the thread size of the filter area (now I'm looking for 42mm clear filters on eBay), how to determine the age (mine is from 1979), and where it was built (mine also has that mark from Moscow you showed. Interesting that mine has English writing on it instead of Cyrillic, and it says "Made In USSR" on the side. Thanks for sharing!

[@chrisnovakowski9827]

I absolutely love this little lens. Your review is absolutely bang on, except I disagree on your comment about flare. I found that I was able to produce beautiful portrait images with flare, from the subject being in front of the sun.

[@SovietLensReviews]

If you can manage to wrangle the flaring into something artistic, that's a win!

[@HalidesAndHollowness]

I have one of these that I use all the time on my Pentax KP, it's a fantastic little lens! Some of my favourite images I've ever taken have been with this little thing, and I don't know if its because I shoot on APS-C or just my copy (from 1980) but its insanely sharp, Easily as sharp or sharper than some of my Pentax limited primes! Great overview/review of this little gem!

[@SovietLensReviews]

Thanks for watching! I can see how this can become a favourite, such a sharp little lens.

[@CarmineTavernaPhotography]

❤wonderful video..many thanks..cheers 😊

[@freeman10000]

G'day! Fellow Perthite here. Loving your content and happy to say that I just purchased an Industar from Ukraine🇳🇿🇺🇦

[@SovietLensReviews]

Awesome! You'll enjoy it, super fun lens to use.

[@seangarcia1806]

it's so weird and so cool seeing Perth in my youtube recommendations 😭

[@meta4101]

I would personally recommend the Industrar 61 L/D 55mm f2.8 over the Industrar 50-2. They are both quite inexpensive, but the 61l/d has a great center and is much sharper edge-to-edge, 1/2 stop faster, with better handling and (when considering the fact that it uses a 12mm l39 adapter versus m42 adapter) it ends up being much less bulky and lighter than the 50-2 which requires an m42 adapter that dwarfs the actual lens (not a fan to that aspect). Of course, if you are looking for more of an art lens, then the Jupiter 8 (50mm, f2 sonnar, l39) is a tad pricier but has sonar rendition and so would be the clear recommendation. All three lenses -- Industrar 50-2. Industrar 61 L/D and the Jupiter 8 -- were massed produced and remain incredible bargains for what you get -- at least until the excess inventory disappears from the FSR.

[@xmeda]

Using this on my Pentax DSLRs (K3, K5, K20D) and Olympus M4/3 (EPL-6) with quite good results in terms of resolution. Maybe the older K20D with 14Mpix@APS-C is the sweet spot with cca F5.6-F11. The only weakness is lack of clear contrast like modern lenses have, but it can be improved in postprocess a lot. And yes shooting into light source is not great. With live-view focusing is much easier than on for example Zenit camera. $30? Mine was 100CZK which is roughly $5-$6 :D

[@SovietLensReviews]

Can't beat it for $5-6! And you're right, can add lots of contrast in post where needed.

[@SovietLensReviews]

For anyone looking to pick up an Industar on eBay, you can check them out using this search: ebay.us/wMnKRb The main thing to look for is that you're buying a mint copy - there's still plenty that are unused.

[@jeghedderhenrik]

own it and love it,BUT industar 61 got more of everything that this can do, but i love both and will ever let either be sold again

[@piotrstaniek84]

I own it and forgot about it. Thanks for reminder.

[@RivieraUnivox]

I carry mine around with me all the time, because it is so small, but it's not my go to 50mm. If I'm out shooting wildlife with longer lenses it's nice to know that I can switch to a 50 easily because it's always in my bag. Unimpressive wideopen portraits but much better stopped down, good for street photography. As mentioned by others, the Industar 61 is a much better 50mm tessar. The 50-2 looks cool on my Zenit ET and performs well also.

[@SovietLensReviews]

Good points, and it's definitely weakest wide open. I get my Industar-61 quite soon hopefully, so excited to compare the two.

[@RivieraUnivox]

@@SovietLensReviews By the way, if you think the 50-2 is small, you should check out the Industar 69. It's a 28mm f2.8 from a half frame Chaika camera, so it's perfect for crop sensors. It's about 10mm thick and m39 so it gives the camera a nice pocketable low profile. I had to take mine apart to modify for infinity focus and it's basically 3 pieces, front piece, back piece and the optical block. Costs about $25.00

[@SovietLensReviews]

@@RivieraUnivox I will have to check it out, sounds fun!

[@Русский-з9о]

​@@RivieraUnivox Я уже несколько лет пользуюсь Индустаром 69 на sony nex 7. Очень удобно и изумительно приятно. По углам кадра незначительная виньетка, но это иногда приятно, но если мешает - легко убрать.

[@rocheuro]

one thing to mention this particular lens is a stunnishing lens for macro photography! with some special adapters.

[@boxoweasels]

Hope you can do a review of the 61 L/Z or L/D soon? I got a L/Z recently and it is very different to my 50-2s I'm trying to figure out if it's normal or I want to pick up a second copy. It does this thing where backlight or bright highlights will really bloom which my 50-2s don't do at all. Occasionally it will totally wash out the contrast, and at first I thought maybe it has no coatings, like someone cleaned it too hard or something, but then I noticed I can't get it to ghost or do any kind of streak or ring flare like the 50-2s do, so I'm not sure. It has a side effect that I really like and that's that contrast and saturation will fall off strongly away from the plane of focus which I have only ever seen before on medium format photos with my TLRs. All I was expecting was something more like a 50-2 with closer focus, which might prompt me to buy a second copy if that's how most are, but I definitely like this one a lot.

[@SovietLensReviews]

I have the Volna-9 on my list, as well as the Industar 61 L/Z after that, definitely want to take a look at it at some point but don't have one at the moment. I have experienced exactly what you're describing with my Helios-81N, (bloomy highlights) that was a result of the coating being rubbed off, but also my Jupiter-11 generally blooms highlights more than any of my other lenses, which is purely a result of the super early single coating on it. What year is your L/Z? If it's 60's, that'd explain it.

[@SovietLensReviews]

61 L/Z Review is out now!

[@pulsar7314]

Nice review, what camera did you use to make this pictures with that lense ? Thanks

[@SovietLensReviews]

Thanks! I used a Nikon Z 6

[@magik8566]

The "proper" lens hood falls off easily, is difficult to obtain and is expensive. You need a 35.5mm to 37mm Ring Adapter, to mount a better lens hoods as well as a proper cap and other available 37mm size accessories ;)

[@jeghedderhenrik]

pls try the industar 61, i recommend it, also owning this 50-2, together the supplement each other beautifully

[@SovietLensReviews]

I have been meaning to get my hands on an Industar 61! I'll have to try one out sometime

[@jeghedderhenrik]

@@SovietLensReviews wish you luck finding a good one

[@phillean]

Very useful, thanks

[@Elizabeth-sf4xl]

Hello! Great video. Did you use adapter with chip or without chip??

[@SovietLensReviews]

Thanks! I used an adapter without a chip.

[@Elizabeth-sf4xl]

@@SovietLensReviews Thank so much for that info. 🤗

[@kainbre]

And... Subscribed.. :)

[@jeghedderhenrik]

a lenshood does magic for managing flares and gives more sharpness and better contrast

[@SovietLensReviews]

Great idea

[@ianmilne655]

Mine was attached to my father's Prinzflex500 camera, the lens is a 1971 vintage, Shall use it on my Sony A7Rii👍

[@SovietLensReviews]

It should show up great on the A7Riii!

[@ianmilne655]

@@SovietLensReviews shall look forward to having a play with it👍

[@valkras6514]

Thanks! What for adoptar do I need flor Nikon D3300 to use this lens?

[@Utakovich]

Теперь обязательно куплю Индустар-50-2 :)

[@SovietLensReviews]

Тебе понравится! :)

[@bottomendbliss]

Tarkovski fan for sure

[@recreationalplutonium]

i've got an old industar 50 f3.5 without the -2. is this the same lens or is it a predecessor?

[@Baer9471]

The industar 50 is simply made for rangefinder cameras. The 50-2 are made for SLRs

[@3flyte_3flyte]

Is it possible to put a lens hood on this lens? Perhaps there are filter threads on it?

[@SovietLensReviews]

Yep - although the filter thread size is uncommon, 35.5mm

[@fabrifornasiero]

the 52mm focal lenght is the reason why it is not compatible with a leica rangefinger other than at infinity focus

[@christos1973]

Had three of those, all had issues, mostly focus inaccuracy across the frame. Bad copies perhaps, but 3 out of 3 is too many for me to continue trying. A decent DDR Tessar is not that larger anyway.

[@SovietLensReviews]

Interesting, totally understand giving up after 3 though.

[@christos1973]

@@SovietLensReviews The first two behaved almost identically, the ride side of the pic was always softer for some reason, very noticeable when shooting wall, buildings, etc. The third one was weird in that sometimes there were soft areas of the picture in the central area. It wasn't always present, but it was quite disturbing when it happened, no internal blemishes (dust, fungus, haze etc) in the lens. All three made by KMZ (which was a surprise, because usually the Krasnogorsk ones are better made).

[@SovietLensReviews]

@@christos1973 Very weird, I don't think I've ever experienced that amongst my ~30 lenses, I have some lenses where corners are super soft and some where at MFD they are just soft all around, but never experienced part of the frame being soft. As you said, KMZ usually made good stuff.

[@davidatkinson1413]

I just received an INDUSTAR-50 Silver lens 50mm f/3.5 M39 SLR for Zenit 3M KMZ and an L39 to Nex adaptor to use with my Sony a 7Rii camera but cannot focus it, no matter what aperture I use. HELP!!

[@peterneale6278]

The Industar 50-2 tested here is an M42 SLR lens designed for the Zenit SLR. There is also an Industar 50 M39 rangefinder lens which obviously is designed for the shorter flange/film distance of a rangefinder camera, i.e. Zorki. Very big difference and easy to mistake. They are both optically identical. I am not sure if an M39 SLR (Zenit) lens was ever made, because the M39 Zenit bodies were an earlier manufacture.

[@grechka666]

Just out of curiosity. I've been listening to your pronunciation, when you say your greetings in Russian, and a natural question is - do you really speak Russian, or just use some standard phrases? I have a feeling, that your pronunciation has improved since your first videos. Great review by the way.

[@SovietLensReviews]

Thanks! I have been learning Russian, so that probably explains why my pronunciation has improved a bit. I can speak the basics, at A2 level at the moment.

[@grechka666]

@@SovietLensReviews A2 isn't that bad at all! I have always wondered what learning Russian by an English speaker is like. Respect for the effort and I hope you'll master it and find the way to use it.

[@63MacGuy]

What mount is it?

[@SovietLensReviews]

M42

[@pulsar7314]

There is one lense that is better than all other soviet lenses is JUPITER 3, apparently the best in soviet time. Try this one

[@SovietLensReviews]

I will have to get my hands on one!

[@yankis.]

I love the bokeh on them, but damn these things are badly made. Even if you buy them in mint condition, they still have issues. Soviet manufacturing in action.

[@SovietLensReviews]

I haven't had any issues with my copy. Everything turns perfectly, focus ring is fantastically smooth, very sharp. Often it's just old grease - it wasn't in the design specifications of these lenses to still work perfectly 50 years after they were made.

[@sippinhappiness793]

i picked mine for 0.99 usd

[@SovietLensReviews]

Now that is a real bargain!

[@sippinhappiness793]

@@SovietLensReviews 😂 keep ur eyes open they are out there

[@НиколайНидвораев-р7п]

False. I was owner of this lens. Fully shit.

[@skiphupp6387]

Terrible audio

[@davidatkinson1413]

I just bought an INDUSTAR-50 Silver lens 50mm f/3.5 M39 SLR for Zenit 3M KMZ Russian and a L39 to NEX adaptor to use with my Sony a7Rii camera but cannot get focus no matter which aperture I use. HELP!!!

[@SovietLensReviews]

The M39 Industar-50's for rangefinders will not reach infinity on a modern camera using a normal adapter ring. You likely should be able to get focus in macro, but you need to purchase an Industar-50-2 (M42) to use on modern cameras. I personally haven't looked into if there is a way to use the old rangefinder lenses an adapt them for infinity.

[@davidatkinson1413]

@@SovietLensReviews I bought an M39 to M42 step-up ring and an M42 to Nex adaptor and everything seems to work fine now.

[@SovietLensReviews]

@@davidatkinson1413 Fantastic! Enjoy the lens!