Playing With Lenses: Back to the U.S.S.R.: ИНДУСТАР-26M (Industar-26M) 5cm 1:2.8

Cost: $24, including mount Contax FR-NEX (average market price $24)

ИНДУСТАР (Industar) was one of the lens brands produced in the FED camera factory in Kharkov in the former Soviet Union for the Russian FED-2 and KMZ (KM3) camera's. The Industar brand name was a classification for certain 4-element 3-group lens constructions based on the Leica Tessar design. Most the lenses were released with a Leica m39 mount, but my copy came with a Contax RF mount.

The FED factory in Kharkov in Ukraine was founded as a children's commune, for children orphaned or displaced by the combined upheavals of the First World War, the Revolution and the subsequent civil war. After the groundbreaking introduction of the Leica II in 1932, Soviet leaders used the FED factory to create it's own line of Leica. In 1934, the FED factory began churning out its first clone of the Leica II rangefinder camera. Since then, they have produced millions of cameras, some good and some not so good.

The lens has an aluminium barrel and a specified focal length of 52.4mm (instead of the 5cm mentioned on the lens itself). The fragile mechanical construction feels a little wobbly, and the aluminium, while very light, does not stand the test of time very well. The cement holding the lens together has worn badly, resulting in often unscrewing the lens elements instead of focussing. It doesn't help that the aperture ring is part of the focussing barrel, so instead of changing the aperture, you are turning the whole focus barrel. You have to hold the focus ring steady while changing the aperture... a two handed operation.

The click-less aperture can be useful for shooting video, but the low quality of the lens stops you from benefitting from this feature. Not very sharp, bland color rendering that is not always easy to correct in Lightroom, heaps of color fringing and a nasty bokeh makes it a very disappointing experience. It might just be my copy, as there are some really nice pictures posted online (flickr.com). But I'm not the only one complaining about the build quality.

This lens is also very sensitive to direct, side and back light. The use of a hood to avoid flares is advised.

Do note that dozen's of different versions were made of this lens, very likely with different levels of quality. Guess I wasn't lucky...

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 52,41mm
Maximum Aperture: F2.8
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: Contax RF
Image Stabilization: none
Optics: 4 elements / 3 groups
Blades: 10
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 100cm
Filter Size: 58mm
Weight: 90g
Length: 27mm to mount
Production: 1954 - ?
Serial Number: 058971
Made in: USSR

Samples