Industar-11M 300/9 - results are excellent plus plus! :)

[eumenius]

Today I made a lensboard for my Speed Graphic, allowing my Industar-11M to be installed there. It was late, so for a test subject I used the view from my lab's window. In two minute exposure at f/11 the result was just outstanding - crisp, contrasty sharp image, without any problems. I think I can see there any piece of sand in the building on the other side of street (maybe that's just grain, oops ). And in the streetlights I can see the bulb and the luminaire separately, without any oreoles. So, being basically an APO reproduction lens, made by Tessar scheme, Industar-11M exhibits an excellent correction at infinity even with a relatively wide apertures. Another test shoot, made at maximum bellows draw, was excellent, too - but the bokeh of this lens is a bit unusual for Tessar, on my opinion. I can highly recommend this lens - it gives a very good picture, is a very lightweight for its focal length, allows to modify bokeh by inserting different-shaped waterhouse stops (feature for different halftoning screens, actually), and it's very very cheap - I got mine for $10 here.

PS. A nice thing: on a well-lighted spot on my night picture two dogs were playing. Where they sat for long enough, they've left some dog-shaped shadows, they look quite funny

Cheers from Moscow,
Zhenya

 

[Ole]

Zhenya, I'm not surprised at all!

 

[eumenius]

Well, I always knew that Soviet industrial-purpose lenses were made to strictest standarts, unlike the most of consumer-end ones... but this lens is just super. Let's try and shoot more with it

 

[celluloidpropaganda]

I wonder how this compares to the Industar-37 (300/4.5)?

 

[eumenius]

Oh, just another apples and oranges case - I-11M is a true apochromate, as I can see, perfectly corrected from 1:1 ratio to infinity, and covering probably 30*40cm format. And I-37 is a simple yet very well-made Tessar with uniquely large aperture... so good for portraits and so cheap nowadays (though there are some bad specimens, of course, but in whole it's quite good). I-11M is much sharper and contrastier, as any process lens - but that can be used nicely, I expect it to be an excellent performer for scenes where the whole material facture should be preserved. And it should work very well with color film, I suppose.

I wonder how this compares to the Industar-37 (300/4.5)?

 

[Dan Fromm]

Zhenya, please refresh my memory. Isn't the I-11M also a tessar type? Not that there's anything wrong with tessar type process lenses.

Also, I've shot some more with my RF-5. It is a good lens and I could make do with it, but I don't think its quite up to my 480/9 Apo Nikkor.

 

[eumenius]

Dan, I-11M series is apparently a Soviet copy of corresponding Apo-Tessars, but a very well-made one, and with a slot for different waterhouse stops (for different halftoning screen patterns). Is RF-5 really apo corrected, I just don't know - but it should be still a fine lens, and what difference do you see with Apo-Nikkor - a field curvature, distortion, contrast issues, resolution power? They're different in optical design, so they have a full right to behave quite differently But RF as well as I-11M were used for the most precise work here, so they have to be good

 

[Ole]

Zhenya, do you know anything about the Industar 11-MC? There's one for sale, and it looks "interesting"...

 

[eumenius]

Ole, what's its focal length? I don't know what "C" means, I've never met one... how much does it cost, does it have a set of square apertures, and what's its overall condition? It's basically the Apo-Tessar, so what can I say more? If it's inexpensive and clean, just buy it - looks like it's a great lens.

Zhenya

Zhenya, do you know anything about the Industar 11-MC? There's one for sale, and it looks "interesting"...

 

[Ole]

It's a LOMO I-11MC, 1:9 F=36cm, with an iris aperture. It's in "not ideal, but clean enough, good satisfactory condition", selling for $39.-. The seller says it's the first one he has seen... The mounting ring is almost flush with the front, and it looks like the aperture is very far to the front as well.

 

[eumenius]

Ole, if it's 360mm version, and it's $49, take it without hesitation - this length is really a quite rare one, I've seen only one of these! The rarity of them is accounted for a slightly non-standart length, and these lenses worked in "two-room" reproduction cameras - the scale was regulated with focal length. Each of these lenses was very carefully made and checked, because not the polygraphy was the main buyer, but the war industry... so it's expected to perform not worse than my 300mm. This lens has both iris apeture and a slot wor different-shaped waterhouse stops - an excellent dust collector, if not closed So I think this lens is a good choice, and as I have seen it works perfectly not only in 1:1, but on the infinity, too.

 

[roboflick]

Can the industar 37 be mounted on a speed graphic board?
Thanks
Nik