Industar Enlarging Lenses

[mehguy]

On ebay, I keep seeing these cheapo industar enlarging lenses pop up all the time. Are they any good?

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_from...ens.TRS0&_nkw=industar+enlarger+lens&_sacat=0

 

[gone]

The reviews are mixed, as is the case w/ a lot of FSU gear. I imagine that if you get a good one you're in the gold, and if you get one that's been taken apart and put back together sub optimally, you won't have much. Some of these are on long mounts too, which is going to have an effect on achieving focus w/o burying the lens into the print. By the by, KEH had an El Niikkor 50 2.8 listed for $23 the last time that I looked. That would be a smarter move.

My personal experience w/ FSU camera lenses has been stellar. Great glass. I don't see why it would be any different on the enlarging lenses except for that pesky QC thing. My experience w/ the cameras has been the exact opposite, and I won't have one if you give it to me. Don't forget, if you don't get a good copy of a lens, sending it back would be so expensive as to be impractical. So if you buy one, buy one in your country. Just in case.

 

[MattKing]

What are you looking for in the way of an enlarging lens?

Some of us may have an extra couple.

 

[mehguy]

What are you looking for in the way of an enlarging lens?

Some of us may have an extra couple.

I'm looking for any decent 50mm enlarging lens on a M39 mount. Doesn't have to be a name brand. Not looking to spend much.

 

[gone]

Then this might just be it

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If you feel lucky and are on a small budget, there's this one too

Dead Link Removed

 

[MattKing]

I'm looking for any decent 50mm enlarging lens on a M39 mount. Doesn't have to be a name brand. Not looking to spend much.

I'll see what I might have.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

KEH has too expensive shipping to Canada.
I purchased latest EL-Nikkor 50 2.8 on ebay for $50, plus cheap shipping.

Burlington Camera has big selection of enlargers, very cheap. And other darkroom supplies.

 

[chip j]

Buy a Komura-E.

 

[MartinP]

The Industar design is a tessar, so can be as good as any other four element lens - if you are lucky. Note that some of the lenses that showed up in your ebay search, are actually camera lenses so have focussing mounts and are (presumably) designed for use with the object at infinity. The Industars are now going to be old, having been scavenged from unknown storage conditions, and the coatings (if any) are less advanced than Schneider/Rodenstock/Fujinon lenses.

The 'sensible' thing to do would be to look for a six-element lens that meets your pricing requirements. That would then have more chance of giving you good results while printing larger than 8x10", for example.

 

[Dali]

I'm looking for any decent 50mm enlarging lens on a M39 mount. Doesn't have to be a name brand. Not looking to spend much.

Enlarger lenses are pretty cheap these days. I am convinced you can find something very decent for a song. As already said, russian lenses can be very good like very bad. I would not take any risk and stay away from them as you have alternative solutions for a similar price.